Johnny Manziel used “humbling” to describe his lackluster performance in his CFL debut on Friday. In his first start with the Montreal Alouettes, the former Texas A&M star QB threw four interceptions in just the first half of action. Manziel was benched in the 4th quarter of the blowout game, finishing throwing 11-20 for 104 yards including 4 picks and no touchdowns.
“You come up here, it’s not the NFL, it’s the CFL, it’s different. You expect to do well,” Manziel said in a post-game interview. “It’s what I’ve been accustomed to in college and had some moments in the NFL. Then you come up here and it’s not what you expected or are used to, it’s a different place. This game humbles you.”
Manziel did display some flashes of his old tricks of being able to get out of the pocket to make plays, but that was overshadowed by his poor decision making after escaping. To be fair, one of Manziel’s four interceptions bounced off of the wide receiver’s hands and into the defender’s which really can’t be blamed on the former Cleveland Brown.
To add insult to injury, Manziel was up against the team that traded him, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats who ultimately won the game 50-11. Despite the rough start, Manziel is expected to start in the next game.
Coming out of college, the now 25-year-old was supposed to be the future of the National Football League. Manziel was chosen 22nd overall by the Cleveland Browns where he would only play 15 games before being ousted from the league for constant team violations.
Manziel was criticized coming out of college for a bar fight that he was involved in. As an NFL athlete, Manziel reportedly showed up to practice drunk before, and during the season when he earned the starting job was seen drinking and partying. In 2016, he was released by the Browns and will likely never play an NFL snap again.
