I actually had an epiphany a short while ago.

I recall in 2012 sitting in the stadium (Kyle Field), and this guy in his mid 40s was jostling for position among kids to get players' autographs on the sideline. He came down and sat next to my wife and I. He asked me who all of the players were that he just got autographs from. He was wearing a number 2 jersey and said he loves Manziel. I asked him a few things and he quickly admitted that he didn't go to A&M, but he loved watching Manziel and had to come watch him in person.

From that point forward I realized that while t-shirt fans in general can be a good thing for total revenue and representation in our state (competing in popularity), I still disliked having all of these new outsiders.

While not quite to that level (I don't own a Manziel jersey either TAMU or Browns), I'll admit I'm getting close to that person I despise. I'll leave you numbnuts in peace. We both want the same thing, but y'all are right: if there wasn't an Aggie on the Browns team I wouldn't give a flip about your team and would move onto the next.

One down fellas. Enjoy what's left of your season.

Just to be clear because it seems like people kept thinking I was trying to imply that people without college degrees are somehow a lower class or unable to be successful. Like I said: folks tend to read what they want to read.

It was said that I must be a kid because I follow college football. My retort is that if you didn't go to a big-time college that soaks up CFB every Saturday, then of course you'd have no idea and you are more likely to be a NFL fan. I don't know many people who are Michigan, Texas, A&M, Nebraska, Oregon, Bama, Florida fans and are also "die-hard" NFL fans. That was my only point. They are usually mutually exclusive to some degree (not all mind you). This is why I prefer CFB over NFL.

@bonedawg said:

I understand being a fan of a team, but I have never understood being a fan of a player to the extent that you follow him where ever he goes. Love Joe Thomas but if he gets traded to the Broncos, I'm sure as shit not buying a Joe Thomas Broncos jersey. I am a fan of the Browns. You aggie guys following Manziel here are just kind of sad. Be aggies fans, you cheered for Manziel, now let him the fuck go. There comes a point when you have to look yourself in the mirror and admit that you are a grown ass man who is following around and idolizing a 22yo boy.

That's because we have different priorities, and again, I'm wondering if you fall into one of the two categories that I defined a few posts earlier 1) didn't go to college 2) didn't go to a college with a good football program.

I am a die hard Aggie and will support former Ags everywhere. Did you know ALL of Texas (Dallas, Austin, SA, Houston) switched from covering the Packers v Bills to the Browns v Bengals because Manziel is starting? You guys just picked up a few million more in audience watching your game. Are you really going to bitch about it because we want to see how the undersized kid from Texas with a gunslinger and road runner mentality does? You think this is singled out to Aggies? Watch ratings across the country when Manziel is involved. It is Tebow 2.0. I'm sorry that ruined your day. By the way, the Browns have a good D or having a shitty QB in Hoyer hasn't made you any more relevant. Johnny has, and with that you get a bunch of idiots like me following the Browns. You are welcome, dumbass.

Or would rather slip back into irrelevance and importance like you have been for the last 2 decades? At least that way you can worship your shitty team and pathetic results by yourselves. The alternative is you have a millions of people around the country wanting to see Manziel and the Browns tear it up and make the AFC look stupid.

@usfbrown said:

What a prick statement. So those who don't have a 4 year degree are beneath you? Those people who went to schools with shitty football programs dont know football themselves?

Some of the best and smartest people I have worked with do not have a degree.

You degree only matters if you can back it up. Reading your post I believe you fall into this category.

@miktoxic said:

retired from the madison ave ad biz when i was 48. (still working tho) no college necessary. just a quick wit and a keen creative mind.

yeah that college thing......

i guess you don't need a piece of paper to distinguish shit when you see it, hear it or smell it. i think you might fall into one of those categories.

I don't give a crap whether you have a degree or don't, nor did I even attempt to draw any conclusions about how successful people are in life one way or the other. I find it humorous how people read what they want to read. It's pretty obvious some of you are insecure about things given how defensive you were about my statement.

The statement was made that I'm somehow a little kid because I'm a CFB fanboy. I'm simply retorting that most people who go to college with good football programs don't care as much about NFL teams. I actually end up following most NFL teams that have Aggies on them. So, I'm a fan of the Dolphins, Browns, Bucs, Bears. I like to see Aggies do well in the NFL. That's all there is to it. You shouldn't get all pissy when I give you a rational retort to a snide remark.

@miktoxic said:

ugg.

now we got aggie fans arguing with each other about college football on a frickin NFL football team's forum.

what a bunch of assholes.

what are you guys 10 years old?

here's the gist of what happens sunday. manziel looks great, great. manziel looks OK, great. manziel looks like he doesn't belong in the NFL.....not so great.

I have a theory that 70-85% of die hard NFL fans 1) never graduated college with a 4 yr degree or 2) never graduated college with a football team worth a damn.

I'm curious if you fall into one of those categories?

@everlastingxxx said:

I have heard that before but i havent noticed it myself. I think its a tougher throw for any right handed QB because of the body/feet motion.

One of his most memorable IMO was his double okie-doke right spin he did versus Miss St to avoid a sack (twice) and rolled left threw it down field on a near rope to the sideline a couple of yards beyond the marker. I think A&M was 3rd and 25.

Linked to his throw. (BTW, those highlights show a ton of long throws...it also shows him throwing off his back foot. =/ )

I actually think he is going to destroy the Bengals. The kid always seemed to excel under pressure and if you gave him any ammo to work with (like Marvin Lewis), then it even sparked him more.

I can see him accounting for 2-3 TD and having a 200 pass, 75 yard run game.

@texasag1969 said:

guys-he's still a rookie with far less experience than all those other struggling rookie QB's he came in with and is now 13 games behind. Winning 3 of 3 is asking a bit much, but showing some real promise, mistakes and all, is about the best we can expect this late in the season for a new QB in the NFL. Now if the D does what they did for Hoyer in all 3 of those games, then it is likely we win them all. But that was the best defensive effort in at least a decade. I know it was the right decision to give Hoyer one more chance, but damn JFF would have buried them with the field positions they kept delivering time after time.

Showing promise compared to Hoyer would be completing 60% of his throws and scoring a TD in 1 out of 15 drives. (I could say 1 out of 28 but that would still be awful). The bar has been set *THAT* low and yet the Browns staff reluctantly had to make the switch to Johnny. There are about 25 other QBs in the league that would have likely gotten the Browns to the playoffs with the D fielded each game.

Right now Fox in Texas is showing Packers v Bills. I certainly hope they switch it to Bengals v Browns.

Jcam222 - Unraveling into a profane response and rant just makes you come across like an immature uneducated child. Yes, you can tell me where to go given I'm only here because Manziel is a Brown. Actually, I do like Joe Hayden too. The way he has handled himself and his family are prime examples for others to follow.

The only thing I'd say is that you come across as if you are on some massively high horse when chances are you probably haven't sniffed field competitively compared to these athletes. Again, I'm not saying your point is invalid. The other issue is: if you think most football players aren't wasting their evenings or spending time doing things other than prepping for games is asinine and quite frankly, naive. Maybe you can make the case that a QB in particular needs to not ever be seen out and about. I guarantee you that a good majority of the Browns' players probably have some celebration for their birthday within a day or two of a game.

It's easy to focus on Manziel because his profile and spot-light are giant. There is some crazy stat that 70% of NFL players are either broke or have been arrested for a felony (or just crime?) within 5 yrs of being out of the league. I doubt that will happen to Manziel. Be glad you've got the kid and quit bitching about things that don't matter. When he goes on the field and sucks ass the same week he stays out and parties, then come back here on your high horse. Until then, you should just sit patiently and wait to pounce for when he screws up.

I'm sure you'll be quick to say, "I told you so! I told you so!".

Pettine said he needs to talk with both QBs before announcing a decision.

It sounds like he is ready to make the switch, and seems genuinely depressed about it. Haha.

Pettine also said they have a 2 hr rule to show up to the game.

@everlastingxxx said:

The guys on that ESPN Cleveland show said they heard a rumor that the Browns might cut Hoyer before the season is over.

My problem with the handling is this: did they really think Hoyer was the long term solution or were on the fence and needed to see him beat the Colts to seal a deal for the next 2-3 yrs as a QB for the Browns? Again, his play is not surprising. Instead, they've got Manziel on the sidelines who has taken just a handful of snaps in a real game that mattered. If they don't start Johnny for the rest of the season they will still have an unknown quantity waiting on the bench.

I think he is a decent person, but it's pretty obvious he has been looking over his shoulder for weeks. This guy is the type of race car driver that knows he isn't the fastest, so instead of safely giving way to prevent a massive pile-up and cluster-F of epic proportions, he's attempt to move around to block the guy behind him. That's the way Hoyer wants to win.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12000196/brian-hoyer-cleveland-browns-says-preparing-start-cincinnati-bengals

"If 10 guys do their job and one doesn't, it can really affect a play," said Hoyer about the Browns' recent struggles overall.

Must Hoyer, a free agent after the season, orchestrate an improbable late-season push into the playoffs to keep the Browns' job long term? ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Sunday reportedHoyer's days in Cleveland are likely numbered.

To that question, Hoyer highlighted the irony.

"It's crazy how fast things changed," Hoyer said. "I feel like four or five weeks ago we're talking about contract talks. Now we're talking about if I'm even going to be staying here."

@aggie-brown-fan said:

Johnny's game prep is so bad, he out-produced 4 weeks of Hoyer with ONE DRIVE vs. Buffalo.

One more note:

Pagano came out and said they were disappointed when they found out Hoyer was starting as they thought he'd be the tougher matchup. That is completely garbage.

There were 5-6 times that the WRs were covered and the pocket started to collapse. There were massive running lanes and you could see 20+ yards of green grass to move. Johnny would have tucked the ball and run in those situations. I feel that the Colts would have had to keep an extra defender in the middle accounting for him. That is to the offense's advantage IMO.

I'm not a fan of the read-option either, fyi. I think that is a way to get a QB killed. I'm simply stating that the Colts gave Hoyer lots of room to run because they knew he couldn't. Manziel opens up that dual threat.

I'm not a life long Browns fan, so of course I have no long-term dog in this fight like those that suffered for years of misery with piss-poor teams over the last decade+.

I wanted to make a few comments.

What you are seeing from Brian Hoyer is what you saw from him in college. Brian had shown his ceiling years ago and people (Browns coaching) chose to believe that he'd be a good game manager.

Look at his MSU college stats. He had a great year in 2007 and still managed just 59.3% completion. He regressed his following year.

**NOTE***

Not sure why, but the table I pasted from wiki showed up as a normal format and was only converted after posting the message...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Hoyer

Of the meaningful snaps he took, I look to AZ where had 53 attempts. Again, the guy is around 56% completion.

Yes, I'm a Johnny homer. I had the privilege to watch just about every game he played in (home and away) while at Texas A&M. The kid is electric and has incredible accuracy while throwing on the run. But more than just that, it is his attitude which is somehow positively infectious to a team. Teammates playing alongside Johnny believe in the kid. They knew that he was going to give 110% to win the game and it pissed him off like no other if he came up short. It genuinely pisses him off and he hates to lose ala Tom Brady. When the defense would stink (which was often), he'd march down the sidelines and fire the team up. He'd tell them to just get one more stop and he'd win the game. A&M was a mediocre to poor team. We should have lost to Arkansas early in the season. We were playing in AT&T Stadium and down multiple touch downs. I watched Johnny go to the sidelines and pump up the team. They responded to him. They rallied back and somehow won that game in overtime down 14 pts in the 4th quarter.

Again, I don't know what it is about this guy, but I fully believe the vets on the Browns team will eventually come around. He is a fiery piss-ant of a competitor and somehow he elevates everyone else's play around him. It's like they want to go out there and be every bit of a bad ass as they can. Of course Johnny wouldn't win every game he is in, but I honestly think Manziel would have won vs the Colts, which probably isn't hard to say given what everyone saw on the offensive side of the ball Sunday.