The Sports Xchange

BEREA, Ohio — Contrary to an Internet report that grabbed headlines last week, the Cleveland Browns are not ready to give up on quarterback Johnny Manziel.

The OTA session on Tuesday was the first open to the media since Manziel threw a water bottle in the direction of a heckling fan on Saturday at a hotel pool in the Dallas suburb of Irving.

Asked to comment, head coach Mike Pettine dismissed the water bottle incident as “a non-story.” No charges were filed, no one was arrested and, according to the Irving police, no written report was filed.

Pettine did not dismiss as lightly a report on ESPN Cleveland claiming the Browns are moving on from Manziel with Josh McCown as the unchallenged starter.

“I don’t pay much attention to what’s going on outside the building, but when it potentially can drive a spike between the staff and the team, I have issues with it,” Pettine said.

“To me, to talk about how a team has potentially moved on from a player or he’s not in the plans, it’s just irresponsible. We’re just teaching basic offense and we’re going to get to the point where a certain player is in there we will tailor a game plan to match their strengths, so I thought he has done an outstanding job so far, grasping what we’re doing.

“I thought he made some real nice throws today and he’s had his days where he’s struggled, but that’s natural. One, learning a new offense, and two, going against a defense that is significantly ahead simply due to chemistry and cohesion and knowledge of the book, so I think we all feel good about where he is.”

Manziel declined to meet with reporters. He last met with the media the day after the 2014 season ended. He spent 70 days in a rehab clinic in Pennsylvania from Jan. 28 to April 11.

“You can see he shows some frustration out there because he wants it to be perfect,” Pettine said. “Right now offensively, we’re building blocks. It’s base formations and motions and shift and getting our concepts in. He wants it to be done right and he wants to do it the way we’re coaching him to do it. He’s probably been the hardest guy on himself.”

Neither Manziel nor starter Josh McCown has looked particularly sharp in OTAs. The defense is clearly ahead of the offense, which is to be expected.

The defense is in its second year in the same system. The offensive system being taught by coordinator John DeFilippo is new to most players. McCown is familiar with it from being with DeFilippo in Oakland in 2007.