Hair ofthe Dawg Pound
NFL Network says Manziel was drunk at practice and wasn’t concussed for finale
Johnny Manziel didn’t have a concussion that kept him out of the Cleveland Browns’ final game of the NFL season.
But he did have a sore head. Most folks just call them hangovers.
While the Browns tried to cover up his absence with the concussion story, according to the NFL Network, the real story is that Manziel showed up drunk at a Wednesday practice.
That made him off-limits to media, he left the team and it raised all kinds of suspicion about his future, with the Browns finally saying recently that they intended to cut ties with the troubled quarterback.
And that’s just this week’s first act in the Manziel circus.
In another report, his ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley was allegedly hit so hard by Manziel that it ruptured her left eardrum, according to Crowley’s attorney. Kathy Kinser told NBC they “expect (the ear) to heal, but it’ll take a while.”
Manziel is the subject of a criminal investigation into the alleged assault that took place during the early hours of Jan. 30. Crowley filed a protective order last week in Texas and Manziel has been ordered to stay away from her for two years.
Meantime, the NFL Network’s Mike Silver reported the Browns lied on the late-season injury report.
“Johnny Manziel ... showed up drunk at practice on a Wednesday. The Browns lied and said he was in the concussion protocol ... to try to protect, and I would argue enable, this irresponsible and very troubled young man.”
The Browns issued a statement later Tuesday denying they’d lied, while saying Manziel was diagnosed by an independent neurologist.
Manziel was supposed to start the final game of the season until a video showed him partying.
Then Browns head coach Mike Pettine said he would speak to and reprimand Manziel about his behaviour.
Instead, when Manziel showed up on Wednesday, it was announced he had a concussion and couldn’t play.
Ever since, Manziel hasn’t been heard from except in police reports and a recent statement to TMZ Sports.
SAD SACK CAM?
The Panthers cleaned out their lockers on Tuesday.
Meantime, Cam Newton tried to clear the air regarding his sulky appearance and hasty departure from Sunday’s post-game Super Bowl briefings.
The league MVP quarterback admits he’s a sore loser. And he’s not sorry to admit it. “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser,” Newton said. “If I offended anyone, that’s cool ... I don’t have to conform to anybody’s wants for me. I’m not that guy. This is a great league with or without me. I am my own person.”
As Newton spoke with reporters, several teammates provided support chanting: “We Love Cam!” in the background.
Coach Ron Rivera said he understood Newton’s feelings and his teammates’ support of him.
“He’s really committed himself to being our franchise quarterback,” said Rivera. “The things that he does, you guys don’t see. You guys don’t get an opportunity to talk about the early mornings or the late afternoons, coming in on Tuesday on his own time and helping to sit down with coach (Mike) Shula and talk about what he likes in our game plan ... Most players haven’t even looked at the opponent until Wednesday morning. Those are things his teammates appreciate ... I’m proud of the fact they’re willing to stand up for him.”
What fans and the media saw after the game, said Rivera, was raw emotion. “The one thing about Cam a lot of people have to understand is he hates to lose. He really does. And a lot of great ones have that,” Rivera said. Which is true. It is also true that a lot of his teammates hate to lose just as much, but none of them acted like a four-yearold who just had their lollipop kicked through the playground dirt.
“I think he’ll learn,” Rivera said, “and grow from this situation and come back stronger next year.”
THE NAYS HAVE IT
Broncos general manager John Elway was asked twice Tuesday at a news conference if the team wanted Peyton Manning to return next season. Elway said a lot. “The key thing is for him to want to come back ... I think the important thing is it’s going to be his decision ... it’s up to Peyton to see that process.
“Where he is, where he is in his career, what he thinks he can do, how he can play, what he wants to do from here on out.
“Retirement’s always hard. I mean you can butt up to that line and crossing that line, taking that final step, saying I am moving on. That is a very — even if the first 99 per cent are easy to get there, that last one per cent is as hard as that first 99 per cent. So that’s why he’s gonna have the time he needs and it’s basically gonna be up to him.”
But he didn’t say the magic word: “Yes.”
Not once did Elway suggest if Manning decides to continue playing that he wants him to stay in Denver.
Read into that whatever you will, but it would appear to validate a statement by Peyton’s father Archie that his son is done in Denver.