The Problems with Johnny Manziel.

Manziel Money - The Problems With Johnnie Manziel
The Problems With Johnnie Manziel

After guiding the Browns to a win over the 49ers lots of people are thinking that Johnny Manziel may be the QB of the future that the Browns have been looking for since 1999. One thing that has to be considered is that the 49ers could not beat the Sisters of the Perpetually Miserable on a consistent basis. The SF O and D linemen should be bagging groceries at the local Piggly Wiggly.

NOTE: On NNR Samantha Bunten of NBC Sports and I discussed the news of the day, injuries from the previous week, and reviewed all of this week’s games including a detailed analysis of the Browns game.

I am not among the group that feels he is an NFL starting quality player. But unlike most of the others, I am going to tell you why.

Manziel’s footwork is bad and he is not stepping into his throws. Way too often he throws flat footed. It is very hard to be accurate doing that. In addition he does not step into his throws. That also hurts his accuracy.

He is not consistent in his throwing platform. Even at his height he throws side armed. That will get a lot of passes batted up in the air causing potential interceptions. He needs to work on his over the top delivery. That would help in the accuracy as well as allowing fewer passes to be batted up.

Manziel lacks poise in the pocket when he is under pressure. Unfortunately that happens a lot for any Browns QB. His instinct is to run out of the pocket leaving any protection and risking injury. We saw the interception he threw across his body to the middle of the field as he was getting hit. That can not happen.

He misses WRS that were wide open because Manziel still doesn’t see the field well. On a team with WRS that struggle to get open it can’t have that. The problem is not his height. Russell Wilson is shorter than Manziel but still sees the field very well. The problem is his lack of focus.

He lacks touch particularly on short throws. If you remember Derick Anderson never completing a pass to a running back you have seen a lot of BAD football. Manziel puts way too much heat on short throws. Add that to the fact that RBS tend to have much worse hands than experienced WRS and that takes away one of the potential weapons of the Browns.

Manziel takes chances throwing into coverage. Those that have great arms tend to trust it to get the ball into very tight coverages. Even those like Manziel that have just a decent arm do that as well. Johnny trusts his arm way too much.

He is not carrying out his fakes. To be effective, play action requires a good fake. Failure to carry out the fake allowed the linebackers to ignore it and stay in zone coverage. It also negates the threat of his run ability. That would open up the running lanes for the backs.

All these things can be fixed but will not unless be unless Manziel changes his attitude & practice habits. While he has shown some dedication to the team and his craft, he is someone the I would not trust with my career were I the head coach or general manager. His action after he was named the starter for the rest of the season was all I needed to see.

If I was the GM I would take a QB with the 1st round pick because the Browns can not trust Manziel.

That is what I think. Tell us what you think by commenting here or tweeting me @NNRonDSN.

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Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He edits https://fryingpansports.com. He has also published several novels on and a non-fiction work at http://www.merriam-press.com/. Follow him on twitter @NNRonDSN to get the schedule of Special News, Notes and Rumors broadcasts. You can hear the previous shows on https://fryingpansports.com/radio-show/.

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