Some 33 hours later, Pettine had made up his mind. But he probably had a pretty good idea that night at FedEx Field. Manziel and Brian Hoyer probably knew, too—grown-up quarterbacks are supposed to do grown-up things, and if they don’t, they’re neither grown-up nor starters.
The bar for maturity isn’t that high, especially since Hoyer wasn’t playing all that well and was still barely 10 months removed from a torn ACL, and since Manziel is the Browns’ quarterback of the future. Manziel just had to outplay a very shaky incumbent, make the off-field offseason drama he generated irrelevant, and not get rattled by the moment.
He didn’t do any of it. No matter how badly Hoyer might play in the opening weeks of the regular season nor how much promise Manziel has, he’s not likely to start until he grows up.
Pettine left plenty of clues about this, even that night with his comments about “poise” and “composure.” His remark that he will pick “whoever gives us the best shot to win the opener,’’ was interpreted as strictly results-based. In hindsight, though, it overlooked the possibility that quarterbacks who react to taunting from the opposing bench, and then make references to all the attention he gets throughout his post-game interview, don’t give the Browns the best chance to win.
On Tuesday, the mmbq.com reported Pettine saying, "I wouldn't think so" to the question about the gesture factoring in his decision— then, later in the day in a conference call, reversed field: “I think we’ll take into account all things quarterbacks, A to Z. It’s body of work. It’s everything from the time they stepped foot in the building back in the spring up until today.”
One wonders whether “everything” includes the revelation, also on Tuesday, of the taunt that triggered Manziel’s flip-off. Safety Ryan Clark told ESPN’s Mike and Mike radio show that what was yelled at him was a less family-friendly version of: “This isn't college any more and these people are faster than you are."
For the moment, forget that it was true— it was obvious in that very game, with the 35-year-old Clark being one of many Redskns defenders he couldn’t get away from. Also, forget that it's as mild as trash-talk gets, more like roadside-litter talk.
But Manziel took the bait, in only his second NFL game, a preseason game at that. That had to have helped Pettine seal the deal.
Manziel will learn someday, presumably. He’ll thicken his hide and adjust not only his speed to the NFL game, but his sensitivity. He’ll give his coaches and teammates reason to trust him for more than his talent and energy.
But that didn’t happen soon enough to hand the keys to the franchise to him for the regular-season opener, or even for the third week of the preseason.
Pettine will hand them over—as soon as Manziel proves he’s grown-up enough to keep them.