JOHNNY MANZIEL POST-PRACTICE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT 8-16-14

On talking with Head Coach Mike Pettine about the QB competition:

“We just talked about what the schedule was going to be going into the game on Monday, how we were going to alternate, how we were going to rotate and stuff.  I think they’re just going to see how both of us play.”

On having any disappointment that he was not named the starter at Washington:

“I’m taking it with the same approach that I have the past three weeks of camp.”

On whether he thinks he has a 50/50 chance of getting the starting QB job:

“I don’t know the exact percentage chances of it, but I think, from what Coach Pettine and everyone else has stated from the very beginning, they said that it was an equal, open competition and I don’t think that’s changed.”

On whether he views Monday night’s game as crucial:

“I look at this game Monday night as my second game that I have gotten to play in my career, and it’s a preseason game that I need to go out and move the ball down the field.”

On how he thinks he’s progressed since the first preseason game against Detroit:

“Better. Another week of practice, a lot of opportunities to get better in practice and get more familiar with the playbook and certain plays so continuing to get better.”

On whether it’s tough not to try and do too much with Head Coach Mike Pettine stating he hopes to name the starting QB on Tuesday:

“I think it’s just go out and just play football. We’ve done all the preparation we need going into the game up to that point. When the game comes, it’s go out and play football like we’ve been doing our entire lives.”

On of he thrives in pressure situations like this one:

“I don’t think that there’s any pressure for me. I’m still learning. I’m still growing. This is my second game. My expectations aren’t through the roof. It’s to go out and compete extremely hard, be a leader for those guys, whatever group I’m with, and we’ll see what happens.”

On whether he’s ready for NFL defenses, such as Pittsburgh’s in Week 1, compared to what he faced in college:

“I don’t think that I’m ready for Pittsburgh right now. I’ve only played one game, but the more and more you see it, the more you get familiar with it, I think the better it will be. I think there are guys who have played in this league for a long time who can sit there after years and years of playing games and still don’t have it all figured out. It’s tricky stuff, but at the same time, we’re doing things on offense to try and throw them off their guard, as well.”

On whether he thinks he can get ready for the Pittsburgh Steelers by September 7:

“It’s not saying that I’m not ready or that I won’t be ready. I don’t want that taken out of context. It’s just right now the second preseason game. I’m not ready to go out and start Week 1 because there’s a lot of time left until that point. For me, there’s plenty of weeks left for me to learn, preseason games, get adapted to the speed. If I was the starter for Pittsburgh for Week 1, then you have to be ready. You have to be ready for Week 1. It’s the opening week of the season. It’s a big game.”

On if he feels he is making reads in ways he never did before, noting teammates have commented on his improvements going through progressions:

“No, I think that there’s a lot more structure on the reads than what I was used to. A lot of times in college, it was pick a side in college, (side) one (or side) two. Now, we can work from across the field. Different looks can get us into different reads so it’s more complex, more detailed, but I like it.”

On getting comfortable with the Browns’ offensive play calls and longer verbiage in comparison to college, noting one of Texas Tech Head Coach and former Texas A&M offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury’s call sheets was posted online:

“It’s not easy. It’s a process. I’ve had to get used to the directions of going left and right and a keeper into another guy coming across. It’s like learning Spanish really for the first few weeks, but now, getting into it, I’m able to paint a picture of the play in my head as it’s said and really progressing it better. That’s really what (offensive coordinator) Kyle (Shanahan) and (quarterbacks) Coach (Dowell) Loggains have said from the very beginning that the more and more you do it, the more and more you get comfortable with it. When you‘re in your break, keep saying it, keep saying it, keep telling it to yourself, and eventually, if you do it enough times, it will stick.”

On if it’s difficult to go back to a receiver who dropped a pass on the previous play:

“I don’t think so. I think that we have a lot of confidence in these guys, and these guys are out here working extremely hard to haul the ball in and move it down the field. I think those guys know when they’ve had a drop, and there are times where me, (QBs) Brian (Hoyer), Rex (Grossman) and Connor (Shaw) need to get them a better ball, as well. It’s a joint relationship there that we have to be better at, and they have to be better at as well, and that’s what we’re trying to do every day is to get better at that.”

On if he has picked Grossman’s brain at all since joining the Browns:

“He’s been in the offense awhile. I think he’s a guy who he can come in and be a mentor for everybody in the room, a guy that’s extremely familiar with this offense, with Kyle, with how things go through a season and having two young guys in there, as well, in Washington. Just little subtle things throughout the day, but I’m sure it’ll pick up as we continue go through camp.”

On the importance of the offense getting into the end zone Monday:

“That’s what we need to do. We haven’t done it yet, so that’s what we need to do. That’s the goal for every group that’s out there is to score points.”

On if he was late to a team meeting and if it potentially impacted the decision on him not starting this game:

“I personally don’t think that it had any [impact on the] decision going into this week. I misread the schedule on Monday. I think that we had to come in at 7:30, and it was the only day we have had to come in at camp, and I was on time for what I thought was our normal 8:15 meeting time. It was just a misinterpretation, misreading of the schedule. I sat down with Coach (Mike) Pettine and talked to him. We handled it and we’ve moved on. Obviously, I just need to do a better job of reading the schedule the night before. It was an honest mistake and something that I need to learn from and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

On if he and the rookies have had to do anything special this year:

“We have a rookie show today so I’m sure it’ll get a little interesting. Me and Connor Shaw have a little something planned so it should be a good time, just go up there and try to make these guys laugh a little bit.”

On the importance of having the organization get behind one quarterback soon, whether it’s Hoyer or him:

“I just think that we need to continue to get familiar with our offense, continue to get familiar with the personnel that we have out there and just mesh more than anything. Obviously, that makes it a little easier when you know who the starter is going to be Week 1, but at the same time, things happen throughout a season where a guy goes down and another guy’s got to come in. Adversity happens throughout the season. Injuries happen so I think whenever the starter is named we’ll have an idea of how the mesh is going to be in continuing to build that, but it’s always something that’s ongoing throughout a season.”

On whether he feels any pressure from the fans and Cleveland to succeed because the city ‘expects him to be the savior’:

“No, I don’t look at is as I was drafted to come in day one and save the franchise. I think when I got drafted from the top, from (General Manager) Ray Farmer and everybody that’s involved in this organization that they had a plan for me and they want me to be successful. Whenever that is, I feel that my future is here and they brought me in to hopefully be the future down the road one day. For me, there’s no pressure, there’s no time table. It’s to continue to develop as a football player, get smarter, get better, and whenever that time is, I’ll go out there and play football like I’ve been doing for the past years of my life.”

On tuning out the over-analysis and worldwide attention that he receives on every snap he takes:

“(That went on) last offseason when I was at (Texas) A&M and came back and everybody said that I would be a sophomore slump and all kinds of things, and then we came out and had a better year statistically than before. The chaos, everything that’s been going on – the talk, the hype, the overreaction, the over-analysis – has been from the day that I won the Heisman when I was a freshman, from that spring, to that fall, to the draft, to now. If you look at it, it’s been a constant in my life. It’s been the one thing that’s been the most constant in my life for the past two years. I don’t even pay attention to it anymore. I don’t ever really see it. It never really phases me.”

On learning to put touch on the ball in comparison to firing passes in college:

“I think more than anything when I got here, I needed to be more decisive. Whenever I saw something, that second hitch that you have in college to really see it play through your head, see it open and throw it, now it’s back foot hit the ground you need to let it rip. More than anything now, I feel that I threw with more touch than I did in college, and now ,there are times when I need to put my foot in the ground and let one rip. I feel like that’s the case now more than it was before. You have to be decisive.”

On Coach Pettine’s comment of possibly not sticking with the opening day starting QB for the entire season:

“I feel that I need to go out on Monday and try to play as good of football as I can. I don’t think you can let anything that’s said around that affect anything that goes on. I think I need to continue to stay in my lane and continue to learn and develop. That’s all I really need to do right now and not focus on anything else.”

On how was the ALS ice bucket challenge after yesterday’s practice:

“It was good. It was colder than I thought.”

On talking with ESPN Monday Night Football color commentator Jon Gruden yesterday:

“It went well. Obviously, I had a chance to interact with him a couple of days through the draft process which was really cool and then to see him again. Obviously, with him doing the game, coming back to chat with us, it was cool to be back around him. Finally knowing a lot now than where I was once before, it was a really good talk and (it) was good to see him.”