Manziel stays grounded for Browns

Johnny Manziel is still grounded.
Benched for bad behavior, Manziel will remain on the sideline after Browns coach Mike Pettine picked quarterback Austin Davis to start Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Manziel was recently stripped of his starting job by Pettine after a video surfaced of the second-year quarterback partying in Texas during the team’s bye week. With starter Josh McCown done for the season with a broken collarbone, Pettine had to promote one of his backups and chose Davis, who came off the bench in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s loss to Baltimore.
Pettine is only committing to Davis, would went 3-5 in eight starts for St. Louis last season, as his starter for this week.
“We’ll revisit this,” Pettine said Wednesday. “These are two players that we both want to see play is the bottom line. I don’t want to declare, ‘Hey, this is what it’s going to be from here on out.’ These are two young quarterbacks that have upside and we want to see what that upside is. Austin’s the guy for this week.”
Manziel was surprisingly active for Monday’s game, serving as Cleveland’s No. 3 quarterback. He’s moved one spot up the depth chart but the backup role isn’t what he envisioned or what the Browns had in mind when they selected the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner in the first round of the 2014 draft.
Manziel, who spent part of the offseason in a rehab facility specializing in alcohol and drug abuse treatment, is 1-2 as a starter this season. He faced Cincinnati last month and completed 15 of 33 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown in a 31-10 loss. Manziel bounced back the next week and passed for 372 yards against Pittsburgh, a performance that offered a glimpse at his potential.
But after promising Pettine and Cleveland’s coaches he would not be a distraction during his time away, Manziel was back in the nightclubs. Pettine said the 22-year-old violated the team’s trust and held Manziel accountable be demoting him to third string.
Pettine said his decision on starting Davis this week is not a reflection of his actions against Manziel.
“To me, it’s more about Austin and seeing what he can do than length of punishment,” Pettine said.
Davis is the 24th quarterback to start for the Browns since 1999, turnover that underscores the franchise’ woes.
Luck begins throwing in practice: Colts quarterback Andrew Luck said Wednesday that he is throwing again but it’s still not clear how close he is to playing.
Luck was injured Nov. 8 in a victory over Denver. Two days later, he was diagnosed with a lacerated kidney and a partially torn abdominal muscle.
Backup Matt Hasselbeck started and won each of the past two games.
No rush to get Manning back: The Denver Broncos aren’t ready to name Brock Osweiler their starter for the remainder of the season yet.
“No decision has been made on our QB situation beyond this week, contrary to speculation,” the team tweeted Wednesday following a report based on anonymous sources that Manning wouldn’t return to the starting lineup even when healthy.
Manning remains in a walking cast and faces more rehab on his left foot. He has a partially torn plantar fascia that led to the switch to Osweiler three weeks ago.
The Broncos (9-2) have beaten Chicago and New England in Osweiler’s two starts.