Johnny Manziel has all the confidence in the world in his abilities to start at quarterback and it appears the rest of the team does as well. Looking for a major spark on offense, head coach Mike Pettine is putting the rookie under center for the first time this season in hopes that he can do something Brian Hoyer has not in the last five weeks, score touchdowns. As criticism comes in regarding Manziel's talent, Pettine is speaking up in favor of his new starting quarterback.
Manziel is certainly a much different quarterback than Hoyer and Pettine will be tweaking the game plan as such. The rookie has a different athletic ability that the coaching staff hopes can take the offense to a different level than what Hoyer has been doing. Pettine notes that he has no reservations about starting Manziel and is excited to get a real first look at the quarterback.
"I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't excited to see him play,'' Pettine said, via ESPN.com. "We've seen it in practice. We got a taste of it in Buffalo. If we don't pick up our play around the quarterback, we'd be extremely foolish to expect different results."
Now as the world awaits the play of Manziel, eyes shift to Hoyer who now has his future in doubt. The veteran quarterback has been saying all of the right things in front of the media, denying any idea of feuds between he and the rookie and Hoyer told the media that he here to support Manziel in his first start.
"I think what gets lost a lot throughout all this having a younger guy and then a veteran and they're competing throughout the whole camp, there's kind of a general misconception that me and Brian don't get along all the time," said Manziel, via Cleveland.com. "I know I saw something last weekend about me mumbling something on the sideline. Me and Brian have a great relationship. We're teammates. We're not enemies. There's nothing like that. I feel he's fully behind me. He's obviously disappointed."
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Hoyer is not expected to return next season in free agency. The veteran quarterback wants to play on a team that will give him the chance to start and that is looking less and less like the Browns. However, plenty of teams will be interested including the Washington Redskins, Houston Texans, St. Louis Rams and potentially the Tennessee Titans.
