Brian Hoyer beats out Johnny Manziel for Cleveland Browns starting QB

The Cleveland Browns may have drafted Johnny Manziel to be the savior of their franchise, but his day in thew sun will have to wait. After a long and fairly unimpressive battle between Manziel and Brian Hoyer through training camp and the preseason, it is the veteran, Hoyer who the Browns opted to go with.

This comes after Browns head coach Mike Pettine watched both of his quarterbacks flop in a 24-23 loss to the Redskins on Monday Night Football. Hoyer admitted he didn't take advantage of that opportunity to seize the job.

"He was the clear leader from the beginning," Pettine said in a press release. "We’ve maintained all along that if it was close, I would prefer to go with the more experienced player. Brian has done a great job in the meeting rooms and with his teammates on the practice field and in the locker room."

"I think Brian’s been very poised. I think he’s handled the situation well. He’s had a lot of things going on."

During the Monday night debacle, Hoyer was sacked on his first play and completed 2 of 6 attempts for 16 yards. Pettine was quick to defend him though, noting how these were Hoyer's first live reps in almost a year since tearing his ACL.

"I think a lot of people discount that," the coach said. "Here’s a guy coming off of a season-ending knee injury. Really, these are his first, essentially, 20-25 plays of live work back from it, and he’s only going to get better."

It looks as though his poor performance didn't ultimately cost him, probably because Manziel didn't do any better. Manziel played into the fourth quarter, with 7 of 16 for 65 yards and a touchdown and one rush for -1 yards. The TD came against Washington's backup defense, early in the fourth quarter on a shovel pass to running back Dion Lewis.