Johnny Manziel Will Probably Start Thursday Against the Bengals

Josh McCown unlikely to recover from a painful injury to his ribs by midweek.

Image via USA TODAY Sports/Ken Blaze

Most people outside of Ohio would've probably been advised to go ahead and skip Thursday night's game between the 7-0 Bengals and the 2-6 Browns. However, for those outside of the McCown family, things just got a lot more interesting (though potentially less competitive) as the Browns are expecting to start Johnny Manziel. The cause of this development is a Josh McCown rib injury that isn't expected to heal by midweek, though the fact that McCown hasn't ruled out playing through said injury keeps the door open for him to start. Additionally, head coach Mike Pettine hasn't named the team's QB1 yet.

But, if McCown can't go, Manziel is slated to make his second start of the 2015 season. His first came in a week two win over the Titans. However, a quick glance at the NFL standings confirms what we all suspected, the Bengals aren't the Titans. Manziel's lone start against Cincinnati came last year. In fact, it was his first career start. In it he went 10-for-18 for 80 yards and tossed two picks in what turned out to be a 30-0 welcome to the NFL spanking.

Thursday could be a good measure of how far he's come since then.

[via ESPN]

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