CLEVELAND -- A few thoughts on the Cleveland Browns' 30-0 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at FirstEnergy Stadium:
What it means: The Browns keep believing in the next great thing, and over and over they are let down. Sunday against Cincinnati it was Johnny Manziel's turn to be the seventh rookie to start a game since 1999 and the seventh to lose. He got little help from anyone, but he did little to help himself, as the Bengals looked like a team on a mission to embarrass the Browns' highly hyped rookie. They succeeded on almost every level.
Stock watch: Now what at the quarterback position? It's hard to argue against the fact that Brian Hoyer took the fall for a lot of bad play around him, given the help Manziel got Sunday, but going back to Hoyer doesn't help evaluate Manziel. The Browns have gone from leaving Cincinnati and moving into first place to watching the Bengals knock them (for all intents and purposes) out of the playoffs.
Walk the walk: The Browns talked big about Jeremy Hill's words after the first game. After Cleveland won, Hill said the Browns weren't that good. The Browns called him names and said he was immature and all that stuff. Then they let Hill run down their throats. Hill had more than 100 yards -- in the first half alone.
Thin at corner: The Browns lost Joe Haden to a shoulder injury and Justin Gilbert to a concussion during the game. They started without K'Waun Williams. That left them with two corners as the game wound down -- Buster Skrine and rookie Pierre Desir, getting his first significant playing time
Ouch: The Browns were shut out for the first time since a November 2009 loss to Baltimore.
Game ball: Merril Hoge of ESPN has been a constant critic of Manziel since the day the Browns drafted him. Before the game, Hoge said that Manziel had first-round hype and sixth-round talent. Given the fact that nobody on the Browns bothered to show up, and given the way the offense and Manziel played, nobody had a better day than Hoge, whose bold stance was on point.
What's next: The Browns finish with consecutive games on the road. The first is Sunday in Carolina against the Panthers.