Cleveland

Let me start by confessing a mild disappointment that Johnny Manziel wasn’t shot out of a pregame cannon in his orange helmet with a glorious gust of $100 bills. Or that he wasn’t told to swivel onto the field in a sequined jumpsuit, like Elvis in Vegas. Next door to Cleveland’s football stadium on Lake Erie is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an I.M. Pei-designed monument to entertainment and rebellion where, on a basement floor, there’s a custom three-wheeled motorized “Supertrike” that Presley bought in 1975. Elvis actually bought three of them, because he was Elvis. It looks like the kind of beautiful machine you’d ride to a barbecue at Starsky and Hutch’s house.

If the Browns wanted to celebrate the brilliant flash of Johnny Manziel, they would have used that. They would have let Johnny Football ride out to the 50-yard-line on Elvis’s Supertrike.

Instead, what was supposed to be a loud day in Cleveland started and ended with a quiet thud. The rival Cincinnati Bengals scored on their opening drive, and the mood only worsened. Seventeen minutes into the game, Manziel and the Browns were down 17 to zip. Cleveland’s offense had managed six total yards. Manziel had a single completion. Bengals defensive end Wallace Gilberry sacked Manziel and mocked his “money signal,” in which Manziel rubs his thumbs to his forefingers as if he’s won at blackjack or saved $40 on an airport rental car. “Premeditated,” Gilberry admitted after the game. “I wanted to do that before he did it.”

After all that hype, this would never be Johnny Football’s day. The first-year quarterback was constantly hurried and overwhelmed and could not find even a momentary groove. Between plays, Manziel looked fidgety and irritated, like a guy who couldn’t believe how long it was taking this deli to make him a turkey sandwich. Then, history: Manziel threw his first NFL interception. He threw another interception that was called back on a penalty, and then an interception after that, which wasn’t called back on a penalty. The Bengals kept on taunting. “Everything was all about Manziel, Manziel, all week,” said Cincinnati linebacker Rey Maualuga, who was flagged for a money sign to Manziel’s face. Cincinnati’s halftime lead swelled to 20-0.