Johnny Manziel reacts to Marvin Lewis' comments

Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, who is scheduled to make his first NFL start this Sunday against the Bengals, spoke to Cincinnati's beat writers on Wednesday. And as you can image, the rookie quarterback was asked about Marvin Lewis' comment from Monday Night when the head coach called Manziel a "midget" on 700 WLW.

"I read it on Twitter," said Manziel on the phone. "It's just one of those things that you kind of laugh off a little bit that they think I'm short. I mean, I'm obviously a little undersized but at the same time I didn't think coach Lewis said that in a very negative way. It never really got to me or upset me at all."

Lewis made the comment on Monday Night, prior to head coach Mike Pettine's announcement, when asked which quarterback that Cincinnati will prepare for. "You gotta go defend the offense. You don't defend the player," Lewis said Monday night. He paused, then added: "Particularly a midget."

A few hours later, Lewis released an apology through the team that read:

"I apologize to Johnny and the Browns and all the fans in Cleveland. It was just a poor remark. I really didn't mean anything by it."

Lewis added a second apology on Tuesday.

"I’m aware that my comment on local radio last night was offensive to people of short stature and to their families and friends. It was thoughtless on my part to use the word I did, and not excusable, and I greatly regret it. I since have read about this issue on the Little People of America website. I understand it better, and as I have apologized to Johnny Manziel and the Cleveland Browns community, I offer the same to all others who I offended, and I pledge that I will learn from this. I hope that my mistake and the resultant publicity may serve at least to help others not make similar insensitive comments in the future."