Johnny Manziel's first shot at righting the ship was hilariously off the mark. The CFL franchise that had initially offered him redemption, buried him behind their incumbent starter. When the starter consolidated his first-team spot, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were forced to deal Manziel to their division rivals the Montreal Alouettes. It was either that or risk a rift in the locker room.
Within a week of being dealt, Manziel was handed the reins of a 1-5 team in dire of a spark. His first opportunity would come against the Tiger-Cats franchise that did away with him. Unfortunately things got off to a disastrous start, his first of four interceptions came within the opening frame, the second coming off a miscue with running back Tyrell Sutton.
After posting a 11-for-20 pass rate for 104 yards, and four picks, Manziel was yanked from the game in the 4th and final quarter. "I felt I just made some uncharacteristic plays today, and you know, this game is humbling," Manziel said post-game. "This is a humbling experience. I've had this experience in the past before, and there's two ways you either go about this moving forward."
I'll reserve judgement until he gets fully-acclimated, but if he continues down this road, even CFL will shut the door prematurely on the "Johnny Football redemption narrative." The Montreal Alouettes fell to 1-6 with the loss.