Former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel made his first NFL start on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, and the former Texas A&M Aggie looked like he’d have been better off facing the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Manziel completed 10 of his 18 passes but gained only 80 yards, took three sacks and served up two interceptions, good for a quarterback rating of 27.3. He also rushed five times for 13 yards. Overall, Cleveland ran an NFL-low 38 plays and gained only 107 yards of total offense. The Browns lost the game, 30-0.
“It’s tough to come out there and lay an egg like that,” Manziel told the Wall Street Journal after the game. “I put a lot of that on me. I’m not using the rookie excuse.”
It appears all the Johnny Football hype did not do Manziel any favors in his first full game as a pro.
“Johnny Manziel’s going to do this, do that,” Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga told Yahoo. “The whole hype was on him and what he was going to do to this defense. …It felt good to not let them score any points.”
Manziel’s NFL starting debut was a far cry from his college debut on Sept. 8, 2012, when he immediately flashed the skill set that would make him the first freshman to win a Heisman Trophy four months later, completing 23-of-30 passes for 173 yards and rushing 17 times for 60 yards and a touchdown in a 20-17 loss to a Florida team that would finish 11-2 that season.
With Cleveland all but out of the playoffs, head coach Mike Pettine says Manziel will start for the Browns’ two remaining games.