BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns continue to talk about how far Johnny Manziel has come as an NFL quarterback. Praise was heaped on Manziel after the 24-10 win over San Francisco -- though coach Mike Pettine also acknowledged he did not see great effort from the 49ers.

Improvement can be an intangible until it's broken down in a play. Left tackle Joe Thomas said he wanted to call a timeout and hug Manziel when the QB called out the Mike linebacker on the first play of OTAs. That is tangible improvement that would not show to the fan in the stands.

Here are examples of five plays from Sunday's win that show Manziel's growth from a quarterback who never called a protection or blitz in college to one who has to make long play calls in the huddle and pre-snap reads at the line.

The first play of the game. Pettine brought this up, saying Manziel's patience "was outstanding." Pettine said the 49ers moved their safeties late, and unexpectedly. Manziel stood in the pocket and waited for the safeties to clear. He stepped slightly right and sidearmed the ball to Travis Benjamin for 8 yards. "He did a good job hanging in there, coming off his initial read and then ended up finding Travis," Pettine said. The Manziel of one year ago probably would have tried to scramble.

A 2-yard touchdown pass to Gary Barnidge with 14 seconds left in the third quarter. San Francisco brought an all-out blitz on the play, much to the surprise of the Browns. Cover Zero from the 2-yard-line isn't typical. The blitz forced an on-the-fly adjustment from both Manziel and Barnidge, who became the "hot" read on the play. Barnidge had to break off his route to a quick out along the goal line, and Manziel had to read it. He did, threw early and hit Barnidge perfectly for the score.

A 6-yard pass to Barnidge on the touchdown drive. Barnidge and backup quarterback Austin Davis, who hears all the play calls on the headset, noticed that Manziel recognized the blitz from an empty backfield. Barnidge said that Manziel pointed out the two blitzers before the snap. "He called it out," Barnidge said. "He said, 'Look at these two Gary.' I turned as soon as they blitzed and he hit me on the hot." Davis said that Manziel even noticed the safety creeping to the line, which made Barnidge the hot read. "He pointed out the hot and hit it," Davis said.

A play that was not called. Center Alex Mack recalled this on the same drive. "It was a really smart decision near the goal line," Mack said. "We had our play called up and they had a blitz that was going to be a real problem for us." Instead of running the play or the audible, Manziel called timeout. "What we had called and the check behind that, both of them were going to be real tough plays," Mack said. "So getting out of that was a really good move." Manziel used the timeout to get a different play, which turned into a 5-yard throw to Brian Hartline to set up Barnidge's TD.

A sidearm quick throw by Manziel to Hartline for 24 yards from the Cleveland 11. Manziel described this play himself. "Just got a single 'backer blitz that kind of voided a big hole," Manziel said. "Hartline kind of throttled a little bit and I wanted to lead him up the field." There was a thought process behind sidearming the throw as well. "Just to get it out quick," he said. "I had a little bit of a play-fake and I feel like if you go over the top that 'backer can get his hands up."