Last week, reports suggested that the Browns would have played Josh McCown over Johnny Manziel at quarterback if the veteran signal-caller had been medically cleared, and even after Manziel led the team to a Week 2 win over the Titans, it appears that stance hasn’t changed. After passing through the concussion protocol and getting the go-ahead, McCown will start this weekend against the Raiders, the Browns announced today in a press release.
McCown, 36, led the Browns all the way down the field in the team’s opening series of the regular season, completing five of eight passes for 49 yards, and picking up another 23 yards on the ground. However, he suffered a concussion on the very last play of the drive, when he took a big hit while trying to dive into the Jets’ end zone.
Manziel held his own in McCown’s absence, so the leash for the veteran figures to be a little shorter beginning this weekend than it would have been at the start of the season.
In other Browns news, Berea prosecutor Jim Walters won’t be filing charges against offensive line coach Andy Moeller, according to Vince Grzegorek of Cleveland Scene (Twitter link). The Browns suspended Moeller indefinitely earlier this month while he was being investigated for a possible domestic incident.
“It is quite clear an incident of volatile nature took place,” the Berea prosecutor’s office said in a statement, per Grzegorek (Twitter link). “What is less clear is the actions of the two persons involved.”
While Moeller will no longer face charges for the incident, the NFL could still suspend him after conducting its own investigation, so we’ll have to wait and see whether or not he’s reinstated by the Browns.