Johnny Manziel may be the most talked about figure in the NFL, but most of the talk about him is centered around his off the field antics. But what does Johnny bring to the field? You’ve heard all of the cliche’s: he’s too small, he can’t read NFL defenses, he doesn’t have a strong enough arm. Through four starts in 2015, Manziel has completed 59.4% of his passes for 933 yards, averaging 7.29 yards per attempt and 12.3 yards per completion (good for sixth in the league). Manziel has thrown for 5 TD’s against only 2 INT’s but has also fumbled 5 times. The best way to determine what Manziel can bring to the table is to turn to the tape.

Short Passes (0-10 yards)

Most of Manziel’s throws thus far have fallen under this category. The Browns offense has been simplistic and conservative for the most part with Manziel under center.

Situation: 2nd & 13. -42. 13:32 2nd.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: New York Jets

Coverage: Cover 3

http://i.imgur.com/R8KOY6V.jpg

The Jets bring the heat on Manziel bringing both of their Inside Linebackers. In the secondary, the Jets are in a Cover 3 with what appears to be man-to-man responsibilities on the weak side of the formation. With the Browns in an empty backfield, it is Manziel’s job to diagnose the defense pre-snap and deliver the ball quickly in the face of the blitz. With the TE (right slot) uncovered, that is Manziel’s first read. The two vertical routes occupy the CB and Safety, who has been rolled down. Manziel does a nice job of catching and throwing an accurate pass for a gain of 13.

Situation: 3rd & 6. -24. 8:28 2nd.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: New York Jets

Coverage: Cover 1

http://i.imgur.com/g74N593.jpg

With the Jets playing Cover 1, and being in man-to-man on all underneath routes, the Browns have called a good play. The two crossing routes will create the ever so popular pick concept allowing one of the WR’s to become free. Manziel does a good job allowing the play to develop in front of him but he gets happy feet in the pocket right as his receiver is coming open. The ball is still complete, but you would just like to see Manziel step into his throw to allow his WR more room to run after the catch. The result of the play was 7 yards, but was called back for holding.

Situation: 1st & 10. 35. 5:54 2nd.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: New York Jets

Coverage: Cover 1

http://i.imgur.com/a5OQt8N.jpg

By the way the offensive line is blocking it looks like a run play was originally called and Manziel audibled to a quick pass based on the defense’s look. The slot WR runs an arrow route to try to get inside the DB quickly. The WR is open but the DE does a nice job of reading Manziel and staying in his passing lane. Manziel needs to move and reset his feet to deliver the throw. Instead he panics and tries to deliver the ball quickly and winds up falling incomplete.

Situation: 1st & 10. -9. 14:56 3rd.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: New York Jets

Coverage: Cover 3

http://i.imgur.com/f6SVbRP.jpg

Manziel immediately looks to his left as the ball is snapped, with three options on this side he has plenty to pick from. He does a good job of looking towards his TE and holding the LB’s in their coverage. The slot WR makes a nice move and frees himself open on the slant route. Manziel needs to trust his insticts more on this play and deliver the ball on time because even though it is completed, the late release puts his WR in a tough position.

Situation: 3rd & 8. -25. 13:04 3rd.



Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: New York Jets

Coverage: Cover 1

http://i.imgur.com/kxNCSuA.jpg

With the Browns in a bunch formation to the field, the Jets defenders are left to sort out their coverage responsibility as the plays goes. The point man (LB) takes the first person that goes away from him. The other two defenders are left to sort out the routes. the slot CB takes the WR breaking in towards him, leaving the outside CB with the last WR. Manziel does a good job of reading this on the fly and recognizes the separation created between the outside WR and the CB. Manziel delivers the ball on time and accurately, low and away from the charging defensive player. The result of the play is a first down.

Situation: 2nd & 10. -20. 7:32 4th.



Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: New York Jets

Coverage: Cover 2

http://i.imgur.com/i09sotj.jpg

With twin WR’s to the field, Manziel immediately recognizes this and as soon as he takes the snap he looks in that direction. With the slot WR running into the coverage, Manziel moves on to the outside WR who is running a slant. With the CB playing off coverage it is an easy throw to make, hitting the WR in the chest but not leading him into a big hit.

Situation: 3rd & 1. -29. 7:06 4th.



Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: New York Jets

Coverage: Cover 1

http://i.imgur.com/lvIMaxl.jpg

This is poor play from Manziel, it is 3rd down and you must be able to pick up the 1 yard necessary for the 1st. With the Jets in man-to-man coverage, the WR runs a quick out route and creates the separation needed for a completion. Manziel delivers a poor ball because he does not step to his target directly, causing the ball to be out of reach to the diving WR and bringing up 4th down.

Situation: 1st & 10. 28. 7:11 1st.

Offensive Personnel: 12 Personnel

Opponent: Tennessee Titans

Coverage: Cover 1

http://i.imgur.com/8OQ7GhE.jpg

The Titans try to fool Manziel by blitzing their Nickelback off the left edge and dropping their DE into covering the slot. Manziel does an excellent job of recognizing the blitz (terrible job of disguise by Tennessee) and delivering an easy pass to his TE for a gain of 17.

Situation: 2nd & 7. -23. 14:24 1st.

Offensive Personnel: 21 Personnel

Opponent: Cincinnati Bengals

Coverage: Cover 5

http://i.imgur.com/gVLbu8u.jpg

Another missed read here from Manziel. With the CB to the field in man-to-man coverage, it leaves the two defenders to cover two players. Both defenders sit on the curl route from the slot WR, leaving the RB in motion wide open in the flats. Manziel initially looks to that side but does not stay in the pocket long enough to see the flats come open. Although he is under pressure, he should learn to flush to the strong side of the formation to find the routes that have come open.

Situation: 3rd & 7. -23. 14:16 1st.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnell

Opponent: Cincinnati Bengals

Coverage: Cover 3

http://i.imgur.com/dFEEwOW.jpg

With the Bengals in Cover 3, the CB to the single WR side has man-to-man responsibilities. The Bengals bring the heat on Manziel, a very similar play to when the Jets blitzed. The WR to the single side runs a crossing route and Manziel waits in the pocket long enough to hit the WR coming across. In an ideal situation you’d like to not see him falling back when he throws the ball but it is a completion and that is the goal of the play.

Situation: 1st & 10. -32. 13:35 1st.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel (RB and TE in slot)

Opponent: Cincinnati Bengals

Coverage: Cover 1

http://i.imgur.com/5qCEC2M.jpg

This is a poor throw by Manziel but it is not made any better with the poor route ran by the RB. The RB runs a pivot route where he cuts inside, switches directions and runs to the sideline. The RB fades up the field, closing the throwing window for Manziel. Manziel does a very nice job hanging in the pocket without fading or panicking. He does not step into his throw fully, partly due to the pocket collapsing. The ball falls incomplete, but this isn’t all on Manziel.

Situation: 2nd & 10. -24. 7:33 4th.

Offensive Personnel: 01 Personnel

Opponent: Cincinnati Bengals

Coverage: Cover 1

http://i.imgur.com/OxTuAId.jpg

The Bengals bring the blitz from the right side on this play, Manziel feels the blitz and gets the ball out of his hand quickly. The throw is high causing the WR to have to jump to try and make the catch. The ball deflects off the WR’s hands and falls incomplete, an opportunity or a big gain is missed from a poor throw. Manziel also could have looked to his right and delivered an easy throw to the out route towards the sidelines.

Situation: 1st & 10. 37. 3:27 4th.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: Cincinnati Bengals

Coverage: Cover 2

http://i.imgur.com/2wxnR4D.jpg

This is a very nice play from Manziel, the Bengals are in Cover 2 with the Nickelback covering up the slot WR. Manziel recognizes that the Nickelback will get his hands onto the slot WR as he runs his route, freeing up the slant route from the outside WR. Manziel drops back and delivers a nicely timed and accurate pass to the WR for a gain of 16 yards.

Situation: 4th & 10. 21. 2:41 4th.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: Cincinnati Bengals

Coverage: Cover 0

http://i.imgur.com/ta1WeSA.jpg

From a pre-snap perspective, Manziel already knows the Bengals are bringing the blitz and will be in man-to-man coverage since there is no Safety over top of the coverage. Manziel recognizes he must get the ball out quickly to his WR running a slant route to his left. The ball is completed, but you would like to see Manziel snap out of his bad habit of falling away on his throws. If the CB were in tighter coverage it could have been a turnover due to the ball being inaccurately thrown.

Situation: 2nd & 10. 46. 0:59 1st.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: Pittsburgh Steelers

Coverage: Cover 1

http://i.imgur.com/oM2uXIw.jpg

You don’t tend to see quick screen’s on a QB film breakdown but this particular one needs to be addressed. The quick screen game is essentially an extension of the running game, the QB delivers the ball to the WR and he runs behind blockers for a short gain. In order for this to be effective, the QB has to deliver the ball accurately for the WR to catch it in stride. On this play, Manziel delivers a very poor throw causing the WR to jump to catch the pass before trying to gain yardage. Manziel must work on these ‘automatic’ throws in order to become a complete QB.

Situation: 2nd & 14. -10. 11:39 2nd.

Offensive Personnel: 12 Personnel

Opponent: Pittsburgh Steelers

Coverage: Cover 3

http://i.imgur.com/Pp0TQQq.jpg

This is a very nice play from Manziel in a traditional QB sense. In a pro-I formation, Manziel does a nice job of seeing the play action all the way through and scanning the defense to see that his deeper routes have been taken away before getting his head around and planting his feet to find his TE in the flat. Seeing these throws really makes me believe that Manziel can keep progressing into a good starting QB in this league.

Situation: 1st & 10. -20. 3:27 2nd.

Offensive Personnel: 10 Personnel

Opponent: Pittsburgh Steelers

Coverage: Cover 3

http://i.imgur.com/g0Q1vCv.jpg

On this play, Manziel shows great patience to allow the play develop in order to find a good throwing window. With the inside WR running a bubble screen, it causes the Nickelback and LB to flow in that direction. The slot WR is running a slant behind the flowing defenders. Manziel waits until the WR is clear of any defenders and throws an accurate pass into a tight window. The WR ultimately fumbles the ball while running but nonetheless it was still a very nice throw.

Situation: 1st & 10. -20. 15:00 3rd.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: Pittsburgh Steelers

Coverage: Cover 3

http://i.imgur.com/AVjx0bg.jpg

Manziel is at his best on the run and this play is exactly how he should be used in most cases. The play fake sucks in the LB’s and Manziel bootlegs to his right, looking for a target to come open. His WR dragging across the field comes into his vision from behind the LB’s and Manziel is able to hit him in stride in order to pick up an easy 1st down.

Situation: 2nd & 17. -23. 13:39 3rd.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: Pittsburgh Steelers

Coverage: Cover 3

http://i.imgur.com/YJ7COQp.jpg

Another nice play from Manziel here, even in the face of the blitz. With the inside WR uncovered Manziel recognizes that he will be open at the snap of the ball. The LB is coming on a blitz and Manziel is able to throw a quick strike to his WR before he gets to the Safety. The result of the play is 15 yards setting up a manageable 3rd down.

Situation: 2nd & 8. -22. 8:32 4th.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: Pittsburgh Steelers

Coverage: Cover 3

http://i.imgur.com/T9jsL7i.jpg

This is another impressive progression by Manziel. With the Steelers playing a soft zone, his deep routes are taken away, leaving his underneath routes open. His first choice is to go to his slot WR running a dig route, this is taken away by the dropping LB and the Nickelback reading Manziel’s eyes. The use of his eyes allows his outside WR running a curl route to become free. Manziel hits him on an easy throw and the result is a 21 yard gain.

Situation: 1st & 1o. 15. 7:09 4th.

Offensive Personnel: 11 Personnel

Opponent: Pittsburgh Steelers

Coverage: 2-Man

http://i.imgur.com/ip1Uq57.jpg

With the good comes the bad for a young QB. After beating the Steelers with quick throws throughout the game, they finally decided to sit on the quick vertical throws. Manziel snaps the ball and before he realizes that the defenders are not giving any ground to his WR’s, he delivers the ball and it is nearly intercepted. Every option was covered so it would’ve been nice to see Manziel tuck the ball and run or throw it away to avoid a turnover of any sorts.

Situation: 3rd & 15. 20. 6:59 4th.

Offensive Personnel: 01 Personnel

Opponent: Pittsburgh Steelers

Coverage: Cover 3

http://i.imgur.com/vobJNwh.jpg

This is a poor play by Manziel and one that can not be made in competitive games. The Steelers are in Cover 3 in order to eliminate deep passes. The Browns run a three verticals concept with the inside WR dragging across the field. Manziel does a good job of buying time in the pocket but he needs to make a decision before he leaves the pocket. At the bottom of the screen, the two vertical routes are being split by one safety, that’s where the ball should go had it been delivered on time. Manziel instead opts to scramble outside and throw up a jump ball that is ultimately caught but could have just as easily been an interception. These types of plays may have worked in college but they won’t in the NFL.

View Manziel’s Intermediate throws on Page 2

View Manziel’s Long throws on Page 3