by Weeden set numerous records for passing, and offensive performance at Oklahoma State University including 4,727 Passing yards in the 2011 season. Honors included being named a 2010 All-Big 12 Quarterback, First-team. He was also a 2010 Manning Award Finalist.
He had the pedigree and raw talent, but coming into a pro Brian Hoyer crowd, down 10-0, he was going to need the heart! Like a seen out of Disney movie, the Browns outscored the Bills 17-0 in the second quarter to take the halftime lead 17-14. A field goal by Bully Cundiff and touchdown run by McGahee would tie it at 10, and then a 79-yard punt return by Travis Benjamin right before halftime gave them the lead.
After consecutive Buffalo rushing touchdowns made it 24-17 deep into the third quarter, Weeden tied it up once again when he hooked up with Josh Gordon for 37-yard touchdown to make it 24 all headed into the fourth quarter.
Two Billy Cundiff field goals gave the Browns a slim 30-24 late in the game. The Bills had the ball with two minutes to go and quarterback Jeff Tuel was starting to put together a game winning drive for the Bills as Browns fans slumped in their seats with the thought of, “same old Browns” going through their heads. It was then that the vaunted Cleveland Browns magic struck on prime time once again, when safety TJ Ward picked off a Tuel pass and returned it for a 44 yard touchdown to put the game away while helping the Browns improve to 3-2.
Brandon Weeden got the relief win, but didn’t exactly light the world on fire as he was sacked five more times, fumbling once and only throwing for 197 yards. However, the Thursday Night NFL Network crew went into full hype mode afterwards as Weeden sat on their set on Deon Sanders rained praise on Weeden, calling him the future of the Cleveland Browns. He went as far as to crown Weeden the full time starter.
It was comical as clearly the Browns didn’t listen and he was gone by the following summer. The big night couldn’t help Weeden in the long term however, as he finished the season with a stat line of 9 touchdowns, 9 interceptions and only 1,731 yards as he would eventually get replaced once again by Jason Campbell.
With Trent Richardson gone, and Brandon Weeden officially a bust, the true superstar and future of the Cleveland Browns in 2013 was Josh Gordon. The second-year sensation had a career year that would prove to do nothing more then tease Browns fans of what “could have been”. Gordon was untouchable in 2013 as he finished the 2013 season with a league-leading 1,646 receiving yards and was named an first team All Pro. In Week 12, Gordon had 237 receiving yards, and 261 the following week, the first time in NFL history that a wide receiver had back-to-back regular season games with at least 200 receiving yards. He was named the Cleveland Chapter PFWA Player of the Year following the season.
Headed into the 2014 season, a healthy Brian Hoyer and a returning Josh Gordon had fans dreaming of an AFC North Championship. They just didn’t need any distractions and the Browns could have done some serious damage in the AFC. Sadly, Gordon couldn’t stay clean and the Browns drafted two gigantic distractions in the opening round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
On July 5, 2014, Gordon was arrested for driving while impaired in Raleigh, North Carolina. A few weeks later the NFL suspended him for one year for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. On September 19, 2014, his suspension was reduced to 10 games amidst the new NFL drug policy.
What really hurt the Browns was the debacle of a NFL Draft they had in May of 2014. With the thought that they had a stud at wide receiver with Gordon, and the signing of free agent Miles Austin from the Dallas Cowboys, the Browns elected to pass on drafting 5-star wideouts Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Odell Beckham Jr and Brandin Cooks.
Instead, they opted to draft defensive back Justin Gilbert out of Oklahoma Stat with the 8th overall pick and Johnny Manziel, quarterback out of Texas A&M with the 22nd overall pick. Gilbert and Manziel would do battle all season long to compete as to who was the bigger bust.
The Gilbert bust was shocking as he won the 2013 College Football Performance Award as the nation’s top defensive back. The Browns were hoping to line him up with Joe Haden and create a lights out secondary like they had with Frank Minniefield and Handford Dixon in the 1980’s. It was not to be however as Gilbert got burned more times than a flame thrower at the circus. It didn’t help matters that he missed several team meeting and practices because he couldn’t get out of bed after staying up all night playing video games.
It wasn’t just defense stops they needed Gilbert for, but they were counting on him to spark a return game that had been dead since Josh Cribbs left. Gilbert As a senior in 2013, set the Big 12 Conference record for kickoff return touchdowns with six. Again, it was not to be as he was a total bust and played his way out of Cleveland by the start of the 2016 season.
The true disaster of the 2014 draft was the fact that the Browns traded up with Dallas to select Johnny Manziel, aka Johnny Football, aka Johnny Manziel, aka total trainwreck! Never had a Heisman Trophy came into the NFL with the hype that Manziel had around him. The only ones who I could compare him too as far as hype went was Desmond Howard and Tim Tebow. The difference with those guys however was even though their careers were a bust, at least they worked hard, met with some success, had heart and were great teammates. Manziel was none of that!
It was clear that Brian Hoyer was not the first choice of Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and overstepped his General Manager Ray Farmer by forcing him to select Manziel even though all of their scouring reports said stay away, and draft either Derek Carr or Teddy Bridgewater who were both there at 22.
You almost couldn’t blame Haslam for buying into the hype as Manziel had a ton of it coming into the NFL Draft process. It started in High School as he became a Texas High School Football legend at Tivy High School. His stats and charisma are the making of folklore legend!
His junior year was his first as starting quarterback, and he completed that season with 2,903 passing yards, 1,544 rushing yards, 152 receiving yards and 55 touchdowns. That year, he was voted All-San Antonio Area Offensive Player of the Year as well as District 27-4A MVP. He was just getting started!
During Manziel’s senior season, he compiled 228-of-347 (65.7%) passing for 3,609 yards with 45 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also had 170 carries for 1,674 yards and 30 touchdowns. He had one touchdown reception and returned a kickoff for a touchdown for a combined 77 touchdowns. That year, he was honored as District 28-4A MVP (unanimous selection), Class 4A First-team All-State (AP), San Antonio Express-News Offensive Player of the Year (second year in a row), the Associated Press Sports Editors Texas Player of the Year, Sub-5A First-team All-Area (SA Express-News), No. 1 QB in Texas by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, DCTF Top 300, PrepStar All-Region and Super-Prep All-Region.
By the time his run at Tivy was over, he completed 520-of-819 passes (63.5%) for 7,626 yards and 76 touchdowns, rushed 531 times for 4,045 yards and 77 touchdowns and caught 30 passes for 582 yards and another five touchdowns. He was the only quarterback in America named as a Parade All-American his senior year, and he was also named The National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) Senior Athlete of the Year in football. To the shock of no one, he won the 2010 Mr. Texas Football Award.
When you’re a standout at High School Football in Texas, you never pay for a meal again in your hometown! The problem for Manziel is others, is that fame can often come with temptation an a tendency to get in trouble. He found it before he could take a single snap for Texas A&M. On June 29, 2012—before his first college game—Manziel was arrested and charged with three misdemeanors—disorderly conduct, failure to produce identification, and possession of a fictitious driver’s license. These charges stemmed from a late-night fight in College Station, Texas. In July 2013, he pleaded guilty to failure to produce identification, and the other two charges were dismissed.
Police reports stated that Manziel was with a friend who directed a racial slur at a man on the street. The man then approached the two of them and tried to get at the friend, but Manziel placed himself between the two men, saying his friend didn’t mean it and he was going to take him home. The man continued pushing against Manziel to reach the other man, and Manziel eventually pushed back.
At this point, the man swung at Manziel who then began fighting back. Shortly afterwards, the bicycle patrol officers arrived. Manziel was 19 at the time, and he presented to police officers a fake Louisiana driver’s license that showed him to be 21 years of age. Manziel was taken into custody and reportedly spent the night in jai,
On August 4, 2013 ESPN reported that the NCAA was investigating whether Manziel accepted payments for autographs that he had signed in January 2013. The NCAA did not find any evidence that Manziel accepted money for the autographs, but reached an agreement with Texas A&M to suspend him for the first half of the season opener against Rice University, due to an “inadvertent violation” of NCAA rules. He continued to get free passes when he should have been punished time and time again. It was setting him up for disaster.
Jimmy Haslam looked past all of that, and focused on what he did while on the field at A&M instead, with was also the stuff of legend. He set the following records that once seemed impossible to pass until he showed up.
Freshman record: rushing yards by a quarterback, season (1,410)
Freshman record: total offense, season (5,116
10th-most (at the time) single-season total offensive yards in NCAA FBS history
Most games with 300 or more passing yards and 100+ rushing yards, career (4)
First freshman (and fifth player ever) in FBS history with 3,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a season.
FBS record: Rushing yards by a quarterback in a bowl game (229 yards)
Only the fourth player to have 20 passing TDs and 20 rushing TDs, season
Eclipsed the 7,000-yard barrier in total offense in his 19th career game, which is the fastest in NCAA FBS history by a four-year player
Second freshman in FBS history to rush for 1,000 yards and pass for 2,000 yards
First freshman to win the Heisman Trophy
First freshman to win the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award
First freshman to win the Manning Award
2012 Heisman Trophy winner (first freshman to win)
2012 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award winner (first freshman to win)
2012 Manning Award winner (first freshman to win
2012 Sporting News College Football Player of the Year
2012 SEC Offensive Player of the Year
2012 SEC Freshman of the Year
2012 All-SEC First-team Quarterback
2013 Cotton Bowl Classic – Offensive MVP
2013 Chick-fil-A Bowl – Offensive MVP
But for Manziel, it wasn’t just the awards and record that made him beloved by fans and coveted by owners, it was his winning spirit and uncanny ability to win the big game against all odds. In fact, he had some of his biggest games against Texas A&M’s biggest rivals. 3 of his best performances came against Arkansas, Alabama and Auburn in the SEC.
He holds the record for Texas A&M passing yards in a game. He owns the top 3 spots as matter of fact as he balled out against the SEC’s best. In his first 10 games, In 10 games, Manziel had 4 of the top 10 games in total offense in Texas A&M history. He Logged 10 straight games with 300 or more total yards, 21 total games with 300+ yards.
His top 3 performances as an Aggie were,
464 yards against No. 1 Alabama on September 14, 2013
454 yards against Auburn on October 19, 2013
453 yards against Arkansas on September 29, 2012.
With all that being said, even though Hoyer looked to be the man and the Browns badly needed help
in other area’s, Haslam overrode Ray Farmer, and “Money Manziel” was headed to Cleveland.
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