Here’s Johnny: Manziel gets starting nod
One thing is certain: Johnny Manziel will not see the field against the Edmonton Eskimos on Thursday.
The same could not be said a week ago heading into their last game. After the blockbuster trade that sent Johnny Football to the Montreal Alouettes four days earlier, about the only thing being said was whether or not he would see the field against the Eskimos.
Manziel once again ended up being relegated to the role of Johnny Sideline, while the quarterback he was keeping the seat warm for remained in the game for the entire 60 painstaking minutes.
Unfortunately, no statistics were kept on how many of those minutes were spent with the fans at Montreal’s Percival Molson Stadium chanting, “We want Johnny,” as the Eskimos pulled further and further ahead on the way to a 4423 win.
It was enough to drive Als quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. to the brink, and past it, as it turned out.
“Yes, it hurt me to hear that,” Adams told La Presse after the game where he completed 15 of 28 passes for 217 yards and an interception. “I have nothing more to say or give to the fans of Montreal. Never again.”
The Montreal pivot then issued an apology to Alouettes fans Tuesday.
Adams still has the CFL’s reigning most outstanding player in his corner.
“I thought he did a great job, I like Vernon a lot,” said Eskimos quarterback and league-leading passer Mike Reilly. “I know where he played college ball at, he played for the same coach that I did, that Bo (Levi Mitchell, Calgary Stampeders) did, that Matt (Nichols, Winnipeg Blue Bombers) did. I know what kind of football player that he is.
“It’s been an interesting ride for him in his career. I remember talking to him on the field a few years ago, saying: ‘Hey, man. You’ve just got to be patient. I had to wait three years before I really got my opportunity.”
For Adams, it appears his was over almost as soon as it started. On Tuesday, the Als announced Manziel will make his CFL debut Friday, getting the start against his former Hamilton Tiger-Cats teammates.
“And this was a tough situation for him to come into. Obviously, they brought Johnny in to play,” Reilly said. “There’s no doubt about that and Vernon knows that, he understands what it’s all about. But he was asked to go in and play and it’s not like he’s been getting a ton of reps to be the starter over the last couple of weeks either.
“So whether this opportunity in Montreal is where he’s going to get his chance or it’s going to be somewhere else, down the road, he gets it because he’s been working hard and he’s a guy that will go out and put his heart on the field for the guys that he’s playing with.”
Even the ones whose names aren’t being chanted.
HUGHES EFFORT
In all his time spent contending for the CFL’s sack title, 11-year veteran pass rusher Charleston Hughes has seen it all.
Except, that is, to have a secondyear Canadian such as Eskimos defensive end Kwaku Boateng nipping at his heels.
“Oh, yeah? What does he have four, five?” asked Hughes, who leads the league with eight sacks, ahead of Boateng’s five. “That’s pretty good, I haven’t seen that in a while.
“I’ve actually never seen that before, so yeah, that’s quite interesting. But it doesn’t really make any difference to me.”