As the Stomach Turns

Ray was all set to draft Bridgewater at 26, but one of two large bent-nosed Italian men handed him a note.  The note said "Get Manziel or else, see?  Jimmy H".

Ray, who was relieved that da boss had not discovered the affair he was having with his wife after all, then had to trade away one third round pick in order to accomplish this move.

Ray would, of course, never have drafted Manziel himself.

A little later, Ray got a similar note: "Don't draft any wide recievers, or else.  Jimmy H".

This was just a reminder.  Jimmy H had already had one of his famous Hitlerian tantrums over Josh Gordon, and has asserted that all wide recievers were idiots.  He had ordered Kyle Shanahan to design a wide recieverless offense.

Haslam then boarded a flight for Dallas.  He had scheduled a meeting with Jerry Jones for advice on how to run an NFL franchise.

Oh, come on, Mary Kay!

Here is what I would have done:  I would have made the same trade Ray did, targeting Johnny Evans as I hear/believe he did.  When Evans was gone, I would have taken Wilkins just like he did.

I would not have targeted Manziel.  The thing is, I haven't interviewed and studied these quarterbacks, and don't even understand all of the mechanics.  I'm not qualified.

With that disclaimer in mind, I have confidence in Hoyer, but might have nabbed Bridgewater for insurance.  As Jim Miller keeps stressing, his arm is stronger than people think, and he is the only one of these quarterbacks capable of stepping in for Hoyer immediately if necessary.  Well, and Derrick Weeden.

Signing a player in the first round enables you to underpay him for up to five years, whereas the lower picks contracts expire after three, period.

In my mind, Hoyer kicks butt, and Bridgewater shows great stuff in preseason, but waits.  At some point in the first two years, Hoyer is injured, and Teddy steps in and kicks ass too.  Now you can trade one or the other for some really good draft picks.

OR I'm wrong about Hoyer and we have the most NFL-ready quarterback in this draft.

I would also have drafted Jordan Matthews in the second round--but really Bitonio looks like another Fanika, and could make an even bigger difference believe it or not.  Between Ray and me, you should listen to Ray.

Setting my ego aside, along with this stupid Reality soap opera crap about Jimmy interfering already, I'm re-examining Manziel.

It's been pointed out that during his Heisman year, he sucked in the pocket.  But last season, he made around 40% of his throws from the pocket, and completed 73% SEVENTY THREE PERCENT of them.  I'm not sure, but I believe that those who picked on him over the pocket thing went back two seasons without regard to trends or improvement, which is Memorex Moron stuff.

I was also going to say this as a joke, but the more I thought of it, the less funny it sounded.  He has size sixteen feet.  If he stands on his toes he's at least 6'6" and can see the field over the linemen.  (Go ahead and laugh anyway it is funny.)

Oh here's Ross Tucker talking to Grossi on NFL Radio.  I love Ross, but he's like an old lady gossiping over a fence.  Trying to get Grossi to agree that Jimmy is a meddler.  When Ross talks football, he's one of my top sources.  But when he talks gossip, I ignore him.

Tony is for once standing up for Hoyer.  Now he's pointing out how Hoyer was in the process of rescuing the season last year when he was injured.  He now sounds like he didn't think quarterback was a huge need.

I agree with him: It's not fair that a bunch of juvenile, starstruck fans and pundits will tilt the playing field as heavily in Manziel's favor as they will.  Hoyer not only has to beat Manziel out, but also the mob.

I'll add more later

It's later: Pat Kirwan has weighed in.  He doesn't care what Haslam says, Manziel will start opening day.  Nothing Hoyer has done changes Pat's mind.  As he continued, I realized that nothing that has happened since last season has changed his mind about the Browns.

He's talking about last years' team, as if the new coaches, free agents, and draft picks mean nothing.  Just as he dismissed what Pettine and Haslam said about competition and Manziel being a backup for now, he also dismisses anybody who says that the Browns will resemble Seattle with a strong running game and defense, which will help the quarterback.

Kirwan has more football expertise in his little pinky than I do in my whole brain, but I can honestly say that I USE that brain a lot more efficiently.

They just plugged every hole in their defense, and might now have the best press corner tandem in the NFL.  They already had a top 5 3-4 D-line, and it will also be a top five 4-man defensive line when deployed that way!  Dansby and possibly the best coverage linebacker in this draft don't matter to Pat.

Two new guards, including one who could be another Fanika, Shanahan's zone-blocking system with THREE new one-cut running backs don't even register with him.  

No, Pat says this team will be playing from behind and be forced to pass, maybe sixty times a game.

Unbelievable.  Pat is a Memorex Moron.  What a waste!

He claims he checked the Browns roster "Nothing there".  Then he didn't really check, because he would have at least mentioned Charles Johnson in order to dismiss him off-handedly like he dismisses a whole lot of other facts.

Johnson is 6'2", 215 and ran under 4.38 twice and this is-- as Pat likes to say--inter-esting.

But I digress.  In reality, the Browns will obviously have a much stronger running game and defense this season, which will help the quarterback.  Just as obviously, they really need wide recievers bad.

Benjamin could help, but won't be fully recovered from his own acl thing.  He might have his straight-line speed back, but be unable to cut to one side effectively.

Out of necessity, they've got to give Braylon Little another shot.  I don't know--there's a chance.

Anyway, this is another reason NOT to screw Hoyer out of what he's earned.

Look, the West Coast is a sophisticated offense with which Hoyer is familiar.  Manziel is used to running when his first or second reads aren't there.

To be honest, I'm not sure of Texas A&M's system, but most college quarterbacks rely on their eyes, and throw when they SEE a guy open.  It's very hard for some guys to throw to a SPOT with the reciever's back still turned to him.

The players on this team were looking forward to Hoyer starting.  They had confidence in him.  If Manziel can actually prove that he is already better than Hoyer, ok.  But if Pettine succumbs to public pressure, and starts the second-best quarterback, they will lose respect for him, and resent the situation, if not the anointed one himself.

Kirwan talks about "four career starts" as if four training camps, all that time under Brady, and all that practice are meaningless, but they're not.

What about Tom Brady, Pat?  Wasn't even a full-time starter at Michigan.  Too skinny.  Weak arm.  Nobody wanted him.  Accuracy issues.

But he got bigger and stronger.  He developed a strong arm.  He became very accurate at every level.

But Brady was special, right?  It's not even possible that some of that rubbed off on Brian Hoyer?  Don't you know, whatever Brady did to improve himself, Hoyer has been doing?

Pat Kirwan would have put Drew Bledsoe back as the starter when he was healed.  Bill Belichick TRADED the first-round pick WITHIN HIS DIVISION and KEPT (the as yet still developing) Brady!!!

The sixth round pick.  The guy nobody else wanted.  The inexperienced, still imperfect guy!  Pat would never have done any of these things.

When Marc Sanchez was drafted, Pat pointed out a scary statistic: Junior quarterbacks who start as rookies almost always fail.  They need over thirty starts in college before they have a statistically decent chance.

RG3 was the one exception to this rule since.  Wilson and Luck were both old hands.  So is it based on RG3 that Pat now thinks starting an inexperienced kid is smart here?

When he asserts that the Browns will be playing from behind, have to pass a lot, and don't have any wide recievers?

I see!  Pat hates Manziel!  He wants to see him get destroyed!  That explains it!  It's the only thing that makes sense!

Pat Kirwan is the guy who described how two college defenses at least slowed Johnny down.  He said they contained him--the ends didn't penetrate too far or get behind him.  Everybody stayed in his lane and gave him nowhere to scramble.  

They used what Pat called "phantom blitzes" in which a linebacker would take a step to fake a blitze, but then back off again into coverage.

Pat didn't go further, but I know that he meant that one of his recievers read it and diverted to that linebacker's coverage zone--to find himself covered.  Manziel skipped his progression to look for his hot read--who was covered.

I still learn a ton from Pat.  If anybody else had said the stuff he said, I'd call him an idiot.  All I can say to Pat is, I don't think he really thought it through or did his homework.

I love Marty Schottenheimer too, but he was a blockhead.  Ok.  Pat Kirwan is a blockhead.  He'll believe the strong running game and the dominating defense when he sees it, but lacks the imagination to see it coming.

And he'll NEVER accept Hoyer as more than a backup, no matter what he does.

Good for Haslam calling Manziel a backup!  That wasn't for Johnny.  I have little doubt that he and Pettine have privately assured him that he'll have his chance, but they expect Hoyer to keep the job.  Most likely they asked him if he could be honest enough with himself to accept that Hoyer was better for now.

No, that statement was for Pat Kirwan and the MOB.  Right up front, he wants everybody to know that Peter King, Pat Kirwan, and the mob are not running this team, and this team belongs to Hoyer until the kid takes it from him fair and square.

Want a second opinion?  Ask the players in that locker room.

Want a third opinion? Ask Bud Shaw.