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No Browns QB controversy yet, but Johnny Manziel is showing real progress

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

The Cleveland Browns haven't really opened the door for Johnny Manziel to be their starting quarterback to open this season, and there's a long way to go before that's a possibility.

Manziel played fairly well against the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night, starter Josh McCown threw a couple interceptions, but Browns coach Mike Pettine said McCown is still "firmly" the No. 1 quarterback.

Whether Manziel forces a quarterback controversy shouldn't even be the chatter yet anyway. Through two preseason games, Manziel looks like he could develop into a legitimate NFL quarterback. If that's all that comes out of this preseason, that's great news for the Browns and Manziel, even if Josh McCown still starts as expected in Week 1.

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Manziel isn't wrecking the NFL yet, but he doesn't look like a lost cause either. The second-year quarterback looks better. Manziel went 10-of-18 for 118 yards. He's not playing a random sandlot game. He is clearly making the effort to play within the system, and improvise when he has to. He had a long way to go coming out of college, because Texas A&M doesn't play a pro-style offense. Manziel also pushed the ball downfield a couple times against the Bills, something he didn't try to do in the preseason opener. Manziel's best work came on a 96-yard touchdown drive that started in the final minute of the third quarter.

There weren't any splashy plays early in the drive, just good rhythm quarterbacking to get the ball out to his receivers and let them move the chains. Then he had a nice highlight on a play-action bootleg, with a really nice throw while rolling to his left for a 37-yard gain. Then two plays later he stepped up to avoid the rush, found an open man and threw a nice 21-yard touchdown pass to Shane Wynn. Not bad.

McCown struggled a bit, which will probably lead to some inevitable speculation about a controversy, no matter how much Pettine denies there will be one. And there shouldn't be one yet. McCown did throw two interceptions. One thrown on the move into coverage, but probably should have been caught. The second one was pretty bad, heaved up into coverage and well underthrown. He made some decent throws too. He went 7-of-10 for 57 yards. Nobody is going to be surprised by McCown this year. His ceiling is low. He's just a journeyman placeholder until either Manziel proves himself or the Browns move onto someone else. It's probably best for Manziel to keep developing slowly and work his way into the team's long-term plans.

ESPN's Jon Gruden did a great job illustrating how Manziel made correct adjustments at the line of scrimmage to get the team into the right plays, both running plays and passing plays. That's progress. Manziel was even better than last week in hitting his back foot on his drop and getting the ball out immediately to the right read. He needed to improve a lot at that aspect of the game, and he clearly is better at it.

Manziel had a chance to write a fun ending, as the Browns trailed 11-10 in the final two minutes. The Browns moved the ball a bit but stalled before they passed midfield. Manziel had a fun completion to midfield after scrambling around but it was wiped out because of an ineligible lineman downfield penalty. Manziel had a fourth-down pass dropped with eight seconds left, which would have gotten the Browns in range for a really long field-goal attempt.

Nobody will remember if the Browns won on Thursday night. But if Manziel does become a starting NFL quarterback, keep in mind the strides he showed against the Bills. It's just preseason and Manziel still has to prove a lot when the games count, but he's at least giving himself a chance.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!