Browns not ready to name starting QB
8/20/2014CLEVELAND — This summer saga, packed with drama, celebrity and clumsiness, isn't quite over for the Browns. Hoyer vs. Manziel marches on.
Cleveland first-year coach Mike Pettine still hasn't chosen his Week 1 starting quarterback, and that's not his fault. Brian Hoyer and Johnny Manziel haven't convinced him — or anyone, really — that they deserve the job.
Pettine had been expected to announce during a teleconference on Tuesday whether Hoyer, the inexperienced veteran and hometown hero coming back from knee surgery, or Manziel, the hyped rookie and former Heisman Trophy winner, would start the Sept. 7 opener at Pittsburgh.
The decision has been delayed and it could carry through Cleveland's third preseason game on Saturday. Pettine said Cleveland's coaching staff will meet today and could then choose a starter. Maybe.
"We're not in position to make it at this point in time," Pettine said of an announcement many Browns fans have been anxiously awaiting for months. "We'll decide later if we're ready to name a starter. We could have one named, and I'm not ruling that out. That's something we're going to discuss. And if we do have to wait until after the next game, so be it.
"We're going to weigh everybody's opinion. I'm very clearly on record: I would like to make a decision, and that's still very much a possibility."