Apparently, neither of the Fs in JFF stands for “frustrated.”
Browns rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel said Friday that he didn’t necessarily agree with coach Mike Pettine’s assessment that he was getting antsy about not playing.
“I don’t necessarily think that’s the right word,” Manziel said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Obviously coming from the situation I’ve been in the past couple years of every rep, every snap, every down of every game, coming into the situation that I’m in now is going to be a lot different for me. So I’m sure there are signs of this being a different situation for me, but I don’t feel frustrated. Obviously, being a competitor I want to play, but there is a difference.”
Manziel said he thinks he’s “in the role that I need to be at this time,’' which is backing up Browns starter Brian Hoyer. And he acknowledged that he had a poor camp, when he was given every opportunity to make the job his own.
“I’m still extremely hungry,’' he said. “I still feel that obviously coming out training camp, I was disappointed. I wanted to play better and at the same time I am a rookie and I can’t be too hard on myself. I remember thinking back to the days when I was learning the offense at [Texas] A&M. It was frustrating. And it’s like that for everybody coming into a new system and a new place a long way away from home. So there’s a lot of things that were going on in my life at the time. Now I’m a lot more settled in, a lot more comfortable with everything that’s going on in the day-to-day operations.’'
The fact he’s been able to cool off a bit hasn’t hurt either, as being in the center of the social media whirl this summer only added expectations that he wasn’t ready to meet.
So for now, Johnny Football is fine with being a backup, which is a nicer F for a middle initial anyway.
