Johnny Manziel’s grandpa has heard enough.
As Dallas police investigate Manziel over abuse allegations made by ex-girlfriend Colleen Crowley, the troubled Cleveland Browns quarterback’s grandfather, Norman Paul Manziel, is hopping to his defense.
“The girl has her problems. I’m not saying Johnny’s troubles are all caused by her, but…,” the 73-year-old told the Daily Mail before trailing off.
Norman’s message is different from his son’s. The QB’s father, Paul Manziel, privately and publicly pleaded with his son to get help in rehab. Norman argues the press needs to back off the 23-year-old.
“Everyone just needs to leave the boy alone,” the worried grandfather continued. “He needs his privacy right now. If he was left alone, he’d be all right. But he can’t sit down without being bothered.”
The Manziel family patriarch isn’t the first person to place blame on Crowley. Deion Sanders slammed the Texas Christian University student at the Super Bowl last week.
“Johnny’s in love with something that’s crippling him right now. I understand it. And it upsets me that grownups don’t understand it,” Sanders said last Thursday. “Because he feels as though this game don’t love him, the people in this game don’t love him, so the only thing that he associates with love is that thing that’s really inflicting a lot of pain on him and that’s his girlfriend.”
While the Browns reportedly urged Manziel to dump Crowley following a roadside domestic dispute that drew the police last October, the pair called it quits weeks ago after Manziel was spotted partying with a pretty brunette. When the couple reunited on Jan. 29, it was anything but pleasant.
Crowley alleges Manziel prevented her from leaving a hotel room, then threw her into a car by her hair and ruptured her eardrum when he slapped her.
“During the drive to Fort Worth, I was crying and telling him, ‘I hate you! Just leave me alone! I hate you!’ ” Crowley said in a sworn affidavit obtained by NBC 5 in Dallas. “I thought maybe he was on drugs or having a psychotic break, so to keep him calm I began telling him, ‘I love you. We can figure this out, we can talk.’ Respondent started laughing at this and I became really scared. I started crying even more when he told me, ‘Shut up or I’ll kill us both!'”
A judge granted Crowley a restraining order against Manziel. The 2014 first-round draft pick told TMZ he’s “completely stable.”