Manziel battling the playbook is not a good thing.

Manziel Drft

Browns head coach Mike Pettine made the comment yesterday that Johnny Manziel biggest challenge is the playbook rather than Brian Hoyer. ESPN and most of the national media took that to mean that as soon as Manziel gets the playbook down, he will be the starter. Not so fast my friend.

What Pettine means is that Manziel is struggling to learn and understand the playbook. That is not a surprise. At Texas A&M the playbook was the size of the US Constitution. To Manziel the Browns playbook looks more like the IRS rules and regulations.

We were told that he was studying even while going to and from Vegas. Maybe the inflatable swan had an I-pad built in. His time enjoying himself could be costing him now. You can’t win the locker room as a QB unless you know the playbook COLD and can communicate it in practice. Until he can do that he will not get a snap in the regular season.

Also in college Manziel never had to make pre-snap reads. His offensive teammates took their position on the field then read the signs on the sideline to determine which play would be executed. Manziel also never had … Read more at FryingPanSports

Playbook-gate is an issue for the Browns.

nfl

I could care less about the Jets or the Patriots. Some say the two are rivals but they are not. A nail is related to a hammer but they are not rivals. The nail gets pounded at regular intervals just like the Jets.

The media has missed the point of Playbook-gate entirely. Jet coach Rex Ryan is certain that he is the smartest guy in the sport. Most intelligent people realize that is not the case. It takes hubris to pass out playbooks like Halloween candy. And Hubris is Ryan’s middle name. However, Browns fans need to know one thing about Playbook-Gate.

Antonio Cromartie was on the NFL Channel and said something that disturbed me. He said that when Mike Pettine was the DC the Pats could tell what defense the Jets had called by the way the team was aligned prior to the snap. While Cromartie is infamous for spreading things around, if this is true it is a problem.

Browns fans have yet to see the team take the field with the Pettine defense. If Cromartie is mistaken there is no problem. However, teams in the AFC North are well equipped to take advantage of pre-snap reads of … Read more at FryingPanSports