Cleveland Browns

Manziel's turnovers lead to Browns' undoing

Published Sep. 13, 2015 8:30 p.m. ET

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Johnny Manziel's grand entrance fizzled out in a sea of turnovers.

Manziel staked the Browns out to an early 7-0 lead when he hit Travis Benjamin for a 54-yard scoring strike on his first possession after replacing a concussed Josh McCown, but things went all downhill from there. 

On the first drive of the second half, Manziel made a bad decision by forcing a pass to Brian Hartline on the outside and was picked off by Marcus Williams just shy of midfield. The Jets made it 21-10 on the ensuing drive and then forced another Manziel turnover early in the fourth quarter. 

Manziel was trying to evade the rush when he was sacked by Muhammad Wilkerson at his own 24-yard line and the Jets found the end zone again with a short field to make it 31-10. After driving into Jets territory on the next series, Manziel coughed it up again when he was sacked by Trevor Reilly, and that was all she wrote. He finished the day 13 of 24 for 182 yards, one touchdown, one interception and two lost fumbles. 

"First and foremost, you can't turn the ball over," Manziel said after the game via Cleveland.com. "So that one throw on the pick, that's got to be outside, that's got to be our ball or nobody's. So that kind of slowed our momentum a little bit."

Manziel got little help from the run game, as he led all rushers with 35 yards on five carries. McCown was second with 23 yards while Isaiah Crowell, Duke Johnson and Shaun Draughn combined for 46 yards on 20 carries. 

Head coach Mike Pettine was able to extract some positives from Manziel's performance in an unexpected situation. 

"I think that's tough for any No. 2 quarterback who has to come in and play three quarters," Pettine said. "The throw to Travis (Benjamin) was outstanding ... But he's got to be more protective of the ball. We can't turn the ball over and expect to win ... But overall, for coming in cold, he did some good things and there were some things he will regret."

h/t: Cleveland.com

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