Johnny Manziel is starting at quarterback — and starting to recover some of the devil-may-care attitude that marked his rise as Johnny Football.
The Browns signal-caller took a shot Friday at ESPN analyst Merril Hoge, who has been one of Manziel’s harshest critics. That continued this week when Hoge said the Browns should “immediately cut bait [and] move on” from Manziel, who committed three turnovers against the Jets in a season-opening 31-10 setback.
“I think Merril Hoge needs to worry about his big neckties more than anything,” Manziel said when asked by a reporter if he wanted to “shut up” the former Steelers running back.
“But, talking about Merril, he’s been that way since, you know, I’ve decided to come out into the draft, so I guess that’s really part of it.”
Manziel was named the starter for Sunday’s game against the Titans after Josh McCown was ruled out with a concussion.
Here are Hoge’s full comments from Monday:
“Here’s what was evident in that game. He fell back on what he trusts. What is his instinct and you’re never going to change that, that is who he is, he’s going to run,” Hoge said. “That’s what he’s believed in, he won a Heisman Trophy for and that’s what he’s going to go to when he needs that the most, when you need structure and discipline to come out, he’s going to be erratic and reckless and run and that’s never going to change.
“Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Baltimore, they love the plan that Cleveland’s under. Keep going down that plan because all you do is set your organization back one more year by babysitting and trying to get this guy as your starting quarterback. So keep doing that for the other teams. But if you want to move on, cut bait, get another guy in there and go another direction. Immediately. Cut bait. Move on.”