Gridiron grinds on amid travails of ‘Johnny Football’

Here was a player who arrived all guns blazing, celebrating the few touchdowns he scored or created by rubbing his fingers together to signify all the money his talents generated, says John Riordan.

In among the shards of the post-Super Bowl celebrations and recriminations, a mildly tragic story emerged of a footballer flirting with the scrap heap.

Standing in sharp contrast to the flawlessness of Tom Brady and the competitiveness of Russell Wilson — the opposing quarterbacks in a modern classic — was the overhyped rookie drafted by the Cleveland Browns, Johnny Manziel.