Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine expects a battle between quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and Johnny Manziel when organized team activities kick off today.
"We don't want guys who are going to be warm and fuzzy," Pettine said Monday, per The Plain Dealer. "They're fighting for a job. It's somebody you're going to be working with. It's a unique situation where you're competitive, you want that job. It's not going to be this warm and fuzzy (thing). That to me is how you want your quarterback to be."
Pettine reiterated the team's stance that Hoyer is the starter heading into the workouts "and it's going to be his job for somebody to take from him."
As for Manziel, Pettine said he is entering the QB competition with right mindset.
"He's said all the right things," the first-year coach said. "... He knew he was going to have to take a step back. He was going to have to kind of check his ego at the door and earn that nickname again. It wasn't forced on him or that he was berated into that."
Pettine can draw on his experience with the New York Jets, when Gang Green created a circus by signing Tim Tebow. Pettine believes the mania hurt quarterback Mark Sanchez and plans to try and minimize the craze as much as possible.
"I don't know how much of an effect it had, but I think what we're planning to do is just limit it as best we can, not to encourage it," he said. "We know the fire is burning, but we just don't want to throw gas on it."
One difference between Tebow-mania and the Johnny Football-rage is that Manziel is a good passer.
The quarterback competition talk will dominate the Browns' recordings for the next several months, but that doesn't mean we have to believe there is a chance Manziel won't be under center Week 1.
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