Browns will start Josh McCown at quarterback if healthy

Yes, they shut the Browns down in the second half, but that is a bad Browns’ offense who had no business going on a 92 yard drive at the end of the first half.

McCown’s health is “improving”, and he’s day-to-day, Pettine said. I get the call for, ‘Hey, why not (Manziel)? What do the Browns learn about their continually-pathetic quarterback situation by keeping McCown as their starter, other than said situation still needs to be fixed? Hopefully, we’ll know soon.

The Browns have yet to decide whether Manziel will start against the Steelers next week.

McCown might not be ready for the November 15 game against Pittsburgh – Cleveland’s only game in a 24-day stretch – so it’s possible Manziel will get a second straight start by necessity. Give me a running start at guys and not a lot of guys are going to win that battle. The Browns’ playoff chances are below zero, and throwing McCown back on the field to lead the team to the finish line of another season filled with losing makes zero sense. Safe to say even the players themselves wouldn’t have expected to be undefeated this late in the season, but here they are, each week adding to their franchise record.

He hasn’t been the reason for the losing, which is noteworthy for a team forever looking to solve the problem at the game’s most important position. But until and unless the coaches really think the team has nothing to play for, Manziel will likely have to remain on the bench.

Eight-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas appreciates Pettine’s stance. Josh McCown will be back under center if he is healthy enough to play. So there’s not going to be any mailing it in, trying to play for next year.

I’m sure this is being fought tooth-and-nail by a coaching staff that reportedly wanted nothing to do with Manziel in the first place.

“There’s extra scrutiny when you’re not making the playoffs and you’re not a winning team and you don’t have a winning record”, he said.

McCown has yet to return to practice after injuring his ribs during the Browns’ 34-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on November 1.

The Cleveland Browns are poised to select a quarterback in the 2016 NFL Draft and Johnny Manziel is helping them come to that conclusion.

“I think this period of time helped, but I would still consider him day to day”, Pettine said. “Looked like he didn’t have any ill effects from whatever happened this weekend”. The league is reviewing the matter under its personal conduct policy.

McCown’s best efforts, though, have not yielded the wins that Pettine has imagined. Todd Gurley was compared to Adrian Peterson entering this season and has done his best to kill that comparison by not only outperforming Peterson since he took over the starting job for the Rams four games ago. “… The statistics bear that out”. RB TAIWAN JONES scored 1st career TD last week (59-yard catch)…WR AMARI COOPER (No. 4 overall) leads National Football League rookies in catches (38) & receiving yards (565).

But while Pettine may have been indulging his passion for cigars and an adult beverage, he was also contemplating whom to start at quarterback Sunday at Pittsburgh. He’s completed 65 percent of his 254 passing attempts, has 1,897 passing yards and has thrown 11 touchdowns to four interceptions.

Dalton finished 21 of 27 for 234 yards with a passer rating of 139.8.