Pettine has no problem with Manziel laughing during big Browns deficit

Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine was asked about the actions of a player who didn’t play in Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans. Yes, of course, we’re talking about Johnny Manziel.

Manziel was caught laughing on the sideline, chatting with practice-squad QB Connor Shaw, just as the Titans took a 28-3 lead in the second quarter following a 75-yard Justin Hunter touchdown. Pettine was asked if he had any problem with his rookie quarterbacks — but namely Manziel — yucking it up during such a tough spot of the game.

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Pettine dismissed the question.

“I don’t know what the context of that is,” Pettine said, per the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Down 28-3, the way we were playing, I think you could term how we were playing laughable. But I don’t know the context of it.”

Asked if Manziel should know better considering the cameras always seem to find their way to him, Pettine said he had no issue with it.

“That’s a lesson to learn, but still, I don’t consider it a big deal,” Pettine said.

It has been a quiet few weeks for Manziel, who has taken a back seat to the impressive Brian Hoyer, hasn’t played much lately, hasn’t said anything controversial and didn’t do anything bad (that we’re aware of) on his bye week. That’s a good thing.

Hoyer’s strong play certainly has become the story in Cleveland, with the Browns evening their record at 2-2 and some winnable games on the schedule following Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, whom the Browns almost came back to beat in Week 1.

In fact, it was right at the moment of Manziel’s laughing on Sunday that the Browns’ incredible Week 5 comeback — 25 points down on the road — began. They would cut the lead to 28-10 right before halftime and then score four times, including three in the final 11 minutes, to beat the Titans in thrilling fashion, 29-28. Because of Hoyer’s strong performance in the largest road comeback in NFL history and the third-biggest comeback in regular-season history, Manziel never got into the game.

The way things are going right now, they don’t seem to need him. 

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm