Brian Hoyer: Making Browns fans Forget about Johnny Manziel

The Cleveland Browns might have lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday to begin their season 0-1, but not before a big comeback by Brian Hoyer – the guy everyone has forgotten about with the Johnny Manziel saga. Hoyer is no joke, and he seems to turn on the firepower in regular-season crunch time. If he can continue what he did in the second half against Pittsburgh moving forward, we might begin to see fans quiet down just a bit.

Managing a thrilling comeback, Hoyer disregared the Steelers 27-3 halftime lead, and marched his team downfield four straight times to begin the second half, knotting the score at 27 and giving his team a chance to pull of the improbable upset.

Ultimately, the Browns’ secondary let up a few big plays to Steeler WR Markus Weaton, allowing the Steelers to hit the walk-off.

Hoyer ended the game with a 94.8 QB rating, tossing 230 yards that included a short pass to Travis Benjamin in the redzone for a touchdown. He did his job leading the team, something that says a lot for his future under center.

Johnny Manziel didn’t see the field at all on Sunday. He was limited to the bench for the entire opener, and he isn’t expected to take the gridiron any time soon. Hoyer is establishing himself as “the guy” in Cleveland…there’s not much room for Manziel as the offense currently stands.

As USA TODAY’s Chris Chase put it, “Sorry, Johnny Manziel. That bench just got a little warmer.”

"Johnny Bench will get his shot one day, but that day isn’t in the near future. It’s hard to imagine a situation that gets Manziel in a game over the next few weeks, aside from some possible use as a change-of-pace QB. Unless Hoyer gets injured or the Browns fall out of the playoff race, Manziel will stay where he was in Week 1: standing on the sideline watching a better quarterback lead the team."