CINCINNATI (AP) — Dorian Thompson-Robinson didn't put to rest any questions about the Browns' long-term future at quarterback with his performance on Sunday.
Making his first start of the season and fourth of his career, the second-year player was sacked five times and threw two interceptions in Cleveland's 24-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He passed for 157 yards and rushed for 49.
“Yeah, I thought he made some plays with his feet,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “We got the quarterback out of the pocket a few different times, so I thought he made some plays. Obviously, they pressured him.”
Stefanski said Thompson-Robinson will remain the starter next week against Miami.
Thompson-Robinson took over for Jameis Winston, who was benched after throwing eight interceptions in his past three games. Winston was inactive Sunday with a shoulder injury. Deshaun Watson tore his Achilles tendon earlier this season after playing poorly for seven games, and his $230 million guaranteed contract continues to loom over the franchise.
Thompson-Robinson started three games last season as a rookie, going 1-2.
“I actually told Jameis, ‘I need you to tell me what I’m doing bad, even if I’m not doing something bad, get on me,’” Thompson-Robinson said. “I don’t like to be told what I’m doing good. I need to know what I’m doing bad. The good is going to come.”
There was some good and some bad on Sunday.
Thompson-Robinson showed his ability to extend plays when he scrambled away from pressure and tossed a 12-yard pass to David Njoku on fourth-and-8 in the fourth quarter.
He had an 11-yard touchdown run called back by a holding penalty in the fourth quarter. Four plays later, he was intercepted in the end zone by Geno Stone.
“It wasn’t a good game," Thompson-Robinson said. “I know we had good moments, but good moments don’t win football games. We were harping all week on turnovers. I had two myself.”
The Browns (3-12) didn't help him much. Their protection broke down on several occasions and they had five penalties for 41 yards, some in crucial moments.
“It was a tough game for everybody,” said receiver Jerry Jeudy, who had two catches for 20 yards after topping 100 yards three times in the past five games with Winston throwing him the ball. “It's only one game. We'll look at the mistakes and move on from there. We were on the goal line and got pushed back 20 yards on pre-snap penalties. We can't be doing that.”
Thompson-Robinson tweaked his calf in the first quarter on a play when D'Onta Foreman fumbled on the 1-yard line. Backup Bailey Zappe warmed up on the sideline, but never entered the game. Stefanski said Thompson-Robinson appeared healthy afterward.
“The quarterback is there to play a complete full game and lead his team to victory,” Thompson-Robinson said. “I did not do so today. At the end of the day, we lost this game on turnovers. I have to do a better job.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai (58) sacks Cleveland Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Cincinnati. The Bengals won 24-6. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston (5) stands on the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson (91) sacks Cleveland Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson (17) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
PHOENIX (AP) — Donald Trump suggested Sunday that his new administration could try to regain control of the Panama Canal that the United States “foolishly” ceded to its Central American ally, contending that shippers are charged “ridiculous” fees to pass through the vital transportation channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Panama's conservative president José Raúl Mulino, who was elected in May on a pro-business platform, roundly rejected that notion as an affront to his country's sovereignty.
The Republican president-elect's comment came during his first major rally since winning the White House on Nov. 5. He also basked in his return to power as a large audience of conservatives cheered along. It was a display of party unity at odds with a just-concluded budget fight on Capitol Hill, where some GOP lawmakers openly defied their leader's demands.
Addressing supporters at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Arizona, Trump pledged that his “dream team Cabinet” would deliver a booming economy, seal U.S. borders and quickly settle wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
“I can proudly proclaim that the Golden Age of America is upon us,” Trump said. “There’s a spirit that we have now that we didn’t have just a short while ago.”
His appearance capped a four-day pep rally that drew more than 20,000 activists and projected an image of Republican cohesion despite the past week's turbulence in Washington with Trump pulling strings from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as Congress worked to avoid a government shutdown heading into the holidays.
House Republicans spiked a bipartisan deal after Trump and Elon Musk, his billionaire ally, expressed their opposition on social media. Budget hawks flouted Trump's demand that they raise the nation’s debt ceiling, which would have spared some new rounds of the same fight after he takes office on Jan. 20, with Republicans holding narrow control of the House and Senate. The final agreement did not address the issue and there was no shutdown.
Trump, in his remarks in Phoenix, did not mention the congressional drama, though he did reference Musk's growing power. To suggestions that "President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon,” Trump made clear, “No, no. That’s not happening.”
“He’s not gonna be president,” Trump said.
The president-elect opened the speech by saying that "we want to try to bring everybody together. We’re going to try. We’re going to really give it a shot." Then he suggested Democrats have “lost their confidence” and are “befuddled” after the election but eventually will ”come over to our side because we want to have them.”
Atop a list of grievances — some old, some new — was the Panama Canal.
“We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal,” he said, bemoaning that his country ”foolishly gave it away.”
The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter.
The canal depends on reservoirs to operate its locks and was heavily affected by 2023 Central American droughts that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships using the canal each day, administrators also increased the fees that are charged all shippers for reserving a slot.
With weather returning to normal in the later months of this year, transit on the canal has normalized. But price increases are still expected for next year.
Mulino, Panama's president, has been described as a conservative populist who aligns with Trump on many issues. Panama is a strong U.S. ally and the canal is crucial for its economy, generating about one-fifth of that government’s annual revenue.
Still, Trump said, that, once his second term is underway, "If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question.”
“I’m not going to stand for it," Trump said. "So to the officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly.”
He did not explain how that would be possible.
Shortly after Trump's speech, Mulino released a video declaring that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong” to his country.
Without mentioning Trump by name, Mulino addressed Trump's complaints over rising fees for ships crossing the canal, saying they are set by experts who take into account operational costs, and supply and demand factors.
“The tariffs are not set on a whim” Mulino said. He noted that Panama has expanded the canal over the years to increase ship traffic “on its own initiative,” and added that shipping fee increases help pay for improvements.
“Panamanians may have different views on many issues” Mulino said. “But when it comes to our canal, and our sovereignty, we will all unite under our Panamanian flag.”
The canal aside, Trump’s appearance at Turning Point’s annual gathering affirmed the growing influence the group and its founder, Charlie Kirk, have had in the conservative movement. Kirk’s group hired thousands of field organizers across presidential battlegrounds, helping Trump make key gains among infrequent voters and other groups of people that have trended more Democratic in recent decades, including younger voters, Black men and Latino men.
”You had Turning Point’s grassroots armies,” Trump said. “It’s not my victory, it’s your victory.”
Trump on Sunday also announced several new members of his incoming administration, most notably:
-Stephen Miran, who worked at the Treasury Department in Trump's first term, to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, an executive branch agency charged with providing objective economic advice to the president.
—Callista Gingrich to be the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland. Gingrich was U.S. ambassador to the Holy See in Trump's first term. She is married to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Separately, Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt announced he was donating $1.1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund to complement the $14 million that he said he already had given to the Make America Great Again Inc. super political action committee — making him one of the president-elect’s top donors.
Pratt is chairman of Pratt Industries, which uses recycled paper and boxes as a raw material in a process that produces new cardboard.
This story has been corrected to reflect that Panama's president Mulino was elected in May, not April.
Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writer Manuel Rueda in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
FILE - A cargo ship traverses the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at AmericaFest, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
