NFL: Johnny Manziel, Cleveland Browns Shut Out By Cincinnati Bengals, 30-0

Johnny Manziel made his debut as a starter for the Cleveland Browns. The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t care and shut out Manziel and the Browns to net the easy 30-0 win on NFL Sunday Night Football.

Bengals rookie Jeremy Hill rushed twice for touchdowns in the first and second quarters and kicker Mike Nugent also had a pair of 44-yard field goals in that stretch to give the Bengals a 20-0 lead at halftime. Cincinnati continued the domination in the second half to run away with the victory, their fourth in the last five games. More importantly, the Bengals have now improved to 9-4-1 for the season, good to take the top spot in the AFC North. A couple of teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens are both at 9-5 or just half a game back for division leadership.

Hill finished with 148 rushing yards on 27 carries while Giovani Bernard added 79 yards (15) carries for Cincinnati, which out gained the Browns, 244-53 on the ground. Wide receiver A.J. Green only had 49 receiving yards on 5 catches but wasn’t really needed as the Bengals dominated on defence.

"Every time we hit him, every time we got him on his back,” Cincinnati defensive end Domata Peko said via ESPN. "So it was a lot of money signs thrown out today.” The Bengals sacked “Johnny Football” three times in the much talked about season debut and the Bengals responded well after losing 24-3 in their first meeting in this regular season on Nov. 6.

"We didn't want to let him be Johnny Football versus us," Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap added in the same article. Cleveland has now lost three in a row and dropped to 7-7 for the year and are now virtually out of the running for a wildcard spot in the postseason The Browns finish their season on the road against the Carolina Panthers (5-8-1) and Ravens (9-5) while the Bengals have also two games left, against the Denver Broncos (11-3) at home and the Pittsburgh Steelers (9-5) on the road.