Johnny Manziel: Swan Won't Return His Calls

The Voice said:

Johnny doesn't choose for tmz to be following him or the media to care more about what he does over any other rookie in the league.

Nobody is complaining about gilbert partying because many people probably don't even know about it.

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Pleaaaase

Let's not pretend Manziel hasn't been attention whoring for the duration of his collegiate and professional career.

Tornicade said:

Manziel said practice went really well. you calling him a liar Boobie?He went into a comparison between practice and the game itself.

some of the people on the defense have referred to him as a nightmare in practice.


seems theres more information indicating Johnny has been doing well in practice than not

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BREAKING: Players on the team say practice is going well

Well, clearly that settles it then. It's not like these are athletes trained to give cliche answers during press availability. They're told to be honest and speak negative about the team when they feel it's necessary.

AZ_ said:

BREAKING: Players on the team say practice is going well

Well, clearly that settles it then. It's not like these are athletes trained to give cliche answers during press availability. They're told to be honest and speak negative about the team when they feel it's necessary.

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yes the old. your not there but you dont know and everyone who was there is lying rhetoric.

Players can have good practices and bad games.

Johnny Manziel did go all out for practice last week. this was from the same people who were criticizing his practice habits earlier in the season ( after the coaches shelved the manziel package from the game plan.

players are trained to say they lacked confidence?

dont think so

donte whitner was trained to say Johnny can be a nightmare to practice against while Joe Thomas was trained to say something else?


so lets say Johnny had a bad practice.. why would he say he felt good in practice but hesitated on the same plays in the game.

@Tornicade I don't disagree with a lot of what you're saying in the post above, but it's literally impossible for anyone to read unless they stop and make a conscious effort to. You've gotta make it easier if you want anyone to take it seriously.

Johnny is awful at practicing and learning anything at all, but he sure as hell was told/trained what to say!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk at your local pub.

Whether Manziel or anyone else is a poor practice player is anyone's guess.

I'm certainly not claiming him to be one or the other.

The simple fact is when you start taking quotes to the media at face value, you're most likely being naive.

We can go through the laundry list of repetitive press conference answers about how well Brady Quinn is progressing week-to-week or how Charlie Frye put it such hard work this off-season.

It's great to parrot that whenever it fits your narrative, but we'll never really know.

The Voice said:

Johnny is awful at practicing and learning anything at all, but he sure as hell was told/trained what to say!!!!

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It's far easier to play the media than it is to play football. Terrible post.

Everyone needs to just relax and let him play a few games. Nearly every rookie QB has struggled mightily in their first year, let alone first start.

Peyton Manning threw 11 INTs in his first four games. I'm in no way insinuating Manziel will be that good but it's just a stat to keep things in perspective.

Taking a jump dump on the field in your first game doesn't preclude you from having a successful NFL career. It's going to be harder for Manziel but he needs time to adjust to the speed of the game. If in 4-5 starts he still looks that bad, then yeah, everyone can start talking about different QB options.

(Insert QB here) threw X number of interceptions in his first X games.

That's great and all, but as has been said by many...the root cause of those interceptions or bad decisions is not something Manning or Elway or whoever else had to deal with.

It's just that simple, IMO.

I'mWithDan said:

Peyton Manning threw 11 INTs in his first four games. I'm in no way insinuating Manziel will be that good but it's just a stat to keep things in perspective.

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Oh man, look out... These kind of comparisons (albeit logical in your use of it) will most assuredly get you talked-down upon. Happens every time; you aren't allowed to compare Browns QB to good QB....

Whatever, if everyone wants to be miserable, have at it.

Manziel has some limiting factors, I think everyone will acknowledge that but many of you are trying to pat yourselves on the back or promote an agenda based on one lousy performance.

I never was too excited about the move when we made it (drafting him) but surely he needs more than one game to determine if he can iron out some of his issues. If he can't, he can't but all of the people on here acting like they already know truly don't. It's fine if you want to take a guess but stop treating it like an absolute.

It's never been about just one game.

It has nothing to do with being negative (as opposed to hopeless optimism, I guess), it has nothing to do with an agenda.

There is an opinion that Manziel does not have a translatable skill-set.

The reasons for which have been laid out ad nauseum, and his rookie season thus far has been a clear reinforcement of those reasons.

AZ_ said:

It's never been about just one game.

It has nothing to do with being negative (as opposed to hopeless optimism, I guess), it has nothing to do with an agenda.

There is an opinion that Manziel does not have a translatable skill-set.

The reasons for which have been laid out ad nauseum, and his rookie season thus far has been a clear reinforcement of those reasons.

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But the guy conducted a pro day in pads... IN PADS!!!

Randolphkeys said:

5. Due to the lack of talent on the offensive side, the QBs have enormous pressure to make lemonade out of a warm cup of piss. If you want a young QB to develop, draft him after you surround him with some real pros or some real talent.

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It's something of a chicken/egg problem, but I don't believe that building everything else and only then adding a QB is smart.

1) Without a decent QB, the rest of your offense will suck, and worse, you'll have a very difficult time evaluating the talent at those positions. Are the WR's unable to get open/running bad routes, or does the QB telegraph his throws/is inaccurate? Can the OL not block, or is the QB giving plays away or holding the ball too long? Do the RB's suck, or is it the lack of a passing threat that stifles the running game? We've gone through all of those debates before, not knowing what we have elsewhere because the QB sucks.

2) The QB has the longest shelf life of any offensive player, being able to excel into his mid-30's. Other positions, much less so. By the time you draft everything else, and then go after your QB and take a couple of years for him to develop, the team you so carefully built is going to start falling apart due to age, free agency, etc.. Especially if you have to cycle through another shitty QB or two to find the guy that works.

3) The best QB prospects usually go high in the draft, and if you build a "pretty good" otherwise team first, you'll be stuck with shittier picks to get that QB.

4) QB is easily the highest-impact player on a team. If you don't have a good one and you have a high pick, you've got to go for the impact.

5) Much easier to get a good WR in FA than a good QB. They tend to be prima donnas, and teams generally can't afford more than one stud WR, so they tend to go on the market.

It's obviously more difficult to evaluate your QB if the rest of the team sucks, but you can still learn a lot. Missing wide open pass catchers/inaccuracy is unsatisfactory no matter how good the rest of the team is. And in any case, we're no longer in that situation. Our WR corps was at least decent this year. And our running game was good for a good chunk of the season as well. Injuries are hurting us now, but at least for awhile, the rest of the team was good enough to evaluate the QB. And next year, with Mack returning, two good sophomore RB's, and our pass catchers, the offense apart from the QB should be above average.

6. When was the last time there wasn't a purposeful attempt at a QB controversy? It sells tickets, it gets people talking, and it doesn't win jack shit. Its like if your company laptop is dying so they give you three more 1990s Dell laptops that also don't work and call the problem solved.

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I don't believe there has ever been a purposeful (on the part of the franchise) attempt at a QB controversy here. Everyone (except perhaps the backup himself) wants the primary guy to succeed. It's only when he looks to be failing that people want the backup, but that's not because they want a controversy - it's because they want a competent QB.

7. When you blow a first or second day pick on a QB every other year, along with your annual overhaul of the defensive front seven, you have wasted several high picks year after year in a go-nowhere self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.

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But we've blown plenty of WR picks (name your second-rounder) and RB's (Steamin' Willie Green/Richardson) as well. Should we stop drafting them too?

AZ_ said:

It's never been about just one game.

It has nothing to do with being negative (as opposed to hopeless optimism, I guess), it has nothing to do with an agenda.

There is an opinion that Manziel does not have a translatable skill-set.

The reasons for which have been laid out ad nauseum, and his rookie season thus far has been a clear reinforcement of those reasons.

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But...that basically is one game. Other than the Buffalo game where he actually looked pretty decent.

I really don't have an opinion on Manziel at all, and (no offense intended) I've got no reason to trust one armchair talent evaluator's opinion over another. You're taking into account what you saw in his college performances, but other people doing the exact same thing reached a different conclusion. Only way to settle it is on the field.

One thing that does puzzle me is why folks seem to want to make a decision on him right now. Maybe his performance may affect who you bring in during the offseason but, why the rush now.? Still have two more games to see if he can show improvement.

I'mWithDan said:

Manziel has some limiting factors.

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In my opinion, a quarterback should have three main qualities.
1) Preparation- In a game of inches a single play can be the difference between a win and a loss. This requires a quaterback to put in mind numbing hours analyzing the upcoming opponents defense. Rinse and repeat.

2) Identify coverage under center- All that preparation is rather useless unless you can identify the defensive scheme on the field, in real time, and adjust.

3) Capable of running a prostyle offense- There's a reason gimmick offense come and go in the NFL. Because they don't work in the long run. Remember the wildcat?


Johnny showed none of these qualities in college. And so far has shown none of these qualities in the NFL... In spite of being one snap away from the starting position all year.

No one here is patting themselves on the back. Everyone wants the guy to succeed, as most of us root for the name on the front of the jersey and not the back. We are just calling a spade, a spade.

The Chuck Booms of the world can yell and scream about his personality and all these other qualities that don't win football games. Until Johnny starts showing VAST improvement in the three areas above, I'll have my doubt's.