No. 5 Iowa and No. 6 Stanford are set to meet in the Rose Bowl game on New Year's Day. Game info inside.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- No. 5 Iowa and No. 6 Stanford are set to meet in the Rose Bowl game on New Year's Day. 

Who: No. 5 Iowa vs. No. 6 Stanford

Date: Jan. 1, 2016 

Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif. 

TV: ESPN

Time: 5 p.m., Eastern 

No. 5 Iowa: Iowa's only loss of the season game on Saturday night when it fell to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship game. The Hawkeyes got the Rose Bowl bid over Ohio State because it was ranked two spots ahead of the Buckeyes in the final College Football Playoff rankings. Though the Rose Bowl is undoubtedly an impressive outcome for the Hawkeyes -- and generally unexpected -- it comes as somewhat of a letdown to a fanbase that had national title hopes just two days ago. 

No. 6 Stanford: Stanford has two losses this season -- to Northwestern and Oregon -- but the Cardinal have been very impressive otherwise. It captured the Pac-12 title on Saturday with a win over USC in the conference championship game. The backbone of Stanford's team is running back Christian McCaffrey, who had 461 all-purpose yards in the Pac-12 title game. McCaffrey's season-total for all-purpose yards 3,496, which broke Barry Sanders record set in 1988 with Oklahoma State. McCaffrey is one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy this year. 

Florida State and Houston will play in the Peach Bowl in Dec. 31.

ATLANTA -- No. 9 Florida State and No. 18 Houston will play in the Peach Bowl in Dec. 31.

Who: Florida State Seminoles (10-2) vs. Houston Cougars (12-1)

Where: Peach Bowl, Georgia Dome (Atlanta)

When: Thursday, Dec. 31

Time: 12 p.m.

TV: ESPN

How Florida State got here: The Seminoles were in the College Football Playoff last year, after winning the last BCS National Championship after the 2013 season. Florida State entered the season as the No. 10 team in the country, and hovered around the top 10 through the first six weeks of the season.

Florida State suffered its first loss to unranked Georgia Tech on Oct. 24, and lost again to then-No. 3 Clemson on Nov. 7. Those losses knocked the Seminoles out of the playoff race.

The Seminoles boast one of the best running backs in the country in Dalvin Cook, who is sixth in the country in total rushing yards and No. 2 in the country in rushing yards per game.

How Houston got here: Tom Herman, the former Ohio State offensive coordinator, has Houston in a New Year's Six Bowl in his first year as the head coach of the Cougars. Houston rolled through the first 10 games of the season unbeaten and sat at No. 25 when the first playoff rankings came out.

Houston suffered its only loss to UConn on Nov. 21, but managed to still make the American Athletic Conference Championship, where it beat Temple on Saturday. That win made the Cougars the automatic Group of Five representative in the College Football Playoff bowls as the No. 18 team in the country.

Houston quarterback Greg Ward Jr. is the only quarterback in the country with 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 passing yards.

"We felt like Iowa had proved more almost in a loss than they had in the previous body of work."

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Rose Bowl did what it said it would, even if some people didn't believe it.

Faced with losing the Big Ten champion Michigan State Spartans to the College Football Playoff, Scott Jenkins, the Chair of the Rose Bowl Management Committee, followed through with what he told cleveland.com earlier in the week.

Go by the rankings.

"The people on the selection committee work really hard and and they're much smarter than I am about college football," Jenkins said Monday. "I think they do a really good job. So that's why, unlike maybe the history of the bowl selection process, I think we're really trying to put a lot more weight on those rankings, and I think they deserve to be given a lot of weight."

It all came down to the rankings. After the top four teams made the playoff, the 12-member selection committee put Iowa at No. 5, Stanford at No. 6 and Ohio State at No. 7.

That sent the Hawkeyes to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1991 and the Buckeyes to the Fiesta Bowl against No. 8 Notre Dame.

Iowa finished 12-1. Ohio State finished 11-1. Both suffered their only loss to Michigan State, both by three points. Both beat one team ranked in the top 25 in the final committee rankings - Iowa over No. 13 Northwestern and Ohio State over No. 14 Michigan.

What was the difference?

It turns out the Hawkeyes helped themselves in defeat Saturday, as they lost 16-13 when Michigan State finished off a touchdown drive in the final minute.

"We felt like Iowa had proved more almost in a loss than they had in the previous body of work," selection committee chairman Jeff Long said in conference call with reporters Sunday. "It certainly added to the piece. They played that game so close. They were inches away from a victory, so I do think that this very close loss kind of validated the entire body of work for Iowa, and we saw them as a very good team.

"I think it would be fair to say there were questions as we went through the season about Iowa, I think, and this is a case where they validated themselves through a very, very close loss."

What that tells us is that the Big Ten Championship mattered a lot, again.

Last year, Ohio State's 59-0 win over Wisconsin pushed the Buckeyes into the playoff. This year, the close loss pushed the Hawkeyes into the Rose Bowl. If, for instance, the Spartans had dominated the Hawkeyes, the committee's questions about Iowa would have remained, and Ohio State almost certainly would have been ranked higher and been headed to the Rose Bowl against No. 6 Stanford.

Instead, the Buckeyes moved down one spot from the week before, at No. 7 behind not only the Hawkeyes but the Cardinal.

"Stanford being a conference champion certainly has significance," Long said. "Again, you look at their full body of work, they've got two top 25 wins, one top 10 win against No. 8 Notre Dame, and Ohio State has a win against No. 14, Michigan.

"Again, I think (it's) all of those things added together. The body of work resulted in Stanford being slightly ahead of Ohio State. Again, we're talking about very close teams here and very difficult discussions about which one is better."

Roses never smelled so sweet! Looking forward to seeing the Hawkeyes and Cardinal square-off on New Year's Day! pic.twitter.com/LJmMvsZotV

-- Rose Bowl Game (@rosebowlgame) December 6, 2015

"If you get a head coaching position, of course you might leave," Coney said. "But he should have been honest. He should have said, 'Well, if I get the opportunity.' I would respect that. I would have understood. It's a job for them. But he didn't. Muschamp is a liar. A pure liar." Watch video

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State probably isn't too comfortable with its positioning in the recruitment of five-star defensive tackle Rashan Gary of Paramus (N.J.) Catholic. 

Two of the programs really standing in the Buckeyes way for Gary are Michigan and Auburn, but the Tigers took a big blow when defensive coordinator Will Muschamp left to become the head coach at South Carolina. 

* Rashan Gary: Seeing the top-rated '16 prospect up close explains why he's Ohio State's ideal defensive lineman

Gary's mother, Jennifer Coney, had some harsh words for Muschamp in an interview with 247Sports after she found out the news. 

"If you get a head coaching position, of course you might leave," Coney said. "But he should have been honest. He should have said, 'Well, if I get the opportunity.' I would respect that. I would have understood. It's a job for them. But he didn't. Muschamp is a liar. A pure liar."

Rated the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2016 class, the 6-foot-5, 293-pound Gary has already officially visited Michigan, Mississippi and Auburn, but one has to wonder if the Tigers are still a legitimate contender to land his services. 

Coney told cleveland.com in November that Ohio State is still very alive in Gary's recruitment, even if it doesn't get an official visit. 

"Just because we only have five officials doesn't mean we can't go and look at other schools," Coney said. "We just want to visit our options and Rashan is blessed to have many options. We're not just going do Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe. And just because we can't take an official doesn't mean we can't go see the school.

"For example, Clemson. We want to go to Clemson, but I don't know if we're taking an official there because my brother lives 15 minutes away. We can stay at my brother's, use the family car, spend the day at Clemson, go back to my brother's house and do it again. 

"We're just trying to use all of our options. When Rashan makes this decision, he's going to be fully informed. It's not like Ohio State isn't in the mix. We may stop by Ohio on the way to Notre Dame. ... Official visits are about financial convenience for Rashan, so we have to make the best of that." 

Read the full interview with Coney at 247Sports. 

The Browns lost big to the Cincinnati Bengals in the kind of game that gives owners itchy trigger fingers. But at this point in the season, a change would do nothing tangible -- Bud Shaw's Sports Spin

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Jimmy Haslam can still technically make good on his vow not to blow things up in Berea at season's end.

All he has to do is blow it up today.

But what's the use?

Why mess with a bad thing?

The payoff for being the league's worst team (the No. 1 pick in the draft) is his for the taking now and far outweighs any organizational benefit a change of coaches would bring.

 Which member of Mike Pettine's staff has promising interim coach written all over him anyway? I'll await your reply.

Bengals trounce Browns, 37-3

In the meantime, while Pettine doesn't have his team anywhere close to where it probably needs to be to save his job, the Browns do have the three-win Tennessee Titans and San Diego Chargers right where they want them come draft day.

Tennessee beat Jacksonville on a day the Browns lost 37-3 to the Bengals. That's 98-13 in the last three meetings between the Browns and Bengals, 67-3 the last two times Cincinnati came to Cleveland.

Here's how bad it is: reporters surrounded linebacker Christian Kirksey following a game in which the Bengals got pretty much whatever they wanted offensively.

Why Kirksey? Because he'd taken exception to Bengals running back Jeremy Hill launching himself into the stands following a TD midway through the third quarter.

You might've thought Kirksey had bravely stood his ground in Tiananmen Square. But tamping down enemy celebrations is how protecting the home field against Cincinnati is now defined.

Watching Browns fans abdicate their lower bowl seats and seeing Bengals fans occupy them wasn't the most telling development of the day.

That distinction belongs to the Browns letting Andy Dalton sneak in from the three-yard line because a Bengals formation caught them off guard when the game was still scoreless.

Dalton went over left guard and arrived upright. Way too easy.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Austin Davis (7) is tackled by Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap (96) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)David Richard 

"I do not (want players calling timeouts) but in a critical situation like that I do not have an issue," Pettine said. "If we feel we don't have enough on the field or whatever it was - we were misaligned. We needed to slide inside. We need to recognize that the quarterback was under center, a sneak indicator."

That was only one factor in Pettine's seventh consecutive loss  and 15^th in the last 17 games. Another was a roster short on healthy wide receivers.

First out of the locker room following this debacle: the inactive Dwayne Bowe, who got all the separation necessary to beat it out of Dodge.

By game's end, Pettine's dept chart at wide receiver amounted to Darius Jennings, recently promoted off the practice squad, and Brian Hartline.

Pettine said, in part, he went lighter on active wide receivers in favor of extra defensive line help in anticipation of a determined Bengals running game.

Bowe was inactive. Terrelle Pryor was, too, after signing with the Browns mid-week.

 It seems a waste to dissect individual issues at this point  - whether it's clock management nearing halftime Sunday or something else.

Pettine takes some solace in the effort of his team. But that's a pretty low bar of coaching achievement with the losses piled this high.

"Was I satisfied?" he said when asked about the effort. "Absolutely. Pull up the film and find me a guy that didn't play hard and then go into the locker room and ask him if he played hard."

How about playing well? Looking prepared? Young players developing week in and week out?

Jennings quasi-emergence (he has more 2015 catches than Bowe now) came on a day first-round pick Cam Erving finished the game on the bench. GM Ray Farmer has done Pettine no favors in personnel acquisition but then again the coach claims they're "singing out of the same hymnal."

The wider angle of Pettine's two years in charge shows losing streaks of five games to finish last season and now another slide that might well carry through the end of 2015, otherwise known as the end of him.

Does he have Haslam's assurance he will finish the season? Because, if he doesn't, Sunday was the kind of game that can spring the guillotine.

"We haven't had those discussions," Pettine said Sunday. "Jimmy and I had good conversations. We talk every week. Frankly, there is a lot of football left to be played."

However a weary fan base might interpret those words, Pettine meant that as a reassurance, not a threat.

Haslam doesn't have to worry about backlash over eating his training camp words of support for Pettine and Farmer. He can simply let this season play out and then sweep another regime out the door.

 Games like Sundays almost guarantee that the public indigestion over keeping Pettine and Farmer would trump any attempt to blame the owner for triggering more instability.

The Browns were embarrassed by the Bengals, and the time has come to blow it all up.

We're on iTunes. Subscribe to the cleveland.com Sports podcasts channel here (or search cleveland.com Sports podcasts).

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Bengals blew out the Browns on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium. I talked to Dennis Manoloff about the loss on our postgame show.

Among the topics we discussed:

Is there any case to be made for Mike Pettine or Ray Farmer to stay?

Can Jimmy Haslam be trusted to get this right?

Postgame comments from Pettine and locker room.

Johnny Manziel needs to start.

You can listen in the player above, subscribe on iTunes or download the mp3 here.

The Portland Timbers, coached by former University of Akron coach Caleb Porter, won the MLS Cup on Sunday, defeating the Columbus Crew, 2-1.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Diego Valeri scored at the 27-second mark for the fastest goal in MLS Cup history and the Portland Timbers won the league title for the first time, beating the Columbus Crew 2-1 on Sunday.

Rodney Wallace made it 2-0 in the seventh minute, and the Crew's Kei Kamara scored in the 18th off a scramble in front of the goal.

But the early deficit was too much for Columbus to overcome.

Just after the opening whistle, Columbus midfielder Wil Trapp sent a back pass to goalkeeper Steve Clark, who tried to move the ball from his right foot to the left for a clearance. But Clark didn't see Valeri closing and the midfielder poked the ball away from him and into the goal.

The Crew had barely recovered when a mental gaffe gave Portland a controversial second goal.

Crew midfielder Tony Tchani and several teammates stopped playing when the ball rolled several feet over the right boundary. Instead of a stoppage for a throw-in, Portland's Darlington Nagbe kept going with the ball and sent a pass wide to Lucas Melano, who found Wallace for the header.

Kamara, who tied for the MLS regular-season lead with 22 goals, got his fourth in five playoff games with the aid of a poor punch by Timbers goalkeeper Adam Larsen Kwarasey.

Kwarasey was bumped by Kamara and the ball spilled in front of the goal. Diego Chara cleared the ball to Crew midfielder Federico Higuain and he fed Kamara for the score.

Portland almost doubled the lead in the 61st, but a shot hit the post and crossbar then the arm of Crew defender Michael Parkhurst.

AKRON CONNECTION

The Timbers are coached by Caleb Porter, the successful former University of Akron coach. Porter has three former Akron players on his Portland roster: Darlington Nagbe, Michael Nanchoff and Ben Zemanski. Columbus has former Zips Wil Trapp, Chad Barson and Ben Speas, who also played at North Carolina.

HISTORY

Even though Portland has been in MLS since 2011, the Timbers as a brand have been in existence for 40 years back to the North American Soccer League. The last time the Timbers played for a championship was a loss to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the 1975 NASL Cup.

GOING FOR TWO

Columbus is founding member (1996) of MLS. It won its only championship in 2008, beating the New York Red Bulls 3-1 in Carson, Calif.

BLUE CREW

Several members of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets attended the game to show support for their professional brethren. Forward Alexander Wennberg said the busy hockey schedule prevented him from going to a match but he and other Blue Jackets followed the MLS playoffs online.

Quarterback Austin Davis was not solely to blame for the Browns having been defeated by the Bengals, 37-3, Sunday afternoon. But Davis did not impress, either.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Quarterback Austin Davis went 25-of-38 for 231* yards in the Cleveland Browns' 37-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Stadium. Davis was intercepted once, sacked three times, had two intentional groundings, and threw a backward pass that turned into a fumble.

Here is a capsule look at Davis's performance:

Prelude: The Browns (2-10) were thoroughly embarrassed in losing their seventh straight. They have been outscored, 215-108, during the skid.

In their past three meetings against the Bengals, two of which unfolded in Cleveland, the Browns have been outscored, 98-13.

Stat of the day: Since No. 30, 2014, the Browns are 2-15 and have been outscored, 465-283.

Four hundred sixty-five to two hundred eighty-three. Average Diff: -10.7. Let it marinate.

Decidedly nondescript: Davis, who started while Johnny Manziel continued to serve his punishment, is not the only reason the Browns lost.

Davis was gritty and gutty. He tried his best. He did not have much with which to work. His o-line sprung leaks. Fox Sports analyst Matt Millen praised him.

At the same time, Davis hardly evoked Otto Graham or Bernie Kosar. Other than several escapes from the pocket that turned into completed passes, Davis did nothing that made the Bengals the slightest bit nervous. He had clock-management issues, was responsible for two turnovers, and periodically appeared skittish in the pocket.

Most importantly, in a bottom-line business, Davis' offense managed just three points and his team was dominated.

The eye test is key here. It should not be influenced by the low bar set by Browns quarterbacks since 1999. Just because a quarterback does not play as poorly as  Brandon Weeden does not mean he performed well.

Summary: This was not the type of start that fends off a challenger -- in this case, Manziel, assuming Manziel has spent enough games (two) in coach Mike Pettine's sin bin. If Davis gives the Browns a better chance to win than Manziel, the franchise is even worse off than it appears.

Davis' final grade: D+

*The total in some stat compilations was 230, but the play-by-play review had it as 231.

Piece by piece: Here is a breakdown of each Browns pass play:

FIRST QUARTER

First possession (0-0)

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 27

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to TE Gary Barnidge over middle for 9 yards.
• Skinny: Davis' second option.

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 39

• Result: Davis, from under center, incomplete intended for WR Travis Benjamin at right sideline at Cleveland 48.
• Skinny: Davis bootlegged right. Official ruled Benjamin was out of bounds on slide, but replay showed that he might have been inbounds. No challenge.

3rd-and-6 @ Cleveland 43

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, sacked by Carlos Dunlap for minus-10 yards NULLIFIED by Dunlap facemask.
• Skinny: Easy call.

2nd-and-12 @ Cincinnati 44

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, incomplete on throwaway to right sideline (supposedly intended for FB Malcolm Johnson).
• Skinny: Davis scrambled right and found no one open.

3rd-and-12 @ Cincinnati 44

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, incomplete intended for Barnidge on middle/left.
• Skinny: Barnidge dropped pass at Cincinnati 33. Barnidge likely would have been tackled immediately; the fourth-and-short decision for Browns would have been interesting.

(Davis 1-of-4 for 9 yards)

Second possession (Bengals, 7-0)

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 17

• Result: Davis, from under center, complete to WR Brian Hartline on right/middle for 18 yards.
• Skinny: Hartline shaken up on play.

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 35

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to WR Darius Jennings on right side for 6 yards.
• Skinny: Quick-hitter.

2nd-and-4 @ Cleveland 41

• Result: Davis, from under center, complete to Barnidge over middle/right for 24 yards.
• Skinny: Davis play-action and good throw.

2nd-and-9 @ Cincinnati 34

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, incomplete intended for Benjamin near right sideline.
• Skinny: Benjamin elevated and almost made catch at sticks. He was shaken up on play.

3rd-and-9 @ Cincinnati 34

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Jennings for 10 yards NULLIFIED by Barnidge interference.
• Skinny: Barnidge did, indeed, clear out his man to help provide Jennings  room.

3rd-and-19 @ Cincinnati 44

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to RB Duke Johnson Jr. on right for 8 yards.
• Skinny: Basic screen.

SECOND QUARTER

4th-and-11 @ Cincinnati 36

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, sacked by Michael Johnson for minus-10 yards.
• Skinny: Awful play. Davis held onto the ball far too long against blitz.

(Davis through two possessions: 5-of-9 for 65 yards, one sack)

Third possession (Bengals, 14-0)

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 19

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Hartline on middle/left for 5 yards.
• Skinny: Basic.

3rd-and-1 @ Cleveland 28

• Result: Davis, from under center, complete to Hartline near right sideline for 8 yards plus Dre Kirkpatrick facemask penalty.

1st-and-10 @ Cincinnati 49

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, incomplete intended for Barnidge on right.
• Skinny: Pass far too high.

3rd-and-5 @ Cincinnati 44

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Hartline for 4 yards.

4th-and-1 @ Cincinnati 40

• Result: Davis, from under center, incomplete intended for Barnidge on short right.

Skinny: Sprint right option turned into lob too high for Barnidge.

(Davis through three possessions: 8-of-14 for 82 yards, sack)

Fourth possession (Bengals, 17-0)

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 18

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Barnidge over middle for 5 yards.
• Skinny: Basic underneath.

3rd-and-8 @ Cleveland 20

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to WR Marlon Moore over middle for 14 yards.
• Skinny: Moore, from right, drilled immediately and shaken up. Cincinnati lost challenge that Moore held on.

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 34

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, intercepted by Reggie Nelson over middle at Cincinnati 43.
• Skinny: Miscom between Davis and Hartline. Davis thought Hartline would cut inside from left but Hartline kept going up the numbers. Nelson returned to Cleveland 26.

(Davis through four possessions: 10-of-17 for 101 yards, one interception, one sack)

Fifth possession (Bengals, 20-0)

2nd-and-7 @ Cleveland 36

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Barnidge on right for 10 yards.

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 46

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, incomplete intended for Jennings on short left.

• Skinny: Too low.

2nd-and-10 @ Cleveland 46

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Johnson over middle for 6 yards.

3rd-and-4 @ Cincinnati 48

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Jennings on left for 5 yards.
• Skinny: Davis escaped pressure, moved left and threw against grain while being hit. Clutch play.

1st-and-10 @ Cincinnati 43

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, incomplete intended for Hartline on deep right.
• Skinny: Davis escaped pressure, rolled right and threw it up for grabs.

2nd-and-10 @ Cincinnati 43

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, scrambles for 8 yards.
• Skinny: Browns called timeout with 19 seconds left.

3rd-and-2 @ Cincinnati 35

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Johnson over middle for 6 yards.
• Skinny: Boos because Browns allowed clock to reach :02 left before calling timeout.

Millen said: "Gotta hurry up. What are they walking for? Get to the line of scrimmage! You're wasting time. That's awful. That's awful. That's not good. You can hear the boos in the background, and they're justified. There should have been at least another play run.''

(Travis Coons kicked 47-yard field goal as time expired.)

(Davis at halftime: 14-of-23 for 128 yards, one interception, one sack)

THIRD QUARTER

Sixth possession (Bengals, 20-3)

2nd-and-6 @ Cleveland 28

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Hartline over middle for 9 yards plus Adam Jones horse-collar penalty. Jones also facemask (declined).
• Skinny: Good throw under pressure.

2nd-and-14 @ Cincinnati 29

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, sacked by Domata Peko for minus-10 yards.
• Skinny: Peko easily beat LG Cameron Erving with swim move.

3rd-and-24 @ Cincinnati 39

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Johnson for 10 yards.
• Skinny: Basic underneath in order to recover yardage.

(Coons 47-yard field-goal attempt partially blocked.)

(Davis through six possessions: 16-of-25 for 147 yards, one interception, two sacks)

Seventh possession (Bengals, 27-3)

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 20

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, incomplete on throwaway to right sideline (supposedly intended for Hartline).

2nd-and-10 @ Cleveland 20

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, sacked by Dunlap for minus-5 yards.
• Skinny: Timer did not go off in Davis's head. Dunlap drilled him from blindside.

3rd-and-15 @ Cleveland 15

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Jennings on right for 16 yards.
• Skinny: Terrific catch.

2nd-and-13 @ Cleveland 28

• Result: Davis, from under center, complete to Barnidge on right for 11 yards.

3rd-and-2 @ Cleveland 39

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, intentional grounding for minus-16 yards.
• Skinny: Geno Atkins pressure.

(Davis through seven possessions: 18-of-29 for 174 yards, interception, three sacks)

Eighth possession (Bengals, 34-3)

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 20

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Jennings on right for 5 yards.

FOURTH QUARTER

2nd-and-5 @ Cleveland 25

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Jennings on left for 3 yards.

3rd-and-2 @ Cleveland 28

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, scrambles for 4 yards.

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 42

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, incomplete intended for RB Isaiah Crowell NULLIFIED by Erving holding.
• Skinny: Erving subsequently replaced.

1st-and-20 @ Cleveland 32

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Hartline over middle for 17 yards.

2-and-3 @ Cleveland 49

• Result: Davis originally intended for Crowell on right behind line of scrimmage, tipped by Dunlap at Cleveland 41, turned into lateral and fumble recovered by Bengals.

• Skinny: Yikes.

(Davis through eight possessions: 21-of-32 for 199 yards, one interception, three sacks.)

Ninth possession (Bengals, 37-3)

2nd-and-3 @ Cleveland 27

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, intentional grounding on right for minus-13 yards.
• Skinny: Davis would have been sacked anyway, by Dunlap.

3rd-and-16 @ Cleveland 14

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Hartline on left side for 10 yards.
• Skinny: Hartline hobbled after play.

(Davis through nine possessions: 22-of-34 for 209 yards, one interception, three sacks)

Tenth possession (Bengals, 37-3)

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 29

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Hartline over middle for 12 yards.

1st-and-10 @ Cleveland 41

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to Crowell on left for 2 yards.

2nd-and-8 @ Cleveland 43

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, complete to TE E.J. Bibbs on right for 8 yards.

1st-and-10 @ Cincinnati 49

• Result: Davis, from shotgun, incomplete intended for Jennings at right sideline.

(Davis final stats: 25-of-38 for 231 yards, one interception, one fumble, three sacks)

First-round pick was replaced by undrafted Austin Pasztor in the second half on Sunday.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cameron Erving got the call to relieve Joel Bitonio again on Sunday. It didn't last.

Erving struggled against the Bengals at left guard and was eventually benched for Austin Pasztor in the fourth quarter. Erving, a first-round pick in 2015, initially got the call after Bitonio left the game with an ankle injury.

"He was struggling a little bit, and Austin Pasztor was a guy we have wanted to see play," head coach Mike Pettine said. "That was one where we actually discussed before that we want to get Austin in there at some point. For Cam, it is not for a lack of want-to or effort, but he was having a tough day. We felt like we wanted to get Austin in there."

Pettine said earlier in the week that there was room for improvement from Erving.

"It's a very difficult position to come in and be where you want to be as a rookie," Pettine said on Thursday. "You see other positions that can do that much easier than offensive line. The skillset is there to work with, but there were some plays where he did get overpowered and knows that he has to work.''

Erving, who admitted before originally starting in place of Bitonio against Pittsburgh on Nov. 15 that he had taken his fewest practice reps at left guard, said late last month that, even if he's making mistakes, he's going to play hard.

"I was always told as a kid, I don't care if you make a mistake, just make it going 100 miles an hour," he said at the time. "That's how I've kind of modeled my play my whole life. I may not know everything. I may not know every adjustment but I'm going to go in and I'm going to play hard and that's all I can ask of myself, is go in and play hard and minimize those errors that I made."

Pasztor was claimed via waivers from Jacksonville in September. He's in his third season out of Virginia, originally signed as an undrafted free agent by Minnesota. He has started 23 games during his career, all with the Jaguars.

Related: Cam Erving 'clearly has some work to do,' Mike Pettine says

Rookie gets a shot: Darius Jennings was active on Sunday, a day after the Browns promoted him from the practice squad. Jennings has spent all of the 2015 season on the practice squad after signing as an undrafted free agent in May.

"They had kind of mentioned it early on in the week," Jennings said when asked about finding out about playing. "Each week I just prepare as if I'm going to be a starter because you just never know. I just waited my turn, just stayed patient and it showed on the field today."

Jennings had five catches for 35 yards on Sunday and was targeted seven times. The University of Virginia's all-time leader in career kick return yards returned five kickoffs against the Bengals, averaging 22.4 yards a return.

The Browns were beaten down in their own stadium and didn't show much resistance. "We're bad right now,'' said Tramon Williams

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns cornerback Tramon Williams expressed what Browns fans everywhere were thinking after Sunday's 37-3 loss to the Bengals, the most crushing defeat in series history.

"We're bad right now,'' said Williams, who struggled against  receiver A.J. Green (five catches, 128 yards, one touchdown). "I kept saying to the guys on the sidelines, 'man, we're bad. We're not in synch right now.' But we've got to keep working. That's about all you can do at the end of the day.''

The Browns' seventh straight loss, behind quarterback Austin Davis, dropped them to 2-10 for the worst record in the NFL, thanks to the Titans' 42-39 victory over the Jaguars that moved them to 3-9. The only consolation is that the Browns currently have the No. 1 pick in the draft and a shot at the best player in the land.

It marked the worst loss for the Browns since the Christmas Eve massacre in 2005 -- a 41-0 loss to the Steelers. The largest margin of defeat in team history is 48 points, which has happened on three occasions, most recently in 2000 at Jacksonville.

"It was embarrassing,'' said cornerback Johnson Bademosi. "It's on tape and it's exactly what you saw. What more is there to say? That loss was embarrassing.''

Bademosi didn't go as far as his Williams.

"I didn't say we were bad, but that was embarrassing,'' said Bademosi. "That was unacceptable.''

Bademosi, who was without fellow cornerbacks Justin Gilbert and Joe Haden (concussions), noted that the Browns have to get it together over the final quarter of the season.

"It's not 'can it get better?' It has to get better,'' he said. "It can't be that way. That's not what we work for. It's embarrassing to us and it's embarrassing to the city of Cleveland. It's embarrassing for everybody and that's not what we work for.''

Receiver Brian Hartline, who gutted it out through a thigh bruise and was one of only two healthy receivers standing at the end, was so frustrated after the game that here refused to talk to reporters.

"I want to keep a job,'' he said.

The stands were mostly empty by the fourth quarter and some fans inside the factory of sadness wore bags over their heads. One fan at the bar across from the locker room, Club 46, yelled to reporters on the way into the locker room, "Ask them how they feel when they cash that check?''

The loss marked the fourth straight to an AFC North foe, with three of those losses -- except for the one started by Josh McCown -- coming by a margin of 98-22. That can't be sitting well with Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, who's main objective when he bought the team was to close the gap in the division. The Browns are now 1-4 in the AFC North and clearly the worst team in the division.

"That's tough,'' said coach Mike Pettine. "It's frustrating. We talked about it throughout the week, we talked about it at the team meeting last night - you find out who you are. It's a healthy dose of adversity and guys respond to it in different ways. You find out real quick.''

Since a 24-3 victory over the Bengals on NFL Network Nov. 6 of last season that catapulted the Browns into sole possession of first place in the AFC North, they've gone 3-16. Meanwhile, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14-of-19, 220 yards, two TDs, 146.8 rating), has led his team to a 15-4 mark since posting a 2.0 rating that game and is 10-2 this season.

But Pettine attributed the lopsided loss more to the rash of injuries than the lack of ability. In addition to heading into the game without McCown, Haden, Andrew Hawkins and Taylor Gabriel, the Browns lost a number of key players during the game. Left guard Joel Bitonio exited with an aggravation of his ankle injury, receiver Travis Benjamin left with a shoulder injury, receiver Marlon Moore left with rib injury and fullback Malcolm Floyd left with a groin injury.

With Terrelle Pryor and Dwayne Bowe both healthy scratches, that left Hartline and rookie Darius Jennings the only two healthy receivers for much of the second half. And healthy was an exaggeration. Hartline had the thigh and Gary Barnidge battled through an ankle injury suffered in the first half.

"It's clear we're not playing with the roster we expected to play with on opening day,'' said Pettine, who's on the hotseat after losing 15 of his last 17. "They're a team that's playing well. They've been in their system a long time. They have continuity. They have chemistry. That's what you strive for. That team has been together for a long time, and it is paying dividends for them."

Pettine said he hasn't had any assurances from Haslam that the coaching staff will make it through the season.

"We haven't had those discussions,'' said Pettine. "Jimmy and I had good conversations. We talk every week. Frankly, there is a lot of football left to be played. We are evaluated every day, whether we are evaluating ourselves or whether it is coming from him.

"We are just going to fall back on what we know how to do. We are going to come in every day, prepare relentlessly like we do, we are going to coach our players hard and we will see what happens."

Pettine insisted he was pleased with the effort.

"Was I satisfied? Absolutely,'' he said, "Pull up the film and find me a guy that didn't play hard and then go in the locker room and ask him if he played hard. That's one thing: I thought our guys were flying around, but I give them some credit, too. It's a good football team."

The Bengals scored on seven of their nine possessions and rushed for 144 yards. A.J. Green caught five passes for 128 yards -- including a 57-yarder over Williams and a 23-yard touchdown on which Williams was supposed to have help over the top. They blocked another Travis Coons field goal, this time a 48-yarder.

Jeremy Hill rushed for 98 yards and ticked off the Browns when he jumped into the stands -- same as last year -- after a 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. But at least Chris Kirksey didn't let him get away with it. He immediately got in Hill's face to draw an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

"Trying to protect the end zone, trying to protect the house,'' said Kirksey.

Did he flash back to last year?

"I just saw somebody jump in the Dawg Pound, that's it."

Was he surprised he was the only one who defending the turf?

 "No. We all were mad,'' he said. "It's a football game. Frustration, that's it."
If Pettine has a chance to right the ship down the road, he hopes to point to this crushing loss as a turning point.

"When things finally do turn the other way, this is what you remember,'' he said. "It's easy, the good times, but it's the bad ones that you remember because you know that that's when we found out who we were going to build it on. That's the message now for us is that we're going to find out a lot about ourselves in these next couple of weeks."

 

With tough opponents and dwindling fan support in their future, the Browns shouldn't expect to have too much fun the rest of the way.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - There are bottomless pits and bottomless drinks and bottomless tubs of movie popcorn.

The Browns -- losers of seven straight following a 37-3 beating at the hands of the Bengals - are offering consumers another product: the bottomless season. All the misery you want without the calories.

There is no floor here, folks. No sign of a finish line. A quarter of the season still remains.

"We've got a four-game stretch to get better and (we) have to really work to get more competitive because right now we're not there," Browns edge rusher Paul Kruger said.

How much worse can it get than seeing the Bengals' Jeremy Hill jumping into the FirstEnergy Stadium stands for a second straight year and this time landing in the arms of Cincinnati supporters? Wait until the place is overrun with Steelers' fans for the season finale Jan. 3.

How much more over-matched can the Browns (2-10) look than they did Sunday when A.J. Green was running wild in the secondary and the Bengals were throwing passes to offensive linemen? They must travel to Seattle in two weeks to face an opponent that ripped the Vikings, 38-7, on the road Sunday.

The Browns play three of their last four contests against teams fighting for playoff spots. It's hard to imagine them winning another game unless Johnny Manziel - he's got to start against the Niners, right? - can steal a win somewhere.

An organization that recently grounded Manziel for lying announced Sunday there were 64, 775 spectators in attendance. The venue looked little more than half-full and that's only because a sizeable contingent of Bengals fans were on hand.

If a Niners' running back follows Hill's lead and leaps over the wall next week there might not be anyone to catch him. As of Sunday night, there were hundreds of tickets available for under $10 on StubHub, including 170 seats for $6.

Remember when team president Alec Scheiner said in January one of the reasons for the season-ticket increase was because "the market was telling us it was time."

These are hard times for the Browns and their supporters.

"I can't control how fans think," left tackle Joe Thomas said. "What I know I can control is how I play and how I prepare. I'm not going to do anything different right now if we were 2-10 or 10-2. And that's what I expect out of my teammates and that's what we're going to demand out of our teammates."

In his opening remarks, coach Mike Pettine spoke of frustration, but also highlighted "some positives" from the day. (He didn't mention how the Titans' victory Sunday left the Browns at the bottom of the standings and top of the draft board with a month to ago.)

Pettine cited the efforts of quarterback Austin Davis - he was 25-of-38 for 230 yards and pair of turnovers - and receiver Darius Jennings, who caught five passes for 35 yards.

This is where the Browns find themselves with four games left, complimenting respectable work of a third-string quarterback and a receiver just plucked from the practice squad. Get used to it because the club suffered another wave of injuries, losing three pass-catchers including Gary Barnidge (ankle), Travis Benjamin (shoulder) and Marlon Moore (ribs).

Gritty wideout Brian Hartline (eight catches, 83 yards) fought through a thigh bruise and supplied one of the day's most revealing quotes while politely declining to speak with reporters.

"I want to keep a job," he told the press.

There's plenty in the organization who share his feeling. The Browns just completed a four-game stretch against AFC North rivals in which they were outscored by an average margin of 20.6 points. Such disparity in a season that's featured a record-breaking number of NFL games decided by seven points of less. 

The Browns and Bengals are in the same state, but different leagues. Cincinnati has beaten them 98-13 on aggregate in the past three meetings.

The Bengals (10-2) did as they pleased Sunday. Andy Dalton threw a first-quarter pass to offensive lineman Jake Fisher, who could not make like Odell Beckham and snag it with one hand. No worries. Dalton scored on the next play, a 3-yard run out of an exotic formation when a confused Browns' defense should have called timeout.

Cincinnati experimented and tinkered all afternoon. The Bengals almost treated it as a controlled scrimmage, not fearing what a mistake might cost them.

"They're a team that is playing well," Pettine said of the Bengals. "They have been in their system a long time. They have continuity. They have chemistry."

All the intangibles the Browns lack.

One advantage to falling out of a playoff race so early is getting to take extended looks at young players. But even that's not going well. First-round draft pick Cameron Erving, who replaced injured guard Joel Bitonio in the first quarter, was benched late in the game for his continued poor play.

"He was struggling a little bit, and (backup lineman) Austin Pasztor was a guy we have wanted to see play," Pettine said. "That was one where we actually discussed before that we want to get Austin in there at some point."

This is where the final month of the season is heading for Browns fans, getting looks at Darius Jennings and Austin Pasztor. If Manziel rallies this group he deserves a street or drink named after him.

"I hope it's rock bottom," Kruger said. "I don't know how much worse it can get."

The Browns have four games to find out.

 

Browns coach Mike Pettine has gone lost 15 of his last 17 games. Will Jimmy Haslam exercise patience?

CLEVELAND, Ohio --  Coach Mike Pettine acknowledged after Sunday's 37-3 loss to the Bengals that Jimmy Haslam hasn't given him any assurances yet that he'll make it through the season.

"We haven't had those discussions,'' Pettine said. "Jimmy and I had good conversations. We talk every week. Frankly, there's a lot of football left to be played. We're evaluated every day, whether we're evaluating ourselves or whether it is coming from him.

"We're just going to fall back on what we know how to do. We're going to come in every day, prepare relentlessly like we do, we're going to coach our players hard and we will see what happens."

After the 31-10 loss to the Bengals on Nov. 5, Haslam met with Pettine one-on-one and challenged him and staff to do "some soul-searching'' and find answers for snapping what was then a four-game losing streak.

Instead, they've lost three more since then to extend the skid to seven games.
The Browns are 2-10 and own the worst record in the division. If the draft were today, they'd have the No. 1 overall pick.

Pettine has lost 15 of his last 17 games, and the Browns have gone 3-16 since grabbing sole possession of first place in the AFC North with a 24-3 victory over the Bengals on Nov. 6 of last season.

What's more, Sunday's loss -- the worst in series history -- marked their fourth straight defeat by an AFC North foe to fall to 1-4 in the division. In three of those losses -- not counting the Ravens game started by Josh McCown -- the Browns lost by a combined score of 98-22.

"That's tough,'' said Pettine. "It's frustrating. We talked about it throughout the week, we talked about it at the team meeting last night - you find out who you are. You find out who you are. It's a healthy dose of adversity and guys respond to it in different ways. You find out real quick.''

Haslam hasn't been heard from much since he said on Aug. 1 that he wasn't going to "blow things up'' after the season. But that's when the Browns were coming off a promising 7-9 season and the outlook seemed bright. The Browns thought they were going to have an elite defense, one that could keep pace with the others in the division. Instead, the unit was 30th heading into Sunday's game, and surrendered 377 yards to the Bengals.

Related: Mike Pettine knows job security will come up soon with Jimmy Haslam

That's when Haslam still had hope that Johnny Manziel might take over as the starting sometime during the season and work his Johnny Football magic. Instead, he's in the doghouse for lying to coaches and the Browns still don't know if he can play.

That was back when Haslam thought Justin Gilbert might live up to his 2014 No. 8 overall status and when he excited about first-round picks Danny Shelton and Cam Erving.

Instead, the Browns are getting very little production -- or none at all -- from their first round picks dating back to 2011, except for Shelton, who's had a solid rookie year.

Pettine stressed that the Bengals are 10-2 because they've stuck with the program and built it from the ground up under Marvin Lewis, who's in his 13th season as the Bengals head coach.

 "They're a team that's playing well,'' he said.  "They've been in their system a long time. They have continuity. They have chemistry. That's what you strive for. You could see a lot of their guys - that team has been together for a long time, and it's paying dividends for them."

Haslam, who's already fired Pat Shurmur and Rob Chudzinski since he took over in 2012, isn't expected to make any decisions in the heat of the moment. He'll likely let Pettine get through the season and then re-evaluate the program from top to bottom when it's all over.

Whether or not he rides it out through the rough times with Pettine remains to be seen.

With four games left, the Browns need to see if Manziel can play or whether they need to move on.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's time to take Johnny Manziel out of the doghouse and throw him back into the Dawg Pound, as the new regime calls all of FirstEnergy Stadium these days.

Austin Davis, No. 24 on the long list of quarterbacks who have started a game for the Browns since 1999, did an admirable job under trying circumstances during Sunday's 37-3 loss to the Bengals.

But the Browns need to find out what they have in Manziel over the final four games, providing he didn't celebrate too much on his 23rd birthday Sunday and wind up all over social media again.

Coach Mike Pettine wasn't ready to announce his starter after the loss saying he'll do so on Monday.

"We'll get a chance to watch the tape and we'll all circle back and see where we are with it,'' said Pettine.

Serving as the third quarterback for last week's 33-27 loss to the Ravens and as the backup to Davis during Sunday's debacle is penance enough for the second-year pro. Sitting Manziel a second straight week was the right thing to do given the fact he lied to his coaches about partying over the bye week.

But the Browns lost their seventh straight game and have the worst record in the NFL at 2-10. If the draft were tomorrow, they'd have the No. 1 overall pick and a clear shot at the best quarterback in the country.

They need to know if they have to move on or if they can count on Manziel moving forward. Of course, he'd have to live up to some of his off-the-field promises for the Browns to start to trust him again, but the most important thing right now is to find out if he can play.

Plenty of smart football people don't think he can cut it at this level, but others, such as ESPN analyst Jon Gruden are still convinced if he can.

If Gruden really believes that, will he be willing to come out of of the T.V. booth and give it a whirl if Jimmy Haslam decides to fire Pettine after the season?

Also: Jimmy Haslam hasn't assured Mike Pettine he'll make it through the season

Regardless of who the coach is, the Browns need  to see how Manziel operates against good NFL defensive over these last four games. In Seattle and Kansas City, in hostile environments on the road, he'll get a true test of just how far he's come.

Of course, it won't be easy with the horrible team surrounding him. The Browns have no healthy receivers and no running game. Travis Benjamin left the Bengals game with a shoulder injury and Marlon Moore left with a rib injury. Andrew Hawkins and Taylor Gabriel are still out with their concussions. Terrelle Pryor has been out of football since Sept. 10 and Dwayne Bowe was a healthy scratch for the sixth time on Sunday. Brian Hartline gutted it out through a thigh injury and Gary Barnidge battled through an ankle.

Left guard Joel Bitonio aggravated his high ankle sprain and his replacement, No. 19 pick Cam Erving, struggled and was benched after giving up a sack, some pressures and committing a holding penalty.   

The defense can't stop the run and the Browns have surrendered at least 30 point in each of the past four games -- all losses to AFC North foes.

But it's still time to start Manziel - beginning with Sunday's game against the 49ers - to see how well he can read a defense and find the open man. To determine how quickly he releases the ball and how well he can function in the pocket.

Six totals starts this season still won't be enough to really determine if Manziel can be the Browns' quarterback of the future, but it's a start and should provide the Browns with the data they need to make a sound decision in the draft.

Davis showed poise against the Bengals despite the fact he had no supporting cast, but the Browns pretty much know what they have in him. He completed 25 of 38 attempts for 230 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception on a miscommunication with Brian Hartline for a 71.2 rating. He also fumbled aways a backwards pass to set up a field goal.

"That's not my decision,'' said Davis of starting next week. "The situation that we're in and me specifically is keep preparing and keep playing. That's what I tried to do this week. That's why it's so tough is you put so much into the game and then to go out and have a performance like that where the game just gets away from us.

"Towards the end you feel like you didn't have a chance. It's really hard, but we have to play next week and the team that's coming in here is not going to feel bad for us.''

The "Johnny! Johnny!'' chants began midway through the third quarterback. It's time for the fans, and the Browns, to see what Manziel is all about.

 

Cincinnati's Jeremy Hill jumped into the stands after a touchdown, and linebacker Christian Kirksey took exception - one of the only plays where the Browns showed emotion in Sunday's loss.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Browns linebacker Chris Kirksey said he was "just trying to protect the house," when confronting Jeremy Hill after the Bengals running back jumped into the FirstEnergy Stadium stands Sunday.  

Perhaps not the best choice of words on an afternoon the Browns lost by 34 points, but many fans appreciated the fact someone defended their honor and showed some emotion in a 37-3 shellacking.

For the second straight season, Hill scaled the end-zone wall after scoring a touchdown here. In last year's adventure, a Browns fan shoved him back onto the field. This time, the second-year pro found a pocket of Bengals fans with whom to celebrate his 1-yard touchdown run to make it 27-3 in the third quarter.

Kirksey got into Hill's grill after he came back to Earth, but the meeting didn't turn physical. The linebacker drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a round of applause from Browns fans. Kirksey said he didn't hear the cheers.

"Nah, I was zoned out," he said. "Trying to protect the end zone, trying to protect the house."

Kirksey and the Browns endured another long afternoon in losing for the seventh straight time. The Bengals rushed for 144 yards, including 98 from Hill, who earlier in the week vowed not to leap into the FirstEnergy stands again.

"The spur of the moment got the best of me," Hill said.

What did Kirksey say to him?

"Don't do that," the linebacker said.

Hill's version was slightly more descriptive.

"It was a little salty," the running back said. "Just his competitive nature . . . If someone did that in our place, I'm sure we wouldn't be too happy about it."

Kirksey said no coaches lectured him on the sidelines for the flag.

There's a simple way to prevent Hill from doing it again next year: Play better defense. The Browns entered Sunday's action allowing 135.6 yards per game on the ground only to see that average climb.

The Bengals have outscored the Browns 67-3 in the past two meetings at FirstEnergy Stadium.

"It's all about us,' Kirksey said. "We're just not executing, that's it."

 

In November, beat writer Paul Hoynes listed his top 25 players on this winter's free agent list. Here's an update on what players have signed and what players at still waiting.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Right after the World Series in November, 163 MLB free agents hit the open market. Beat writer Paul Hoynes took a look at the class and ranked his top 25 players.

Twenty of the free agents were tagged with qualifying offers by their former teams, but that hasn't stopped other teams from signing them and forfeiting draft picks. In fact, with the winter meeting just underway, teams can't seem to sign the game's top free agents fast enough.

Six free agents have already signed with new teams to the tune of millions upon millions of dollars. In somewhat of a surprise, two of the 20 free agents who received qualifying offers accepted them. It's the first time that's happened, but it also demonstrates the allure a one-year $15.8 million offer. 

Here's an update on who's signed and who's still waiting.

No. 1. RHP Zack Greinke, 6-0, 195, 32, Los Angeles Dodgers.

2015 stats: 19-3, 1.66 ERA, 222.2 innings, 200 strikeouts, 40 walks, .187 batting average against.

Qualifying offer? Yes.

Destination: The Arizona Diamondbacks were the surprise winners of the Greinke sweep stakes. They aced out the Dodgers and Giants, two of their NL West rivals, to sign Greinke to a six-year $206.5 million contract.

No. 2. LHP David Price, 6-6, 210, 30, Toronto Blue Jays.

2015 stats: 18-5, 2.45 ERA, 220.1 innings, .230 batting average against.

Qualifying offer? No, because he was traded during the 2015 season.

Destination: Boston, following its second straight last place finish in the AL East, gave Price the biggest contract ever for a pitcher, $217 million for seven years. Dave Dombrowski, who traded for Price when he ran the Tigers, landed his man again.

Dombrowski, hired at the end of last season, signed Price and traded for closer Craig Kimbrel.

No. 3. LF Alex Gordon, 6-1, 220, 31, BL, Kansas City Royals.

2015 stats: .271 (96-for-354) with 13 HRs, 48 RBI, .808 OPS.

Qualifying offer? Yes.

Destination: The focus might move to Gordon and other free agent outfielders now that some of the best free agent pitchers have signed. It does not appear that the Royals will bring back Gordon.

No. 4. RF Jason Heyward, 26, 6-5, 245, BL, St. Louis Cardinals.

2015 stats: .293 (160-for-47), 13 HRs, 60 RBI, .797 OPS.

Qualifying offer? Yes.

Destination: If St. Louis doesn't keep him, plenty of teams will be interested. The question is how much is he worth. There are predictions that Heyward will sign a mutliyear deal for close to $200 million. All that for a guy whose career high in RBI is 82.

No. 5. 1B-RF Chris Davis, 6-3, 230, 29, BL, Baltimore Orioles.

2015 stats: .262 (150-for-573), 47 HRs, 117 RBI, .923 OPS.

Qualifying offer? Yes.

Destination: The Orioles are trying to find a way to keep Davis, but it could take a deal worth $150 million. Dan Duguette purchased some protection for the Orioles with the acquisition of Mark Trumbo from Seattle. 

No 6. OF Yoenis Cespedes, 30, 5-10, 210, BR, New York Mets.

2015 stats: .291 (184-for-633), 35 HRs, 105 RBI, .870 OPS.

Qualifying offer: No, because he was traded during the 2015 season.

Destination: Reports say Cespedes is unlikely to return to the Mets and that he's looking for a six-year deal well over $100 million. Are the Angels, Rangers and Giants, all in need of thump, listening?

No. 7. LF Justin Upton, 28, 6-2, 205, BR, San Diego Padres.

2015 stats: .251 (136-for-542), 26 HRs, 81 RBI, .790 OPS.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: Upton has a track record of solid production and is only 28. He's in line for a multiyear contract pushing $150 milion. 

No.8. RHP Jordan Zimmerman, 29, 6-2, 225, Washington Nationals.

2015 stats: 13-10, 3.66 ERA, 201.2 innings, 164 strikeouts, 39 walks, .264 batting average against.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: A last place finish in the AL Central did not stop the Tigers from signing Zimmerman to a five-year $110 million contract. The rotation still needs help. 

No. 9. RHP Johnny Cueto, 29, 5-11, 220, Kansas City Royals.

2015 stats: 11-13, 3.44 ERA, 212 innings, 176 strikeouts, 46 walks, .242 batting average against.

Qualifying offer: No, because he was traded during the season.

Destination:  Cueto reportedly turned down a six-year $120 million offer from Arizona. When he said no, the D-backs signed Greinke for $206.5 million.

No. 10. Utility man Ben Zobrist, 34, 6-3, 210, SH, Kansas City Royals.

2015 stats: .276 (129-for-467), 13 HRs, 56 RBI, .809 OPS.

Qualifying offer: No, because he was traded during the season.

Destination: Zobrist, drawing a lot of interest from several teams, recently visited the Mets. He reportedly is seeking a four-year deal.

No. 11. C Matt Wieters, 29, 6-5, 240, SH, Baltimore Orioles.

2015 stats: .267 (69-for-258), 8 HRs, 25 RBI, .742 OPS.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: Wieters, coming off a so-so year and still recovering from Tommy John surgery, accepted the Orioles' qualifying offer of $15.8 million.

No. 12. SS Ian Desmond, 29, 6-3, 215, BR, Washington Nationals.

2015 stats: .233 (136-for-583), 19 HRs, 62 RBI .674 OPS.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: There hasn't been a lot of movement among free agent shortstops. The White Sox could be a possibility.

No. 13. RHP Yovani Gallardo, 29, 6-2, 205, Texas Rangers.

2015 stats: 13-11, 3.42 ERA, 184 1/3 innings, 121 strikeouts, 68 walks, .268 batting average against.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: Gallardo has drawn interest from the Orioles.

No. 14. LHP Wei-Yin Chen, 30, 6-0, 195, Baltimore Orioles.

2015 stats: 7-3, 4.09 ERA, 191.1 innings, 153 strikeouts, .262 batting average against.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: Chen is in line for a nice pay day. The Cubs like him.

No. 15. RHP Jeff Samardzija, 30, 6-5, 225, Chicago White Sox.

2015 stats: 11-13, 4.96, 214 innings, 163 strikeouts, 49 walks, .273 batting average against.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: The Giants, after missing on Greinke, signed Samardzija to a five-year $90 million deal. Just think what they would have given him if he had a good year.

No. 16. LHP Scott Kazmir, 31, 6-0, 185, Houston Astros.

2015 starts: 7-11, 3.10, 183 innings, 155 strikeouts, 55 walks and a .250 batting average against.

Qualifying offer: No, because he was traded during the season.

Destination: The Royals, in need of starting pitching, have shown an interest in Kazmir.

No. 17. 2B Daniel Murphy, 30, 6-1, 215, BL, New York Mets.

2015 stats: .281 (140-for-499), 14 HRs, 73 RBI, .770 OPS.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: The Mets, reportedly, will not pursue Murphy this winter. The White Sox, Yankees and Angels could use a second baseman.

No. 18. RHP John Lackey, 37, 6-6, 235, St. Louis Cardinals.

2015 stats: 13-10, 2.88, 218 innings, 175 strikeouts, 53 walks, .256 batting average against.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: The Cubs signed Lackey to a two-year $32 million deal. No bad for a 37-year-old who has pitched almost 2,500 innings.

No. 19. OF Colby Rasmus, 29, 6-3, 195, BL, Houston Astros.

2015 stats: .238 (103-for-432), 25 HRs, 61 RBI, .789 OPS.

Qualifying offer? Yes.

Destination:  Rasmus liked things so much in Houston that he accepted the Atros' $15.8 million qualifying offer to stay one more year.

No. 20. RHP Hisashi Iwakuma, 34, 6-3, 210, Seattle Mariners.

2015 season: 9-5, 3.54, 129.2 innings 111 strikeouts, 21 walks, .240 batting average against.

Qualifying offer? Yes.

Destination: The Dodgers, after missing out on Greinke, are reportedly close to signing Iwakuma.

No. 21. 2B Howie Kendrick, 32, 5-11, 200, BR, Los Angeles Dodgers.

2015 stats: .295 (137-for-464), 9 HRs, 54 RBI, .746 OPS.

Qualifying offer? Yes.

Destination: Kendrick said he'd like to return to the Dodgers, but they re-signed second baseman Chase Utley on Sunday.

No. 22. CF Dexter Fowler, 29, 6-5, 195, SH, Chicago Cubs.

2015 stats: .250 (149-for-596), 17 HRs, 46 RBI, .757 OPS.

Qualifying offer? Yes.

Destination: The Cubs want Fowler back, but he wants to explore his free agent options.

No. 23. RHP Mike Leake, 27, 5-10, 190, San Francisco Giants.

2015 stats: 11-10, 3.70, 192 innings, 119 strikeouts, 49 walks, .243 batting average against.

Qualifying offer: Yes.

Destination: The Cardinals, who lost Lackey to the Cubs, have been talking to Leake. The Giants wanted to re-sign Leake, but that was before they signed Samardzija.

No. 24. RHP Darren O'Day, 33, 6-4, 220, Baltimore Orioles.

2015 stats: 6-2, 1.52 ERA, 68 games, 65.1 innings, 82 strikeouts, 14 walks, 6 saves, and .093 batting average against.

Qualifying offer? No.

Destination: O'Day reportedly has a four-year $31 million deal in place with the Orioles.

No. 25. 3B David Freese, 32, 6-2, 225, BR, Los Angeles Angels.

2015 stats: .257 (109-for-424), 14 HRs, 56 RBI, .743 OPS.

Qualifying offer: No.

Destination: The Angels still have some interest in Freese.

Jimmy Haslam has the job of finding the right people to fix this team. Do you think he can? Watch video

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- No matter what the Browns do at the end of the season, it will be up to owner Jimmy Haslam to do it. The question, of course, is do you trust him?

Bud Shaw and Michael Reghi discussed that on Monday morning. See what they had to say and tell us if you trust Haslam to get this right.

Check out Michael Reghi's riled up video about Haslam.

Left guard suffered an ankle injury on Sunday against the Bengals.

BEREA, Ohio -- The Browns announced on Monday that Joel Bitonio's season is over following an ankle injury. The second-year left guard was placed on injured reserve. It was called a new injury by head coach Mike Pettine.

Bitonio returned on Sunday against the Bengals from another ankle injury that kept him out of the team's games against Pittsburgh and Baltimore and forced him to leave the first matchup with the Bengals.

Rookie Cameron Erving had been filling in for Bitonio, but was benched in the fourth quarter on Sunday in favor of Austin Pasztor. 

Elsewhere on the injury front, Pettine said that wide receiver Travis Benjamin's shoulder injury looks like it will "be a day-to-day thing." He also said that X-rays on wide receiver Marlon Moore's ribs were negative and that he wouldn't be surprised if Moore "found his way back out there."

There was no update on fullback Malcolm Johnson's groin injury suffered on Sunday. Pettine said they were still waiting to hear back but it could be serious.

Wide receivers Taylor Gabriel and Andrew Hawkins and cornerbacks Justin Gilbert and Joe Haden remain in the NFL's concussion protocol, Pettine said.

The Browns also announced Monday that they claimed offensive lineman Gabe Ikard via waivers from the Bills. Ikard is in his second season out of Oklahoma. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Titans, but missed his entire rookie season with an injury. He appeared as a reserve with the Bills this season.

Browns Mike Pettine admitted there's tension inside the building in Berea and that 'it's hard to be' unified at this point. Watch video

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As Mike Pettine's seat grows warmer, the gloves are starting to come off.

The embattled Browns coach revealed Monday that there's tension inside the walls of the Browns facility with the team tumbling to 2-10, and that the different factions must come together to turn the club around.

He was not specific about which departments are at odds, but made it clear that the problems are systemic and run far deeper than just the coaching staff.

"We have to be brutally honest with ourselves and brutally honest not just looking in the mirror but to other parts of the building as well because if you're going to be successful, your building has to be unified,'' Pettine said during his press conference.  "That's a big part of it. That's where the plan starts, and that to me hopefully will drive what changes need to be made.

"Sometimes you fall into the trap of 'let's just make change.' Well, let's make damn sure the changes we're making are the right ones that are going to get this ship turned and headed in the right direction."

Asked if the building is unified, Pettine said, "It's hard to be at this point. It's human nature. When things don't go well, everybody has a tendency to kind of bunker in and get into that mode. I think we all want what's best for the Cleveland Browns. we all have ideas on how to get it done, and we need to be collaborative and we need to make sure that we're picking the best ideas and pushing those agendas moving forward.

"I can't sit here and say, 'Absolutely, we're all on board, 100 percent.' That's not reality because when things don't go well, everybody has their opinions and their reasons why, but it's going to come down to a brutal self-assessment and to be able to have the strength to make tough decisions and trust them and move forward.''

Pettine, who's team was blown out 37-3 by the Bengals on Sunday,  acknowledged that all is not rosy inside an organization that has lost seven straight games for the worst mark in the NFL. Asked if there were issues with owner Jimmy Haslam, team president Alec Scheiner or general manager Ray Farmer, Pettine didn't specify. But he stressed there are issues that must be addressed.

"When you have the record that we have, if there's not tension in the building, there's a problem,'' he said. "That's what losing does to you. When you're paid to be successful, when you're paid to win in a bottom-line business and we're not, of course there's going to be tension. When you have passionate, competitive people that want to get it done right and it's not, there's going to be.

"It's part of it, but we have to make sure that we stay very clear-headed with it. It goes back to an accurate assessment of, 'What are our problems?' I said it yesterday. If you've got a problem with your heart, you don't perform a lobotomy, so you've got to make sure we identify what the exact problems are and get them fixed.''

Again, Pettine was not specific about what he meant. Folks assume that he's at odds with Farmer, but that's not necessarily the case. The two had their issues last year, especially when Farmer was texting his opinions to coaches during games. But Farmer served his four-game NFL suspension for that and the two have been more on the same page this year.

Related: Johnny Manziel will likely be named starter Tuesday for 49ers game

Granted, Pettine hasn't had much talent to work with this year, but it's hard to decipher how much blame falls on Farmer's shoulders. The organization is still paying for the sins of previous regimes, which also whiffed on first-round picks. Dating back to 2011, the Browns are getting very little production out of their first-rounders, with some of them already out of football. That's in the spite of the fact the Browns have had two first-round picks in three of the last four years.

Some of it, of course, falls on the current regime, but Farmer may have been pulled in too many directions last year for his inaugural draft as GM, which took place just a few months after he was thrust into the job.

In the offseason, Haslam took his squabbling top brass offsite to clarify roles and clear the air. But obviously, there are still some unresolved issues.

Pettine speaks on a weekly basis with Haslam, but the Browns owner hasn't given him any assurances that he'll even make it through the season.

"It begins with a detailed evaluation of everything we do, because  the knee-jerk reaction when things don't go well is that everything's wrong,'' Pettine said. "We've got to figure out what are the exact problems first. It's hard to fix something when you haven't pinpointed it exactly. ...we have to be very accurate in identifying here's what we're doing well, here's what we're not doing well.''

Pettine knows he'll be graded heavily on his defense, which is second-last in the NFL with 28.9 points per game. It's also 29th overall. But the scheme is based, in part, on two big press-man corners, and the Browns  have gone most of the season without Joe Haden (concussion) and 2014 No. 8 overall pick Justin Gilbert, who so far has been a bust. The Browns have also struggled to record sacks or stop the run.

"As a head coach, I'm certainly culpable and defensive-staff wise, too,'' he said. "Those guys know it. For people to question the want-to and the passion to get it fixed -- we're upset with it. Maybe I don't show it outwardly - that's not my personality. I don't know whether people want me to start flipping out on the sidelines.

"We know what it's supposed to look like and it's frustrating for a variety of reasons why we can't get it there, but as I said before, we have a plan to get it fixed. That plan is based on simple things: passion, hard work, rolling up our sleeves. We're going to use this time. We're going to use this time to find out who is in with us to get that fixed and who potentially isn't."

Even as Pettine has praised his players for not giving up, he knows can't defend the record. As the saying goes, you are what your record says you are.

"We don't like where we are,'' he said. "We own that and we know we're staring at as big a test of our mental toughness that we'll face. That doesn't change how we have to approach things. We preach control the controllables and that's certainly appropriate as the negativity continues to mount.

"As I've said before, we're going to use this stretch as a source of strength. We're not going to let this define us, destroy us. We're going to use this to get stronger. We're going to look back on this and use the knowledge we gain. But it is a tough time for us. Losing is the worst feeling, especially when you know you are letting others down, people that spend their money to come see us play, not just in this area, but all over.

"That weighs heavy on us but we're going to do our best to be positive, stay together. But when you look at the tape and people want to talk about effort. ....we didn't see (a dropoff).

Pettine refused to blame the skid -- including four straight losses to AFC North foes -- on injuries, although that's certainly a large part of it. The Browns were without key players such as Andrew Hawkins, Taylor Gabriel and Haden. During the game, they lost Joel Bitonio and Travis Benjamin. The talent-challenged Browns aren't deep enough to withstand such losses.

 "I'm not going to sit here and be like throw up the white flag and just say 'We're not good enough,''' said Petitne "That's not what this business is about. It's next man up. Coach guys to the best of your ability. I know we have some young guys out there. While short term there are certainly growing pains.

"Looking at it, you hope that will pay dividends in the long run. Just look at the concussion protocol guys that aren't out there. We never thought we'd have that rack of guys not playing for us, but that's the National Football League. The better staffs, the better teams are the ones that can withstand those changes and still find a way to function. We haven't been able to do that."

But, as Pettine made it abundantly clear, the coaches aren't the only ones to blame for this wreck of a season.

Elliott was not among the three finalists announced on Monday night.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ezekiel Elliott is not going to New York. The Ohio State running back was not among the three Heisman Trophy finalists announced on Monday night.

Three players will be in New York next weekend and this will be a close vote. With votes due earlier on Monday, college football writers were on Twitter lamenting how tough of a decision it was.

Alabama running back Derrick Henry, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey are the finalists.

We could be looking at the closest Heisman vote since 2009, when Alabama's Mark Ingram, Stanford's Toby Gerhart and Texas' Colt McCoy all received more than 200 first-place votes. Nebraska defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh received 161 first-place votes. It was spread thin, and Ingram won by the closest vote ever, edging Gerhart by 28 points.

Coincidentally, that was the last time a running back won the Heisman.

A running back winning the Heisman was on the table before this season even started, and it looked like Elliott was the guy who could do it. The quarterback crop didn't have a Marcus Mariota or a Jameis Winston. There was Elliott, LSU's Leonard Fournette and Henry -- a strong group of running backs with a real shot at taking the trophy.

How Elliott fell out of the Heisman race

Elliott started his campaign really around this time last year, when he ran over Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon en route to Ohio State's National Championship.

His 2015 season will go down as one of the best seasons ever for an Ohio State running back: 1,672 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns. That's really good, but the Heisman campaign couldn't carry steam over from last year. There was no Heisman moment. In the biggest game of the year, Ohio State's entire offense was out of whack and overmatched and Elliott finished with 33 yards against Michigan State.

That's the reason Elliott isn't going to New York. So Urban Meyer still has not had a Heisman finalist in his Ohio State tenure. J.T. Barrett finished fifth last year, and Braxton Miller finished fifth in 2012. Neither was invited to New York.

Elliott is still the Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Year. Elliott is a really, really good football player who will be a first-round NFL Draft pick next spring, likely off the board before any of the Heisman finalists who are eligible to leave for the league.

That's not what the Heisman is about, though. If it was about identifying the best NFL talent, there would be a lot of offensive linemen on the list of winners.

It's about rewarding the most outstanding college football player this season. Elliott was consistent, but never flashy. You have to do something to set yourself apart and all of the players who are going to New York have.

Heisman Top 5: Did Henry get passed on final weekend?

Henry set an SEC rushing record this year, carrying Alabama to the playoff while passing Herschel Walker. Watson is a dynamic quarterback who hasn't lost a game while nothing 41 total touchdowns on the No. 1 team in the country. McCaffrey just passed Barry Sanders' FBS record for most all-purpose yards in one season.

They've all had moments, they all deserve to be there.

Elliott missed his shot, and he's not going to New York.

On Monday Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mo Williams underwent an MRI on his left knee and results were negative.

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio - On Monday, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mo Williams underwent an MRI on his left knee and the results were negative.

Head coach David Blatt said Williams has been dealing with soreness in the knee for a while. Williams compounded the pain when he "tweaked it" during Saturday's 99-84 loss to the Miami Heat.

Williams only played 12 minutes that game and was 2-of-7 from the field. The team expects him to be available to play Tuesday when the Portland Trail Blazers come to town.

"Fortunately everything looks OK," Blatt said of the MRI. "A little sore, but we expect him to do the shootaround tomorrow and hopefully play."

Williams, 32, is averaging 13.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. He's the team's third-leading scorer and was recently sent down to play with the second unit.