Week 14 of the NFL season is on the horizon. If you had asked anyone if Johnny Manziel would have been the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns by this point, the consensus would have been “yes”.
Very few people expected the Browns to start the year 7-5, however, and it’s quite difficult to justify a switch when the team is successful. With that said, anyone who watched the Browns 20-10 defeat at the hands of the Buffalo Bills on Sunday witnessed the spark that Manziel provided to the club’s struggling offense.
Brian Hoyer, for his part has held up his end of the bargain in 2014. He has put his team in a position to win most of the year, and hasn’t allowed the Manziel distraction to affect his focus. He’s done all that has been asked of him. He has struggled over the last three games, however, and as is the case with any franchise that invests a first round pick in a signal caller, the fans are anxious to see what they have in the youngster.
Manziel has been something of a king of controversy since his college days, and you’d be hard-pressed to name an NFL quarterback that has created more of a stir without ever starting a single game. But for all of the baggage that seems to accompany Johnny Football”, there’s no denying his talent and potential.
The Browns, as an organization, find themselves in a difficult position right now. At 7-5, they still find themselves firmly in the mix for a playoff berth, albeit in an extremely competitive AFC. Some will argue that switching quarterbacks in the midst of a winning season is a preposterous endeavor, while others will claim that the uber-exciting Manziel will give the team just the spark and swagger it needs to make a playoff push.
The situation is not dissimilar to the one the 2006 Denver Broncos found themselves in. Jake Plummer had quarterbacked the team to a 7-4 start but was struggling a bit. The Broncos has invested the 11th overall pick in the draft in Jay Cutler, and wanted to let the young gunslinger do his thing. Cutler, for his part, showed quite a lot of potential, making some highlight reel throws and tossing nine touchdowns versus five picks in the final five games of the season.
The problem?
The Broncos tasted defeat in three of those five contests, finished 9-7, and missed the playoffs. Certainly, that can’t be blamed on Cutler, but the switch ultimately didn’t pay immediate dividends in spite of the youngster’s solid play. The Browns situation is nearly identical. Benching Hoyer seems unfair, just as it did with Plummer. Manziel is a potential franchise quarterback with an exciting skill set, just as Cutler was. The decision the Browns make going into a huge Week 14 AFC showdown with the Indianapolis Colts is likely to be the move that defines the season for the up-and-coming club for better or for worse.
What happens next will be very interesting indeed.
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