LANDOVER, Md. — The Browns’ quarterback “battle” wasn’t worth a flip here Monday night.
Johnny Manziel’s finger flip, though, is about to get him in hot water with the NFL.
Adding fuel to the lingering questions about his maturity, Manziel was caught flipping his middle finger to the Redskins’ bench in the third quarter of a 24-23 preseason loss to Washington at FedEx Field.
Manziel’s obscene gesture on national TV (caught in high definition by ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” cameras) is likely to earn him a hefty fine from the league and overshadowed everything he did as a player in his competition with incumbent Brian Hoyer.
Manziel described it as a “lapse of judgment” afterward, but said it was in response to a steady barrage of verbal abuse from the Redskins and their fans.
“With me, since my name has grown bigger, [the verbal abuse] just continues to go on. I know it’s there, and it’s present every game. I just need to let it slide off my back and go to the next game.”
Manziel’s inability to let it slide left him on the bad side of Browns coach Mike Pettine, who curtly said after the game the incident “does not sit well” with him and he would address it with his headline-grabbing rookie.
“It’s disappointing,” Pettine said. “You have to be able to maintain your poise, especially if you’re the quarterback.”
Pettine was no less pleased by the state of his quarterback competition. That duel looked more like a pillow fight for most of the first three quarters Monday, leaving Pettine with a choice that could just as easily be called a dilemma.
Manziel and Hoyer were both awful — and that’s putting it nicely — against Washington’s first- and second-team defense in a display that seemingly dashed the hopes of anyone pulling for Johnny Football to start Week 1 in Pittsburgh.
A former Jets defensive coordinator under Rex Ryan, Pettine said repeatedly he planned to announce his quarterback choice for the regular season by Tuesday of this week.
That plan now appears to be in shambles.
“All the options are on the table,” Pettine said when asked if he might wait another week to decide.
Manziel finally did something positive on his fourth and final possession, marching the Browns 68 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter that came on an 8-yard shovel pass to running back Dion Lewis.
It was the first offensive touchdown by a Cleveland quarterback in 16 possessions so far this preseason. But it also came against a mix of the Redskins’ third- and fourth-team defense, so its worth to Pettine for evaluation purposes was nil.
Manziel finished 7-for-16 for 65 yards, but that line was deceiving. He was just 4-for-11 for 38 yards before the final possession.
The touchdown drive also featured Manziel’s middle-finger salute to the Washington bench, which came after he apparently had his fill of the mocking coming from the Redskins for much of the night.
Washington defensive end Brian Orakpo twice flashed Manziel’s famous “money” sign in the first half, most notably after Manziel was sacked on his first drive by Ryan Kerrigan.
Manziel’s flip (the NFL fine for that is $11,025) and the late touchdown at least made his evening somewhat interesting, unlike Hoyer’s.
Hoyer didn’t complete his first pass until his fourth drive — and the Browns’ sixth — and then promptly watched fourth-string tight end MarQueis Gray fumble it away with 2:05 left in the first half.
Hoyer finished 2-for-6 for 16 yards, a line that probably won’t keep the Steelers awake at night in fear of the season opener.
“It probably couldn’t have been any worse,” Hoyer said of his performance. “It’s disappointing and embarrassing. We started off poorly, and it really never changed after that.”