First round draft pick and former Texas A&M star Johnny Manziel has gathered splinters in his backside for most of his rookie season, but the rumor out of Cleveland is he’s set to start for the Browns and prove whether or not he can become a successful NFL quarterback.
Last week, Manziel substituted for starting QB Brian Hoyer, whose horrendous play got him yanked from the game. Manziel went 5 of 8 for 63 yards and scored a touchdown on a 10-yard run capped by his “show me the money” finger signs. He showed what made him such an exciting college quarterback.
But this is the NFL. The league always catches up. Scrambling showboats always go down.
Manziel’s fall will be quicker than that of Robert Griffin III in Washington. The NFL caught up to RGIII after a year and turned him into an average QB with a limp.
The Redskins gave up plenty to draft RGII in 2012, including swapping a first round pick and throwing in two more first round picks just to move up four slots. RGIII responded by running rampant over defenses and becoming the Offensive Rookie of the Year. He threw for 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns that first season (and ran for seven more).
RGIII even ran the old-school option play to perfection. Defensive ends were confused: If they pursued Griffin, he’d pitch to the tailback. If they shadowed the tailback, RGIII would sprint for 10 yards. Before long, defenses simply went after Griffin, hammering him to the ground regardless of whether he pitched the ball. Griffin’s tendency to scramble also gave defenses plenty of chances to whack him.
Before long, Griffin was as gimpy as Walter Brennan and twice as slow. He tried to become a pocket passer. But playing it safe isn’t what made him great in high school, college, or in his rookie year. He lost his extra step, lost his reckless abandon, and lost his mojo.
RGIII appears washed up at 24.
Manziel isn’t nearly as good as RGIII was in his glory days. And Manziel’s arrogance, rude gestures, and big mouth will put an even bigger target on his back.
After scoring a touchdown last week against the Buffalo Bills, Manziel was later pummeled and fumbled into his own end zone, and then lay there on his back for several seconds. That prompted a slew of memes that mocked his “nap.”
Manziel is 22. He’s got “Johnny Football” as a registered trademark.
By the time he’s 24, he’ll be registering a new trademark: Johnny Car Salesman.
Wow … By the massive amounts of hate oozing out of every nasty little sentence, I surmise Mr. Prince must be a UT fan. Lol. Or maybe just simply a hater … Mr Prince would do well to remember the contemporary adage: “Haters always hate, what they can’t have and who they can’t be.” (Sorry your own life is so sucky that you have to make yourself feel better by tearing down Johnny Manziel.)
What a pathetic excuse for a sports “news” item. If I were in charge of FW weekly I’d send Mr. Prince (and his transparent drivel) packing … Not only is there zero merit to this travesty of a “news” article, it sadly discredits the source, the city the source is named after, as well as the state. How about supporting our fellow Texan? If FW Weekly can’t manage to publish anything better than THIS junk, might just need to leave the sports section blank.
Lori D, you really should study up on what different products are produced by a “news” organization. Some are “news” items, i.e. a robbery at a bank or the test scores of students or tax rate increases or 100 brains missing from UT. Others are “opinion” pieces like this one, where writers basically sit around and perform mental masturbation for good or ill. The problem for you is you critcize it because it as a pathetic excuse for “sports news” but it is not “sport news,” The second problem is you think the purpose of journalists to support our fellow Texans (or whatver locale you are in). That is not a good things for many reasons, but mostly because a media that trots out a singular view of things is very boring (Really, is you mind complete mush, Lori D, that you want to read how great JFF is in every story). So if you want to critcicize this column, don’t bring up it is not news and that Jeff Prince doesn’t support fellow Texans. Bring up that Jeff Prince is an idiot and has little understanding of football and can’t even cook a pork chop on his stove without ruining his skillet. That would be more appropriate.
Thanks for your support?
I’m appalled that you don’t know how to cook a pork chop on your stove without ruining your skillet! Here are instructions http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Pork-Chops-on-the-Stove
You’re welcome
Good article. To others this is not a hate article. So tired of that Over-Used expression, it’s worn out people. The article is just a matter of fact. He’s not an elite player at this level, Period. He looks like a midget out there. His speed isn’t relevant any longer. The defenders at this level are just as fast and in most cases much faster. His arm strength is a little above average, but I’m not certain of his grasp of the playbook. I’m sure he’s smart enough to understand it unlike most of these running qb’ ie: Kapernick, griffin, Emmanuel Sanders, geno smith, and all the other ” future of the QB position ” that has fallen by the wayside.
Lori D, would you like to expound some more about how wonderful Johnny Manziel is and what a hack the writer is for daring mention that Manziel’s NFL future would be crap?
Lori,
Well said. Mr. Prince did not even bother to give us some statical data or anything of value to hold up his argument. He just doesn’t like Johnny Manziel. This article is Mr. Prince’s opinion and it stinks like cow manure.