Johnny Manziel defended himself on Wednesday after being caught by TV cameras laughing while his Browns were getting blown out by the Titans on Sunday.
Cleveland came back to win the game 29-28, but being seen chuckling while his team was losing 28-3 was not a good look for the rookie quarterback.
Here’s how Manziel defended himself in an interview with Cleveland.com.
“I guess when things are kind of going that bad, you can almost — instead of getting mad — you kind of have to laugh it off every now and then,” Manziel told Cleveland.com. “Luckily for us, we turned it around, and the outcome was a lot better than it was then.”
Manziel said he was laughing with practice squad QB Connor Shaw about something, but it was not about a negative play that just happened. He also said that being shown on TV during a blowout despite being just a backup quarterback is a reminder to him that his actions are always magnified.
You could that Shaw knew it was unprofessional to laugh while the team was down because he was trying to keep a straight face throughout the whole time.
Even if everyone recognizes that it’s not good to be seen like you’re taking a defeat lightly, Browns coach Mike Pettine said Monday that it wasn’t the worst thing.
“Down 28-3, the way we were playing, I think you could term how we were playing laughable,” he said on Monday.
Pettine also said he did not consider it to be a big deal and added that Manziel needs to be wary that he is always on camera.
We’ve been through this sort of thing before. Remember in 2010 when then Arizona Cardinals QB Derek Anderson was seen laughing during a blowout loss and blew up on a reporter? When you give a response like Manziel, that’s the best way to handle it.
I think there are a few things helping Manziel here. One is that the Browns won the game, so you can argue that his levity was helpful. Two, he wasn’t the one playing badly during the game. Three, he didn’t blow up on a reporter afterwards.
No matter what, it’s always a bad look for a player to be caught by TV cameras laughing while they’re losing badly.
