The craziest part about the ' decision to start for the final four games of the season has nothing to do with how long it took the organization to finally make the move. And that fact alone is crazy enough if you travel all the way back to the summer and think about how many opportunities the Browns actually Henri Jokiharju Men Jersey had to commit to their 23-year-old former first-round pick. Even before we arrive at the which resulted in the short-lived era, the Browns had more than enough chances to give Manziel his shot as the starter.Now, Manziel gets only four games to state his case -- call it his argument for why he deserves to enter next season as the starter.Of course, the Browns haven't explicitly said that this will be a four-game audition. They haven't said that if Manziel stumbles in the next four games, they'll sever tieswith him. But consider what offensive coordinator John DeFilippo did say after Manziel's promotion. Flip said he thinks 9 starts is good body of work on which to evaluate Manziel as QB of future Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) To me at least, that's the craziest part of the Browns' decision making. They're seriously going to evaluate Manziel on the basis of nine starts?For the record, Manziel's body of work currently consists of five starts -- two in 2014 and three this year. A suming Manziel actually does start the final four games, his resume will be composed of nine total starts, as DeFilippo mentioned above. Again, the Browns haven't explicitly stated that this is a four-week trial for Manziel, but if the Browns offensive coordinator believes he can judge a quarterback on the first nine starts of his career, that certainly serves as an indication of what some (or at least one) of the decision makers are thinking as they enter the final stretch of the season. What I want to do is run through the numbers of some current NFL starters -- this is a stats column, after all -- and see how they performed through the first nine starts of their careers. I'm not going to consider guys like or or Aaron Rodgers, because I'm not looking to see if Manziel is going to land in the Hall of Fame. I think it's fair to say the Browns would settle for a young, solid quarterback who is capable of holding his own on Sundays. Someone who can win with a decent support system and someone who still has time to develop into a more complete quarterback.So, let's examine some quarterbacks who have developed into stable starters around the league:Matthew Matt Moulson Men Jersey Stafford, , Jay Cutler, and . All are flawed quarterbacks, but they've all been consistent starters for several years now. Most importantly, they're all quarterbacks the Browns certainly wouldn't have minded having as their quarterback for the past five years or so.Quarterbacks through their first 9 startsQBComp. %YPATDsINTsMatthew Stafford54.16.11218Andy Dalton60.36.5149Jay Cutler61.77.61310Joe Flacco62.16.877Through his first five Vladimir Sobotka Men Jersey starts, Manziel has completed 58 percent of his pa ses, averaged 6.9 yards per attempt, and has thrown four touchdowns and three interceptions. Those numbers aren't good -- they look even worse due to the disastrous two starts of his rookie season -- but there's a really good chance that Manziel's numbers don't look all that much different than the numbers above by the end of the season. Now, I realize that more than numbers go into grading a quarterback and determining whether that quarterback can turn into reliable player for years to come. And the quarterbacks I used above didn't nece sarily face the same kinds of questions that Manziel faces regarding his ability to develop into a pocket pa ser. But Manziel has already shown considerable Furthermore, if the Browns weren't willing to give Manziel more than nine games to develop into more of a prototypical pocket pa ser, why did they even bother drafting him in the first place?The point is: Nine starts is nowhere near enough time to properly evaluate a quarterback. And the Browns would be crazy to give up on Manziel on the basis that he hasn't shown enough yet. 1. The transformation of Riverboat RonSome pretty cool stats came out of the ' 16th consecutive win on Sunday, a 41-38 thriller against the Saints. The most outrageous stats, of course, are between Sunday's win and the win that started their streak last December. Both wins came against the same team, in the same stadium, were played 364 days apart, and the Panthers scored the exact same number of points and gained the exact same number of yards in both games. Seriously.Another pretty sweet stat emerged. Riverboat Ron -- I mean, -- has undergone an incredible reversal. After failing to win pretty much every close game, Ron Rivera suddenly can't lose one.Ron Rivera is now 16-16-1 in games decided by a TD or le s. That stat was 2-14 on Sept. 15, 2013. Darin Gantt (@daringantt) It's not hard to believe a coach would be .500 in one-score games. But what's strange is the way in which Rivera has acquired that .500 record. 2. Red-zone magic by the rookies -- Mariota and WinstonCombined, the first two quarterbacks taken off the board in last year's draft have thrown 27 touchdowns and zero picks in the Marco Scandella Women Jersey red zone. Mariota has 15 and Winston owns 12 of those touchdowns.Remember when Winston began his career as Now, he's leading game-winning drives and As for Mariota, how do you defend against a quarterback with his rushing ability ( ) and accuracy.Look at his timing! Watching some Mariota red-zone film. Mariota's timing is so dang good here. Sean Wagner-McGough (@seanjwagner) Here's the play as it unfolded ...The point is: Mariota and Winston are both -- already -- very good.With Peyton Manning pretty much done and Tom Brady nearing the age of 40, we're lucky to have two rookie quarterbacks as good as Mariota and Winston. They still have a ways to go, but they could end up becoming the faces of the NFL.If that ends up happening, Mariota has to go down as the greatestquietest quarterback of all time. This past Sunday, Mariota was mic'd up. but you won't hear much of anything.Even after his 87-yard touchdown run, Mariota celebrated by saying "Thank you."3. eyes two milestones The aren't playing for anything, but Anquan Boldin has plenty at stake -- two pretty significant milestones. Let's start with the one he' Ryan Oreilly Women Jersey ll most likely reach this weekend.Boldin needs one more catch to record his 13th consecutive 50-catch season. This is his 13th season as a pro, so he'll become the only wideout in NFL history to have hit 50 catches in all 13 of his seasons.As for the second milestone, Boldin is 11 catches away from gaining entrance into the 1,000-reception club, which his former teammate, Larry Fitzgerald, joined last weekend (along with Jason Witten).4. is on a 12-game touchdown streakBlake Bortles is still wildly inconsistent, but his peaks are loo