NFL Notebook: Johnny Backseat

John Ahern

Johnny "Football" Takes a Backseat.

The two most polarizing athletes in all of sports, arguably, represent the city of Cleveland. LeBron James of the Cavaliers and newcomer Johnny Manziel, rookie quarterback of the Browns. James is a topic of discussion for another day, while Manziel is a water cooler novel unfolding. The recent chapter of which comes as no surprise following Head Coach Mike Pettine's announcement of Brian Hoyer as the regular season starter. The cocky and brash former Texas A&M stud is simply not ready for prime time. In action thus far in preseason tells us so. He has not caught up to the speed of the game while looking sometimes uncomfortable in the pocket.

His instincts and awareness can at times make him look confused, and his scrambling ability has suffered. But, hey, is he not right where he should be? He will make an impact at some point, but just not right now. The Browns have been relatively obsolete since their return to the NFL, and Johnny "Football" may be a focal point of the franchise's resurgence Let him learn from the sideline, and grasp the game from an outside in perspective. It was a gutsy decision for the head coach in the present, but a good one for the future.

Preseason Importance:

At the midway point of the exhibition season a few things are certain. Scores and margin of victory are no indication of what to expect come September. The NFL transaction wire will read like a scroll much like the last name of Smith in any city's white page telephone directory (so I'm dating myself). If the are as many flags thrown each week, as there were this past weekend, it would make Red Sox vs Yankees look like a half hour infomercial. A topic we will revisit many times this season. And a team with a losing record last year will make the playoffs this year. As for the hear and now, and as a fan of the game, game three of the 2014 preseason is the game you want to see. It's the game where in most cases the first teamers see the most action. They along with the second team on every roster have but all been decided. And they get to tune up for week one. As smash mouth as it will get in August for the core of each franchise.

Here's the slate:

Thur. Pittsburgh at Philadelphia

Fri.  Carolina at New England
      N.Y. Giants at N.Y. Jets
      Jacksonville at Detroit
      Oakland at Green bay
      Chicago at Seattle

Sat.  Tampa Bay at Buffalo
      Dallas at Miami
      Tennessee at Atlanta
      Washington at Baltimore
      New Orleans at Indianapolis
      St. Louis at Cleveland
      Minnesota at Kansas City
      Houston at Denver

Sun.  San Diego at San Francisco
      Cincinnati at Arizona

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Pressure in New England:

Ten years ago the Patriots last won the super, and have since been the model organization in the NFL. They were tabbed a dynasty by many after beating the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX, and part and parcel have lived up to the billing, but here is where it gets dicey. The standards get higher based on a teams success. Let me explain. New England has a regular season record of 110-34 since. Fantastic! Have missed the playoffs only once. Awesome! They have appeared in 5 Conference Championships and 2 Super Bowls as well, which most teams would beg the chance. All that with perhaps the best head coach of all time and certainly one of the top signal callers in league history. 

Not enough! When your team has the aforementioned representing, there should be more. The patriots have added an "all world" defensive back in Darrelle Revis and former "Legion of Boom" member from Seattle Brandon Browner to provide an elixir to a defense that has lacked fortitude at crucial times during big games. Combine that with the "greatest" head coach/quarterback tandem of all time, then anything short of a Super Bowl Victory would be failure.

Coaching Pays Off (or does it?)
A list of the top ten head coaching salaries of 2014:

10) Andy Reid    Kansas City Chiefs   6 million
9)  Mike Tomlin  Pittsburgh Steelers  6 million
8)  Chip Kelly  Philadelphia Eagles   6.5 million
7)  Tom Coughlin New York Giants      6.8 million
6)  John Harbaugh Baltimore Ravens    7 million
5)  Jeff Fisher St. Louis Rams        7 million
4)  Pete Carroll Seattle Seahawks     7 million
3)  Mike Shanahan Washington(former)  7 million
2)  Bill Belichick New England        7.5 million
1)  Sean Payton  New Orleans          8 million

Does not seem like a lot of compensation for such a demanding title!

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