Manziel, Hoyer both will work with Browns 1st team

(AP) — The Cleveland Browns’ quarterback derby is heading down the homestretch.
Coach Mike Pettine said Sunday he plans to name his starting quarterback shortly after the team’s Aug. 18 preseason game in Washington.
The winner of the competition between Brian Hoyer and rookie Johnny Manziel will start Cleveland’s third preseason contest — Aug. 23 at home against the Rams — and sit out its final game Aug. 28 against Chicago.
“I wouldn’t say it’s 1,000 percent etched in stone, but I would like it decided before the third preseason game,” Pettine said. “If we have a starter that gets a lot of time in that game, then has all the practice time after that, we feel like he’ll be ready to go for the opener (Sept. 7 in Pittsburgh).”
Hoyer tops the Browns’ official depth chart, but he will split first-team snaps with 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Manziel at training camp this week.
Pettine declined to say which player would start Cleveland’s next preseason game, a nationally televised matchup with the Redskins, calling the battle “too close to call.”
“If there was a clear-cut favorite at this point, it would probably mean one of them was not playing well,” the first-year coach said. “That’s not the case here. I think we’ve got two guys that could be full-time NFL starters. It will all come down to who gives us the best chance to win. That’s the bottom line.”
Hoyer, who is recovering from reconstructive right knee surgery, started the Browns’ preseason opener Saturday in Detroit. The Northeast Ohio native completed 6 of 14 passes for 92 yards, leading the first-team offense to two field goals in three drives in a 13-12 loss.
Manziel was 7 of 11 for 63 yards while playing most of the second quarter and all of the third. The No. 22 overall draft pick out of Texas A&M drove Cleveland’s second- and third-teamers to one field goal in four possessions.