SEATTLE — Fans watching the Cleveland Browns’ opening drive Sunday might have had visions of the Johnny Manziel who won the Heisman Trophy following the 2012 college football season.
Manziel marched the Browns methodically down the field on a 15-play, 80-yard drive that included four third-down conversions and culminated in a 7-yard touchdown pass to Gary Barnidge.
Fortunately for the Seattle Seahawks that drive was not a harbinger of what would have been a monumental upset. Cleveland managed just 150 yards the rest of the game, and got the majority of those after Seattle had already built a three-score lead.
“You kind of get a feel of what they’re going to do for the rest of the game, and you adjust from that point on and make the plays you’re supposed to make,” said Seattle defensive end Cliff Avril. “Early on they tried to draw up screens, I guess to get (Manziel) going. After that, we got settled in, we started making plays.”
Following the opening drive the defense looked like the Seattle defense of the past two weeks as the Seahawks allowed just two field goals the remainder of the day.
When you’ve had as much success as the Seattle defense, however, even that is cause for consternation.
“We hate getting scored on, even field goals,” Seahawks safety Kelcie McCray said. “So you’re absolutely right, we didn’t want to give up the second touchdown. We didn’t want to give up the first either.”
McCray started at strong safety in place of Kam Chancellor, who is recovering from a pelvis injury. McCray was one of several different players in the secondary as Jeremy Lane, normally the nickel back, started at cornerback in place of DeShawn Shead.
Shead injured his ankle during last week’s game at Baltimore and played one series Sunday before the coaches decided to let him rest the remainder of the game.
“We got (Shead) out there a little bit, and just had the chance to save him,” said Seattle head coach Pete Carroll. “It was miraculous that he was back on the field this week, and so we were able to get him through, he should be fine for next week.”
The Seahawks sacked Manziel three times — one of which elicited defensive tackle Brandon Mebane’s sack dance — and intercepted Manziel on Cleveland’s final drive.
Backup cornerback Marcus Burley had a fourth-quarter sack of Manziel that forced the Browns to settle for a field goal. Burley, who slid into the nickel slot with Lane getting the start, added the interception that effectively ended the game.
Manziel finished with 161 yards through the air, but 60 came on the opening drive. Seattle also bottled up Cleveland’s rushing game, holding the Browns to 94 yards on the ground.
“That pass rush is relentless,” Manziel said. “Everyone gets stronger as the game goes on. That’s a good defense — I think everyone in the league knows that — and we did some good things, but we didn’t do enough of them.”
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