Despite Injuries to Manziel and Hoyer, There Are Still Bright Spots for Browns

Stop me if you've heard this one before: The Cleveland Browns will probably be starting a quarterback you have never heard of in a game that means nothing to end the season. As familiar as that narrative is in Cleveland, it doesn't change the fact that there are a ton of positives to take away from this season.

The stark contrast will make it sting that much worse. The Baltimore Ravens will be playing for their playoff lives and a season sweep of the Browns on Sunday. The Browns, on the other hand, will be running a bunch of practice squad guys onto the field just to play out the string. Looking at it as a comparison between the two teams and franchises makes it hurt.

But when you dig deeper, you see this is not a microcosm of the entire season but rather an unfortunate byproduct of bad luck, injuries and being a team growing and finding its way in the NFL. Sure, most would have liked to see rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel get on the field again so we could try to determine whether or not he is the future.

That won't happen, but even if it did we would over-analyze and dissect it as if it would define Manziel's career. The reality is that any and all experience can only help him in the future.

“I don’t think it would be fair to give up on somebody after seven quarters of football,” Manziel said. “If that’s what they were in the business for and what they intended on me coming in here doing—just giving him seven quarters, giving him a couple of games and then looking somewhere else—I don’t think that’s a lot of commitment and sticking with somebody.”

So while everyone in Cleveland will make jokes about Connor Shaw and ironically say how he is the savior of this football team, there is actually something to be gained from him starting as well. It certainly does not seem like Brian Hoyer will return next season, so who will be the backup quarterback? It very well could be a combination of Shaw and a veteran.

Just like with Manziel, Shaw can only improve from actual game reps. If he impresses and then has a good offseason, he just might find himself in a backup job one year after going undrafted.

The defense will not look familiar, either. John Hughes is expected to return Sunday, but Ahtyba Rubin, Tashaun Gipson and a litany of other players will not take the field. Someone has to get that playing time, so why not Scott Solomon?

The guy who was barely elevated from the practice squad in time to play Sunday made a big impact. And while he probably won't be an All-Pro, it always helps to identify depth on your squad for next year.

Speaking of next year, head coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer need to identify who truly are Browns. At the beginning of this season, they instituted a widely mocked but effective credo of "Play Like a Brown."

With nothing on the line and their vacation just days away, who will continue to play like a Brown? That is an important question because if they are going to build a culture in Cleveland, there needs to be a company line to walk. Pettine admitted on Tuesday that there were off-field issues that limited rookies Justin Gilbert and Terrance West.

“This is something that we’re...it’s very serious to us on how we approach our work and how we handle our business week to week,” Pettine said. “It is a tough love circumstance for both of those guys. We expect them to uphold their end of the bargain.”

The players who can stay true to that line and continue to play hard should get first crack at being here when the winning starts.

And it will start; it just won't be this season. The best the Browns can do is get to 8-8, and even that seems like a stretch at this point. The Ravens have everything to play for and the Browns, well, they will probably be halfway to Jamaica in their minds.

The fact that this is occurring in Week 17 and not in Week 13 is a marked improvement from years past as well. More than half the league has nothing to play for this week, and the Browns were one of the last to arrive at irrelevance. I keep saying it, but baby steps are still steps.

This season we saw Joe Haden continue his upward trajectory, and he now legitimately looks like one of the best corners in the league. Rookie Joel Bitonio also established himself as the type of guy you don't have to worry about on the offensive line. That’s all you can ask for.

So negatives will rule the day on Sunday, and it is definitely tough to force those out of your mind. But when all is said and done and the dust settles, Shaw starting and the Browns tailing off late will not define the season. Promise and progression will.

All quotes and observations were acquired firsthand unless otherwise noted.