Since when does a quarterback get a favor from a defensive end?
When Johnny Football is the quarterback, it happens.
Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel is just as tricky to bring down off the field as he is on it, and this week, it was none other than Jadeveon Clowney who threw the key block to spring Manziel's reputation for yet another first down.
Did you notice?
As soon as news leaked that South Carolina was looking into the relationship between its star pass rusher and rapper/agent JAY Z, the media microscope on Johnny Football's behavior at the Manning Passing Academy was lifted and placed on Clowney.
He's a slippery one, for sure.
It's not as if his mea culpa at Southeastern Conference Media Days -- a scripted but wise admission that he still has some maturing to do -- got him completely off the rumor hook.
It didn't.
Questions regarding his truthfulness about whether he was even in his bed at all the morning he missed an MPA meeting and was subsequently sent home had just begun to take root when Clowney came out of nowhere to redirect the heat.
Does anything stick to this guy?
The quarterbacks for the SEC's two expansion teams brought off-the-charts running skills to the league last season. Missouri's James Franklin weighs 230 pounds, and SEC defenses devoured him to the tune of a busted shoulder, a concussion and a meniscus tear. Johnny Football weighs 200, and made it through the season without a scratch.
He didn't slide or run out of bounds to avoid contact all year -- he just found a way to dodge it. And to this point, he's displayed the same skill off the field.
Johnny Football flies high and close to the sun, to be sure.
But for at least one more week, not quite too close.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter @ChaseGoodbread.
