Johnny Manziel still believes in Johnny Manziel.
After exiting his second career start with a hamstring injury on Sunday, the Browns' first-round pick found himself unable to shake the bad taste in his mouth from a disastrous debut the week before.
No matter, he said after the Browns lost their fourth consecutive game -- this one a 17-13 defeat in Carolina -- and 11th straight in December. Manziel is now more motivated than ever.
"This was a learning process for me, and regardless of what happens moving forward into this last game of the season, this has really been a great thing for me, a very positive thing for me to get in here with these guys," Manziel said, via The Akron Beacon Journal.
"And this week, going through the walk through and going through everything, I was a lot sharper, and a lot more on top of this stuff, and I think these guys see me and see that I'm in the building really putting in a lot of work and I want to be the guy. That's what I want to be for this organization.
"If anything, this has motivated me more heading into this offseason."
Manziel might be right. Getting pummeled in his debut and injured in his second start could have been the real-life lessons he needed to learn first-hand. Would anyone out there doubt that Manziel thought the NFL would be no different than college in terms of preparation and room to freelance?
Although Browns fans won't accept another misguided quarterbacking voyage, it's worth seeing if two horrid outings taught Manziel something valuable.
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