Pettine defends Manziel after confrontation

Cleveland Browns coach

defended quarterback saying he’s unhappy with outside chatter about Manziel’s relationship with the team following a rehab stay and a minor confrontation with a fan.

Pettine said he’s not concerned after Manziel threw a water bottle at a heckler at a PGA Tour tournament in Texas.

“I have the details on what happened and, in my mind, it’s a nonstory,” Pettine said. “I’m not concerned, and I don’t see it as a distraction.”

Manziel, 22, declined to speak with the media after a two-hour practice on Tuesday. He hasn’t spoken with reporters since the day after last season’s finale in Baltimore.

“We all feel good about where Johnny is right now,” Pettine said. “He wants everything to be perfect, he wants it to be done right, and he wants to do it the way we’re coaching him to do it, so he has probably been the hardest guy on himself.”

Quarterback signed a five-year, $103.8 million contract extension with the Carolina Panthers that could keep him with the club through 2020. NFL commissioner

confirmed that he will hear appeal of his four-game suspension set for June 23. Running back

practiced with the Minnesota Vikings for the first time in nine months.

San Francisco 49ers fullback pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace in connection with an argument during which prosecutors say he smashed his fiancee’s cellphone. Miller must attend a 16-week domesticviolence counseling course as part of his sentence.

single knocked in in the first inning for the game’s only run.

Southern California Heisman Trophy winner

and former New Mexico linebacker are among the players making their first appearance on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot.

Other notable first-timers on the ballot include Kansas State’s Florida State’s and

Penn State’s Purdue’s Texas A&M’s and Michigan State’s

Chattanooga women’s basketball coach formerly of Ohio State, received a two-year extension to a contract that now runs through the 2020-21 season. St. Louis Blues, 7 p.m. and at St. Louis Blues, 8 p.m. (split squads); Sept. 24: vs. Minnesota Wild, 7 p.m.; Sept. 26: at Pittsburgh Penguins, 4 p.m.; Sept. 29: at Nashville Predators, 8 p.m.; Oct. 2: at Buffalo Sabres, 7 p.m., and Oct. 3: vs. Nashville Predators, 7 p.m.

was hired as coach of the New Jersey Devils, becoming the youngest coach in the NHL at 40.