The Browns started Johnny Manziel at quarterback on Sunday and won. The win was the third of the season for the Browns, the second of which was guided by Manziel.
A season of head coach Mike Pettine doing his best to keep Manziel buried on the depth chart behind an aging journeyman in Josh McCown ended. Sure it was only the 49ers but there were some good takeaways.
Overcoming an interception just before halftime, Manziel finished the day 21 of 31 for 270 yards while tossing a touchdown to Gary Barnidge. The success of Manziel under center allowed Isiah Crowell to run for 145 yards on 20 carries adding two touchdowns in what proved to be a 24-10 win.
Things will not get any easy for the Browns and Manziel when they travel to take on the Seahawks or in match-ups against the Chiefs or Steelers to close out the year but the reality is winning against good teams has to happen sooner or later.