Josh McCown Will Start For Cleveland If He’s Healthy Enough
The Cleveland Browns have had a hard time finding a starting quarterback this season due to injuries and ineffective play. They’re already without former South Carolina standout Connor Shaw who is out for the season. Shaw was a steadying force last year as the Browns dealt with a similar situation. This year it’s been a back and forth between Josh McCown and Johnny Manziel and this week it appears to be back to McCown.
Head coach Mike Pettine said that McCown will start if his injured ribs allow. That being said, he also said that he hadn’t settled on a starter for this week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers–who are without their starting quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. This suggests that the team is waiting to see how McCown’s ribs fare the rest of this week. Pettine explained the situation: “Josh McCown started the season as our No. 1 quarterback. He’s been out due to injury and potentially is coming back. I get the call for, ‘Hey, why not [Manziel]?’ We’re tasked as coaches to put the roster out there that gives us the best hope to win.”
McCown did not practice on Tuesday morning and has not played since November 1. Manziel started last week’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and put up uneven numbers. For the game he went 15 of 33 passes for 168 yards and one touchdown. He was awful in the second half, however, when he went 4-for-15 for 40 yards. Manziel has had some moments of excellence but overall has been a huge disappointment on the field and more of one off the field. Manziel was in rehab over the summer and later got into a booze fueled argument with his girlfriend on the side of the Interstate with police intervening. Most recently, he was seen partying at Texas A&M with several comely blonde co-eds–none of which were his girlfriend.
The consensus is that Manziel needs to grow up but from his coach’s standpoint he definitely needs to play better: “We’re tasked with winning football games. At the point, essentially just past the midway point, I understand that the talk is there, especially at the quarterback position. But from a coaching standpoint, the thinking is a little different.”