Greg Cosell’s Week 14 Review: Johnny Manziel has a solid start

Johnny Manziel was given his starting job back by the Cleveland Browns, and on Sunday he mostly made good decisions and played from the pocket with some efficiency, while mixing in a touch of improvisational flair.

Manziel also made one horrible throw when he tried to improvise, but of his four throws out of the structure of the offense, three went for 20 yards or more.

The interception was the only major mistake, but let’s take a quick look at what went wrong. He had a three-step drop out of the shotgun, which made his only throw a quick out to Marlon Moore. Manziel didn’t make that throw, and then he got stuck in the pocket. He missed Gary Barnidge wide open on the deep corner route to the same side as Moore. He left the pocket to his left and tried to throw across his body to Brian Hartline in the middle of the field. It was a bad decision and easily picked off by San Francisco 49ers safety Jaquiski Tartt. This is the downside of Manziel trying to play randomly.

But that was his only huge mistake. The Browns did a good job getting Manziel comfortable with different formations. Cleveland’s first four plays were with Manziel out of the shotgun in open formations. That’s where Manziel is most comfortable.

On the first possession of the game the Browns ran a well-designed play that was a good approach with Manziel. With Manziel under center, the Browns had a play action with an initial boot look, but Manziel set up behind the center. The three-level stretch concept had Travis Benjamin lifting the coverage and Barnidge running a corner route in the open void. Manziel hit Barnidge for 23 yards. It was a defined read for Manziel.

Manziel was an improvisational quarterback at Texas A&M, and he made some nice improvisational plays against the 49ers. On Cleveland’s third possession, Manziel did not feel comfortable throwing the stick route to Hartline to his left, and then he escaped the pocket to his right. He pointed at Barnidge to run deep and hit him for 30 yards. This was an excellent improvisational play by Manziel off of an initial throw he should have made.

Manziel improvised again when the Browns called a shot play (deep pass). There was no throw available within the timing of the drop and the routes, so Manziel moved to his right. Benjamin worked all the way across the field and Manziel hit him for 24 yards.

You could see how the Browns’ offensive approach with Manziel helped him. He was 7 of 8 for 127 yards on play-action passes. They had plays out of the shotgun and from under center, and he was productive in both. The Browns had 481 yards of total offense.

The last time Manziel started before Sunday, he had a good game to build off of against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Last week was another solid step.

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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.