Marvin Lewis made a mistake earlier this week when we referred to Johnny Manziel as a “midget,” and the Cincinnati Bengals coach has since apologized for using poor judgment. That didn’t stop Fox 8’s Lil John Rinaldi from making Lewis pay for it during his scheduled press conference on Wednesday.
Rinaldi, a little person, is best known for his 28 years as one of the hosts of the “Big Chuck and Lil’ John Show” that aired comedy skits on WJW in Cleveland from 1979 to 2007. Rinaldi now works as a reporter for Fox 8, and he delivered some hard-hitting questions to Lewis.
“Hey coach, based on the height difference between (Brian) Hoyer and Johnny Manziel, how has your defensive approach changed for Sunday’s game?” Rinaldi first asked.
A visibly uncomfortable Lewis danced around the question and talked about all the plays Manziel made in the preseason and at Texas A&M. Rinaldi didn’t let him off the hook.
“Hey coach, Hoyer likes to stand tall and throw from the pocket and Manziel tends to move around,” he followed up with. “What challenges does that present for your defense?”
Lewis knew exactly what was going on, but there was nothing he could do about it. You can hear the Bengals coach’s original comments about Manziel here.
“The remark I made was dumb and caused a lot of uproar. I apologize,” Lewis said Wednesday, via Joe Danneman of Fox 19 in Cincinnati. “We have all moved on to football.”
You know Manziel has been made aware of Lewis’ remark by now, and I’m sure he loved the questions Rinaldi asked. Remember those not-so-nice words Manziel said when Hoyer overthrew Josh Gordon last weekend? He’ll probably have worse to say to Lewis.
