I gotta say, not even Florio said, "Johnny Manziel takes a lot of hits and therefore don't play him." What some people have said is that experienced quarterbacks don't take unnecessary contact, because unnecessary contact will eventually put a quarterback in harm's way. Let's take a peak at the first preseason game:
Hoyer had three possessions, all three were called sustained drives by announcers. He got the ball out quickly every play. The Browns operated out of a pro style set as well as some pistol and shotgun. The one time he was pressured, the last play of the first drive, he avoided pressure and dumped the ball out of bounds. So, he had three drives, two field goals, no hits on the quarterback. It wasn't a perfect performance, he missed on two throws and had three blatant drops in the final possession, but better than he has been given credit for the past two days.
Then you look at Manziel. Let's call it four possessions since taking a knee before halftime doesn't count. The first possession was all pistol. On third and one he kept it on a read option (probably should give it to the running back on third and one) he strung it out against two linebackers and got hit for no gain. Second possession, again all out of the pistol formation. Manziel starts the drive with running, again putting his head down instead of sliding. after two West runs, Manziel runs down the sideline. Then he finally chooses to give up the ball on a read option but West gets blown up, followed by Manziel dumping off on third down. End of drive. Third possession was by far Manziel's most promising, it was also the first possession where the Browns didn't primarily start in a pistol. Even in that third possession of nine plays, Manziel ran it himself twice (the same number of completed passes) an the Browns ran one designed read option. This third possession featured that much discussed half a yard run on fourth down where he narrowly escaped a defensive lineman when the right play was throwing to the wide open Gray for a first. In the final possession Manziel finally started throwing the ball more than he kept it, which I thought was his best performance as a QB, but suffered two drops from the receivers.
So what I got out of the first preseason was that concerns everyone had about Manziel taking hits continues to be a lesson he hasn't learned. He chose often to not only run, but run in a way which leaves him open to hits. I believe Hoyer will end up being the better option to begin the regular season not because I dislike running quarterbacks. I take that stance because he runs a pro style offense and did so effectively. Manziel has shown me he still runs a college style offense. What I'd like to see is Manziel playing an entire half or more for each of the remaining preseason games, and do so in a pro style offense. If he isn't making the right decisions out of a pro base with the full range of NFL plays, he will have a hard hitting defensive player show him why NFL experts criticize his decisions to hang onto the ball... and it will be a violent lesson he doesn't soon forget.
