The Browns announced Friday morning that Johnny Manziel will be their starting quarterback for Sunday’s game vs. the Titans because Josh McCown remains in the NFL’s concussion protocol.
Per a Cleveland.com report Friday afternoon, McCown showed no symptoms of a concussion all week and was confident he would pass the baseline test he was given Friday morning.
Instead, an independent neurologist administering the test failed McCown in what’s the final step of the process for clearance.
“I won’t go into any details,” Browns coach Mike Pettine told reporters after Friday’s practice. “I just know that he has to go through another series of tests today. I know when you have a setback that it resets the clock. I don’t have anything much beyond that.”
The Cleveland.com report meshes with the contents of a tweet by Mike Garafolo of FOXSports.com Friday that came just after the news that Manziel would start and indicated that the Browns were surprised that McCown was not cleared.
Whether McCown had a setback or the Browns were just caught off guard by the results of Friday’s test, we don’t know. McCown did not speak to the media all week.
Asked after Friday’s practice if he was disappointed that McCown will not play Sunday, Pettine said, “Anytime you have a player that can’t play, you’re always going to be disappointed. But Johnny has had a good week. It’s not like Josh practiced and we find out late he can’t go. When a guy goes into the protocol, you have to make the assumption that he’s not going to be back and then react to the news when he is. We’re prepared.”
Thursday, Pettine answered a similar question by saying he’s not a doctor but he was “hopeful” McCown would be cleared. Pettine previously he didn’t see “a reason why we wouldn’t play” McCown if he was cleared, but -- even without a public explanation -- the results of the test ended any debate about who will start Sunday.