Mike Pettine Comments on Johnny Manziel Staying in Pocket, QB's Play vs. Bengals

Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine has not handled the team's quarterback situation particularly well, especially when it comes to Johnny Manziel.

Manziel played a stellar first half Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals but completed only four of 15 passes in the second half as the Browns lost to the undefeated Bengals 31-10.

Pettine told NFL Network at halftime that he thought Manziel needed to "settle down" because he missed some reads in the first half, but he didn't want to limit Manziel's ability to make plays outside the pocket, per ESPN.com's Pat McManamon.

"By no means was that a comment designed that we wanted him to stay in the pocket," Pettine said Friday. "But when there's a play to be made early, let's make them."

Manziel played well in the first half, completing 11 of 18 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown. That's the type of performance the Browns would love to see from the signal-caller on a consistent basis.

NFL Network's Rich Eisen was simple in his assessment of the former Heisman Trophy winner's first-half performance:

But when the Bengals took away Manziel's ability to roll out and extend the play, he struggled.

"I thought in the second half they did a good job of taking away the first read initially," Pettine said. "I thought they did a better job of kind of staying in rush lanes and bottling him up."

Manziel has yet to find a way to consistently make plays from the pocket because his improvisational skills are what made him successful at Texas A&M, per McManamon:

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But the conundrum with his skills is similar to when he was drafted: He is effective when he improvises, but NFL offenses are structured, and the risk of injury increases with improvisation. The challenge becomes managing his ability to move with the need to protect his long-term health, while also operating the offense as it's been practiced for months.

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One thing is certain: Manziel is not going to succeed if Pettine continues to shuffle the quarterback situation like he has between Manziel and Josh McCown. The veteran McCown was out of Thursday's game after suffering a shoulder injury but could be back next week.

The only way the Browns are going to find out if Manziel is their quarterback of the future is by watching him play. Pettine needs to let Manziel make mistakes and learn from them, but that's not going to happen if Manziel isn't on the field consistently.