BEREA (92.3 The Fan) – Training camp hasn’t been much fun for Johnny Manziel.
He hasn’t come in and blown anyone away with his play during the first 6 practices but on Friday he showed the ability to put points on the board – something the offense hasn’t done much of this week.
Manziel was responsible for at least 4 offensive touchdowns during 11 on 11 drills.
He threw a touchdown pass to Andrew Hawkins and then Anthony Armstrong. Armstrong, tired of seeing the bright orange jersey’s being worn by the defense, turned and threw the ball up to the second deck of the hospitality tent in celebration.
“Honestly, I didn’t have a target,” Armstrong said. “Looking back at it would have been ideal to throw it over the grandstand and hit the zipline. Without setting my feet and working on my quarterback technique it wasn’t going to go that far. The fact it made it to the second level I’m proud of that.”
In his next series, Manziel threw a strike to Miles Austin who took it in for 6 and in a red zone drill he ran up the gut for a score on a quarterback draw.
For much of the week the defense had been doing all the celebrating but on Friday it finally was the receivers turn and they took advantage.
“I think they were a little frustrated over time with the defensive backs,” head coach Mike Pettine said. “They’ve been very physical with them and they won a lot of the battles. I think that just spilled over. Any time they got a chance to get in the end zone, they wanted to make sure everybody knew it.”
Manziel was far from perfect as the timing and location of some of his throws still needs work. Safety Josh Aubrey swiped a one-handed interception after Manziel, who was not pressured on the play, tried to throw a ball off his back foot. It was another lesson learned for the rookie.
No Fun League – The goalposts are now props.
Manziel got the memo when he was flagged for flipping the football over the crossbar after running up the middle for a touchdown during an 11 on 11 red zone drill. He was penalized 15 yards for excessive celebration and unsportsmanlike conduct.
“The rule – and I needed to do a better job explaining it to them – is the goal post is now considered a prop,” Pettine said. “I’d rather learn that lesson in practice and use it as a coaching moment than in the middle of a game.”
Jump shots, finger rolls over the cross-bar, dunks, and even hitting the padding on the goal posts will all draw flags in 2014 from officials.
Points of Emphasis – Veteran official Pete Morelli gave the annual “points of emphasis and rule changes” presentation to reporters Friday.
- unsportsmanlike conduct will be heavily enforced and will extend to verbal taunting and abuse of opponents and officials. The league wants to cut out the use of slurs, excessive profanity and remarks about sexual orientation that have arisen in the heat of the game in years past.
- the enforcement of the 5-yard contact rule for defensive backs will be heavily enforced. Officials used to be lenient and would allow some contact 6-8 yards beyond the line of scrimmage but the league wants the rule enforced to a ‘T’ in 2014.
- Grabbing a receiver’s jersey to prevent them from gaining position or ground will also be heavily enforced. Conversely, receivers will not be able to get away with pushing off from defenders either.
- Roll up blocks or hits have also been banned for the side of the legs in addition to the back of the leg.
- The clock will not stop for a sack outside of the 2-minute warning as it has; instead it will continue to roll.
- During the Hall of Fame Game as well as first 2 weeks of the preseason, the NFL will experiment with the extra point. PATs will be snapped from the 15-yard line while 2-point conversions will still be run from the 2. The league is trying to find a way to make PATs more competitive and this is part of the evaluation process. It will again be a point of discussion next offseason.
Johnny’s Shoes – Manziel wore the Nike highlighter green cleats onto the practice field again Friday. He also wore then Sunday before changing out of them early in practice. On Friday he took them off right after the team stretched.
It was believed that the Browns equipment staff or coaching staff asked him to change them both times, but that is not the case.
The cleats are Nike prototypes and Manziel is simply testing them out. Quarterback Brian Hoyer wore pink cleats for Friday’s practice and no one seemed to notice or care.
The neon green cleats that Johnny Manziel wore at the beginning of Sunday’s and Friday’s practices. The prototypes from Nike are being tested out by the Browns rookie QB. / (Photo by Daryl Ruiter CBS Cleveland)
Hands Team – The defensive staff wore orange shirts during practice Friday so Pettine decided to put the orange jersey competition in the hands of his assistant coaches.
“I thought we had doubled our amount of ball boys out here at practice,” Pettine joked.
He sent 4 assistants from each side of the ball onto the field to catch punts from Spencer Lanning and to his surprise only 1 landed on the ground.
“I wanted to put it in their hands,” Pettine said. “I would have lost a lot of money if you would have said we’d put eight coaches out there catching knuckle-ball punts and seven of them would catch it. Those guys stepped up. It was impressive.”
Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan celebrated chasing down one of Lanning’s knuckle-balls with a dance that drew laughs from everyone. Coaching intern Mike LaFleur fielded the winning punt for the offense. They will wear orange for the first time in camp on Monday.
Injury Report – Safety Tashaun Gipson left practice with a knee injury and is undergoing further evaluation.
LB Tank Carder (foot), LB Darius Eubanks (shoulder), OL Randall Harris (knee), WR Chandler Jones (hamstring), OL Martin Wallace (shoulder) did not practice Friday.
OL Nate McDonald (wrist), DT Phil Taylor (hamstring) also remain out and are currently on the non-football injury list.
6th Straight Day of 3k – The Browns drew over 3,000 fans for the 6th straight practice since training camp opened in Berea July 26.
3,391 attended camp Friday and a total of 21,280 fans have attended camp to date. That total will double with Saturday’s practice at InfoCision Stadium which is expected to draw 25,000-30,000 fans.
Up Next – Family Day at InfoCision Stadium on the campus of the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio; no passes are available.
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