Johnny Manziel played better in Saturday’s third preseason game against the St. Louis Rams but it will not be enough to earn him the starters role at quarterback.
The Cleveland Browns are sticking with Brian Hoyer as their starter for week one of the regular season against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In seven series on the field Hoyer was 10-of-16 for 84 yards tossing a touchdown and an interception. He also lost a fumble early in the second half.
While Browns coach Mike Pettine acknowledged that Manziel played well he blamed the Browns offensive problems across the board refusing to pin it on the quarterback position.
“He did (provide a spark), and I just think that just comes with playing,” said Pettine of Manziel via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “He needs to play, and as I’ve said a bunch of times, there’s no substitute for live game reps at NFL speed. I think that was good work for him. That’s why at the end we still took the timeout, just wanted to get as many reps as we could get him in the 2-minute. Then, after he got sacked we just went ahead and let it run out.”
Manziel finished Saturday’s third preseason game 10-of-15 for 85 yrds. He also ran for a seven yard touchdown run.
