It turns out Johnny Manziel brought at least a little of his college magic to the NFL.
With the Browns facing third and a meltdown with a little more than three minutes left Sunday, Manziel spun away from one Titans defender, sidestepped another and delivered a strike to Travis Benjamin, who caught it in stride and scored a 50-yard touchdown to make it 28-14 and basically put the game away.
“Vintage Johnny,” Browns coach Mike Pettine said.
It was Benjamin’s third touchdown of the day, two via Manziel and one on a 78-yard punt return. Benjamin leads the NFL in yards per reception and is clearly Manziel’s favorite target.
The Browns hadn’t done much offensively since the end of the first quarter before the 50-yard bomb. Had Manziel been sacked or had the ball fallen incomplete, the Browns would have been punting to a Titans team that had all the momentum.
Instead, it was just Benjamin and Manziel’s day. The punt return made it 21-0 just before halftime and was due punishment for the Titans’ willingness to kick to Benjamin on a day they obviously couldn’t stop him.
Manziel completed just eight passes all day, but with two going for touchdowns and the Browns winning, he did just enough to spark at least some discussion of which quarterback should play next week when the Browns host the Raiders. Josh McCown, the team’s starter, remains in NFL concussion protocol but expects to be cleared soon, maybe as soon as Monday.
Manziel has played seven of the eight quarters on the season after McCown was hurt trying to dive into the end zone on the Browns’ first drive last week. The Browns scored on their first two drives Sunday, then again when it counted most. Manziel finished Sunday 8-of-15 for 172 yards; though he fumbled twice, he did not turn the ball over a week after turning it over three times in the second half.
Stay tuned. Neither the Browns nor Manziel are generally boring.
