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Report: Browns lied about Manziel concussion to cover up his drinking


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Report: Browns lied about Manziel concussion to cover up his drinking

Posted by Michael David Smith on February 9, 2016, 12:39 PM EST
Mike Pettine, Johnny Manziel

In a report on the league’s own network, the Browns have been accused of lying about Johnny Manziel having a concussion in an effort to cover up that the real problem with Manziel was showing up to work drunk.

“Johnny Manziel, going into what would have been a start late in the season, showed up drunk at practice on a Wednesday. The Browns lied and said he was in the concussion protocol. Let me repeat that: The Browns lied, to try to protect, and I would argue enable, this irresponsible and very troubled young man,” Mike Silver said on the air on NFL Network.

As PFT pointed out at the time, there’s always been something very fishy about Manziel’s Week 17 concussion diagnosis. On Monday of the last week of the season, then-Browns coach Mike Pettine said he planned to talk to Manziel about a video that appeared to show him drinking alcohol and partying. At that time, there were no reports that Manziel being checked for a concussion. Then, when Manziel showed up to work on Wednesday, it was announced that he had a concussion and couldn’t play in that Sunday’s season finale. It was never explained why the Browns only diagnosed this concussion three days after it supposedly happened, and two days after Pettine said he was going to have a stern talk with Manziel about his off-field issues.

If NFL Network’s report is correct, the NFL should come down hard on the Browns. The league has spent the last few years repeating, over and over again, that concussions are to be taken seriously. If the Browns are using bogus concussion diagnoses to avoid having to discuss players’ off-field problems, that would be an appalling misuse of the league’s injury reports.

So while the Browns are done with Manziel, they may not be done paying the price for hitching their wagon to him. Cleveland could be facing league discipline for lying about a concussion.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/02/09/report-browns-lied-about-manziel-concussion-to-cover-up-his-drinking/

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/02/09/silver-regrets-saying-browns-lied-stands-by-report-manziel-was-drunk/related/

Silver regrets saying Browns lied, stands by report Manziel was drunk

After reporting on the air that the Browns lied about Johnny Manziel having a concussion to cover up Manziel’s drinking, NFL Network reporter Mike Silver has backed off. But only backed off half of the report.

Silver wrote on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon that he regrets saying that the Browns lied about Manziel having a concussion. But Silver still says Manziel was drunk when he reported to work on the Wednesday of Week 17.

“I’ve been told by multiple sources that Manziel showed up late to the team facility for a meeting & noticeably drunk on Wednesday, Dec. 30,” Silver wrote today. “He was later placed in the concussion protocol & sent home. I am not a doctor & thus cannot presume to question the diagnosis of an independent neurologist or any medical professional. I do not have direct knowledge of what Manziel may have told the doctor or doctors who evaluated him, or what might have been suggested. If the Browns say they did not lie about Manziel’s diagnosis, I will take them at their word, and I regret using that term (‘lied’). I stand by my original report that Manziel showed up drunk at practice & that witnesses believed this was the cause of his ‘behavior’.”

In his original on-air report, Silver was emphatic that the Browns lied about Manziel’s concussion diagnosis. It’s not a leap to wonder if the Browns, who own a 1/32nd share of NFL Network, may have suggested to Silver’s bosses that they were not too pleased with that report, and that may have led to Silver backing off.

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Not to defend the Browns at all, but it's entirely possible that Manziel pretended to have a concussion to cover the fact he was drunk. And while the coaches etc were not fooled, the neurologist may have erred on the side of caution and declared him to have "concussion like symptoms" rather than chance giving someone with a possible brain injury a clean bill of health. I'm not saying that I think that happened, but it's possible.

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