Mike Pettine not sure if QB Johnny Manziel will start Monday night

ESPN logo
Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine said Tuesday he is "not in position yet" to say whether Johnny Manziel will start Monday night against the Baltimore Ravens as planned after social media posts showed Manziel allegedly partying last weekend in Texas.

Pettine said he is gathering information but called the latest incident involving his quarterback "disappointing ... very."

"I want to sit down and discuss it before I knee jerk and kind of go off on a potential tangent with it," Pettine said, while also acknowledging: "It's a little easier to handle when it's just a one-time occurrence, but when behavior repeats, not just him but with anybody, it's certainly a cause for concern."

"You have a vision of what you want the team to look like, how you want them to handle themselves when they're out of the building. We talk a lot about it ... so when things like this happen -- and not just him, but just in general -- any team when you have incidents like that [where] a guy knows that he represents more than himself and has issues off the field, it is frustrating," Pettine said.

Pettine said he had spoken to Manziel on Monday night but was still in the process of finding out details. He said an update was likely on Wednesday.

Backup Josh McCown (ribs) has been cleared, Pettine said, and is "good to go" should he need to start.

"My plan is to just prepare that way," McCown said. "If it changes, it changes.My mindset is to be ready to go, regardless."

Of Manziel, McCown said: "It's hard to comment on what a teammate does outside the building, as long as he's doing what he's supposed to inside. My hope for him is whatever those choices he makes are healthy choices and are good for him as a person. ...I'm behind the guy 100 percent and want nothing but the best for him."

"He's a prisoner of his success," linebacker Karlos Dansby said of Manziel, who did not speak to reporters.

A photo and Instagram video surfaced Monday of Manziel, and the images were apparently taken in Austin nightclubs.One showed Manziel holding a bottle while singing along to a hip-hop song. The post was taken down later in the afternoon by the DJ in Austin who posted it.

Manziel told reporters at a charity event Monday that he had not seen the posts and could not comment on them. He said he spent Thursday and Friday night in Texas before attending the Michigan State-Ohio State game in Columbus on Saturday. The Browns had a bye last week.

Manziel had been named the Browns' starter after he threw for 372 yards in the 30-9 loss to the Steelers on Nov. 15. When he was named the starter, Pettine talked to him about properly representing the team. Manziel promised before the bye week that he was "not going to do anything that's going to be a distraction to this team or be an embarrassment to the organization."

Last month, Manziel made headlines after witnesses reported him driving dangerously on an interstate highway and his girlfriend said he had gotten physical with her in the car. Manziel was questioned by police, who smelled alcohol on Manziel's breath but did not give him a field sobriety test because he showed no signs of inebriation. Just last week, the NFL announced Manziel would not face discipline for the incident.

Manziel spent 10 weeks in a treatment facility during the offseason for undisclosed reasons.

Information from ESPN.com's Pat McManamon was used in this report.

Related Video