CLEVELAND -- Not many expected this game to be competitive, and it wasn't.
While the New England Patriots dominated en route to a 33-13 victory, the Cleveland Browns found themselves staring at another quarterback calamity, as rookie Cody Kessler left the game late in the first quarter with rib and shoulder injuries and later Charlie Whitehurst limped off with 3:57 left after getting hit in the left knee.
The Browns are winless in five games and heading to Tennessee with, probably, their sixth starting quarterback in the past eight games: Whitehurst if he's healthy (he returned with 31 seconds left to kneel down) or Terrelle Pryor. Kessler said he'd try to return but seemed to be in pain as he stood to speak to the media. His status seems very iffy.
The game itself had the feel of being competitive for perhaps 10 minutes. Then again, the way Tom Brady started, the word "competitive" is relative. New England was ornery coming off a loss, and Brady was more ornery coming off a four-game suspension. The Patriots outmanned the Browns, and Brady threw for 406 yards and three touchdowns.
The Browns lost Kessler and went to Whitehurst, who provided some second-half spark and threw some nice passes in tough circumstances. He finished 14-of-24 for 182 yards, with a touchdown to rookie tight Connor Hamlett and one interception.
Brady, meanwhile, acted as if he hadn't missed a down, and the Browns' defense offered only sporadic resistance. Had the Patriots scored from the 1-yard line in the first half and had they made a field goal to end the half, this score would have been more lopsided.
A season that looked like it would be a long one in Cleveland has turned into a five-game quagmire. Kessler said he would try to come back, but wouldn't know until the week progressed. Whitehurst said the same. No matter who starts, a winless team will face the Titans with its fourth starting quarterback in six games this season.
Not much was expected of the Browns in this first season of what owner Jimmy Haslam called a multi-year rebuild. But a game like Sunday's shows the Grand Canyon-esque gap between a Browns team at the bottom and a New England team among the best.
The Patriots play with precision and effort. The Browns ... well, they've lost the first five games of this season on top of losing 13 of 16 in 2015 on top of losing the final five games of the 2014 season.
That makes them 3-23 in their past 26 games.