Cleveland Browns: Mike Pettine gets it right with Johnny Manziel

Johnny Manziel’s audition for the starting job involved showing up on the field and off of it, so Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine has made the right decision to push him behind Josh McCown and Austin Davis on the depth chart.

Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine made the right call in demoting Johnny Manziel to third string in light of his most recent public incident. Pettine has been consistently right in his handling of the 2014 first round pick both on and off the field.

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He has been consistent with his message that he arrived with, preaching accountability, demanding players earn their way onto the field, and doing right by the entire team as opposed to just one player. Beyond simply doing right by the team, he expressed his encouragement for both Manziel’s improvement on the field as well as supporting him in dealing with his issues off of it. This was a difficult decision and it is important that Pettine made the right one.

"“Josh McCown will be the starting quarterback on Monday night against the Ravens. I informed the quarterbacks of that decision after I sat down and spoke with Johnny, Flip (John DeFilippo) and Kevin (O’Connell) after practice today. Johnny will be the third quarterback. I’ve spoken to Ray (Farmer) and Jimmy (Haslam) to inform them of my decision, and they are in full support.“Everyone in this organization wants what is best for Johnny just like we do for every player in our locker room. I’m especially disappointed in his actions and behavior because he has been working very hard. The improvements from last year to this year have been tremendous but he still has to consistently demonstrate that he has gained a good understanding of what it takes to be successful at the quarterback position on this level. It goes well beyond the field. We are going to continue to support him in every way possible, but at this point, we’ve decided it’s best to go with Josh as the starter going forward.”"

Manziel said he would not do anything during the bye week that would bring the team any embarrassment.

"“I let [Pettine] know that I’m not going to do anything that’s going to be a distraction to this team or be an embarrassment to the organization,” Manziel said, via Cleveland.com. “I’m going to get a chance to go and relax like everybody else in this locker room is. I don’t think they’re going to have to worry about me this week.”"

The Browns held him to his word. He lied to the team and by extension, he lied to the fans that so desperately want to see him play and succeed. Evidently, Pettine and the rest of the organization aren’t interested in brushing that off, nor should they.

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When Manziel was announced as the starter for the rest of the season, it was an audition both on and off the field. They wanted to see him continue the growth he made as a quarterback, which he has, while also proving that he was reliable off the field – that he would use better judgment in the choices he made and whether his focus was on football or fun. In an audition that what was to last 6 weeks, Manziel lasted exactly 5 days.

On its face, this might seem like an overreaction on the part of the Browns, but this is the third separate incident this year. First, with the roadside incident with his girlfriend where he admitted he had been drinking and then after the Thursday night game against the Cincinnati Bengals where he went back to Texas A&M and ended up in the New York Post in another situation he had to explain.

For a team that is desperate to figure out if they have a quarterback they believe can be the answer, this situation might make the answer much clearer. As it currently stands, the Browns are on pace to have one of the top picks in the 2016 NFL Draft and could be on a collision course to having their choice of the top quarterback in the class. This only increases the likelihood the team will pull the trigger.

Beyond the issue of what takes place on the field, there is a question of Manziel’s wellbeing. Coming off an offseason that featured a 10 week stint in rehab (a smart and mature decision by Manziel) after a completely wasted year, the ‘boys will be boys’ and ‘it’s not a big deal’ defenses went out the window for the organization. Manziel may still be just 22 years old with his future still potentially in front of him, but the team needs a professional to be their quarterback and face of their franchise. And if he cannot be that guy, they have to work on finding one that potentially can be.

In the event that Manziel is simply refusing to grow up and mature, then Pettine is doing exactly what he should be. It does not help the Browns to enable this type of behavior and open the door for more of it. It also creates a separate set of rules for Manziel; a player that has done nothing to earn special treatment.

Nov 5, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) reacts during an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

If Manziel is legitimate dealing with significant personal issues, it is not healthy for him to be the starting quarterback of this team and put into a full contact environment. In either scenario, Pettine made the right call to sit him down and force him to deal with this reality, whatever it is. For the rest of the team and most importantly for Manziel.

Regardless of what the issue truly is, the only place to put the blame on this situation is Manziel. Even if he is suffering from the disease of addiction, it is not the media or the team’s fault that Manziel put himself in this situation. Trying to deflect the blame anywhere else is avoiding the real issue.

The fault lies at the feet of Manziel. Plenty of people (myself included) wanted to see what Manziel could do in the final six games and build on the best performance in his career against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The fact that looks unlikely now is a disappointing outcome, but not because the team decided his behavior was a problem. It is because Manziel made that choice.

The Browns are not the only ones that have expressed their concern over Manziel’s use of alcohol. Manziel’s parents, specifically his father,  his concern in an article by Wright Thompson in August of 2013:

"They’re concerned. Paul thinks Johnny drinks to deal with the stress. After his arrest, Johnny’s parents and Sumlin mandated he visit an alcohol counselor; Johnny saw him six or seven weeks during the season. About the only place they still see the real him is on the football field. Mostly what they see is the emotional byproduct of whatever is chewing him up inside. “I don’t know where the anger comes from,” Paul says. “I don’t think he knows. If it comes from his drinking, or if he’s mad at himself for not being a better person when he fails, when he fails God and his mom and me. If it makes him angry that he’s got demons in him. You can only speculate because you can’t go in there.”"

His former coach and mentor Julius Scott expressed his concern after Manziel’s roadside incident. Scott, who lived with Manziel at Manziel’s request said the following:

"“If he asked me if I thought drinking was a good idea, I would say absolutely not.” “You’d have to have your head examined if you said, ‘It’s OK to go have a couple."

These are some of the most important people in Manziel’s life and they are expressing specific concern with Manziel and alcohol. Teammates echoed the same sentiment. Last week, Travis Benjamin alluded to the issue.

In light of today’s decision, quarterback Josh McCown weighed in, courtesy of Hayden Grove of the Orange and Brown Report:

"“With young guys, especially in this day and age – it’s not just Johnny – the access and the fact the things you might try to do in private and or public but maybe you’re trying to do them behind the scenes but it could get out there just because of social media and phones and things like that,” McCown said. “It makes it a lot tougher. It’s way different than when I came into the league.”“I hope guys take those situations and learn from it and grow through it,” McCown said. “You just hope whenever you go through something like that it can be something you look and it as ‘I have to improve from this and get better.”"

The team worked with Manziel and should continue to work with him. The tough love he gets from Pettine, forcing him to improve as well as carry himself like a professional has been important in his development. Meanwhile, the support he gets from Kevin O’Connell, not only the team’s quarterbacks coach but has a history with Manziel and is a trusted confidant has been critical in the progress he has made.

In this particular case, they gave him the shot he wanted so badly and worked hard to earn (the key word here). The offensive coaches made it clear to Manziel what was expected from him during the bye week and the rest of the season. Manziel flatly blew it and it is unclear if he will get another shot, whether it is in Cleveland or anywhere else.

The hope is he can take this challenge on the right way and earn the trust of the team, this time in perpetuity.  If he can do that and it can be with the Browns, it makes for a fantastic redemption story for everyone involved. But most important is simply that Manziel the person develops the tools to deal with his issues.

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Nothing about this decision is easy. And it is one that has come with a lot of criticism directed at Pettine. For Pettine, this is as much about who he is and who he expects his Browns to be than it is about trying to winning the game Sunday or finding out what Manziel can or cannot do. It reinforces what the team has been saying since he and Ray Farmer were put into place and it sends a message both to Manziel as well as the rest of the team.

It remains to be seen if Pettine is here in 2016 as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, but even in the event they fire him and go in a different direction, he got this one right and should commended for it. Hopefully, it is the one that finally gets through to Manziel, for his sake. There are plenty of people that care about Manziel beyond what he can do on the football field that hope this can make the difference and may appreciate what Pettine has done here more than any fan ever will.