Browns undecided on starting QB against Ravens, coach said Thompson-Robinson, Zappe could both play

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Browns undecided on starting QB against Ravens, coach said Thompson-Robinson, Zappe could both play

2025-01-01 03:00 Last Updated At：03:12

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Browns haven't yet decided which of their backup quarterbacks will start the season finale at Baltimore.

It probably doesn't matter to the Ravens.

Coach Kevin Stefanski said he will “work through” the QB situation this week and it's possible both Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Bailey Zappe could play Saturday against the Ravens (11-5), who will clinch the AFC North title with a win.

“Bailey has been a guy that got here, haven’t seen him in a game just yet,” Stefanski said Tuesday on a Zoom call. “Dorian is a young player who's using all these reps to get better. So there’s a scenario where we do that (play both).”

If Zappe starts, he will be the 40th quarterback to start for the Browns since 1999.

Thompson-Robinson has struggled in two starts — the Browns have scored nine points — since replacing Jameis Winston, who was benched after throwing eight interceptions over a three-game span.

Winston continues to deal with a right shoulder injury and Stefanski said the veteran will likely be the emergency QB for the season finale.

The Browns (3-13) are 17 1/2-point underdogs against the first-place Ravens, who lost in Cleveland on Oct. 27 in Winston's first start this season after Deshaun Watson ruptured his Achilles tendon a week earlier.

Zappe was signed off Kansas City's practice squad in October after Watson was placed on injured reserve. The 25-year-old Zappe was picked in the fourth round by New England in 2022.

He made eight starts in two seasons with the Patriots and had his best game against the Browns, passing for 309 yards and two touchdowns in a win two years ago.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Burials begin as the search ends for victims in the Dominican nightclub collapse that killed 221

2025-04-11 10:09 Last Updated At：10:11

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A merengue icon, a baseball star and others killed when a cement roof collapsed at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic were buried Thursday, as authorities called off the search for bodies with the death toll at 221.

Mourners clad in black and white streamed into Santo Domingo’s National Theater, where the body of singer Rubby Pérez lay inside a closed coffin. Pérez had been performing on stage at the packed Jet Set club early Tuesday when dust began falling from the ceiling and, seconds later, the roof caved.

President Luis Abinader and first lady Raquel Arbaje arrived at the theater and stood beside Pérez's coffin for several minutes. Some mourners doubled over in tears as a recording of Pérez singing the national anthem played. Renowned Dominican musician Juan Luis Guerra was among those gathered to pay their respects.

Pérez, 69, had turned to music after a car accident left him unable to pursue his dream of becoming a professional baseball player. He was known for hits including “Volveré," which he sang with Wilfrido Vargas's orchestra, and “Buscando tus besos" as a solo artist.

After a five-hour memorial, mourners released dozens of white balloons outside the theater and spontaneously sang “Volveré” in unison. One woman put her hand over her heart and patted it as she cried.

At the cemetery, Zulinka Pérez, one of his daughters, said: “I knew he was loved but I never imagined this.”

Just blocks from the memorial for Pérez, heavy equipment began withdrawing from the site where Jet Set once stood and rescue crews packed up their equipment.

Meanwhile, a group of prosecutors arrived.

It is still unclear what caused the roof to collapse or when the building was last inspected. The government has said it will launch a thorough investigation, and the club’s owners have said they are cooperating with authorities.

Juan Manuel Méndez, director of the Center of Emergency Operations, broke down as he addressed reporters.

“Thank you, God, because today we accomplished the most difficult task I’ve had in 20 years,” he said, moving the microphone away from his face as he cried. Other officials patted him on the back as he continued, “Please forgive me,” before passing the microphone to an army official.

Officials said 189 people were rescued alive from the rubble. More than 200 were injured, with 23 of them still hospitalized, including eight in critical condition.

“If the trauma is too great, there’s not a lot of time” left to save patients in that condition, said Health Minister Víctor Atallah. He and other doctors said some of the injured suffered fractures to the skull, femur and pelvis.

Many people have been anxiously waiting for news of their loved ones, growing frustrated with the drip-drip of information provided by hospitals and the country’s forensic institute.

At least 146 bodies have been identified, authorities said Thursday.

María Luisa Taveras told TV station Noticias SIN that she was looking for her sister.

“We have gone everywhere they have told us,” she said, her voice breaking.

Taveras said the family has spread out, with a relative stationed at each hospital and at the National Institute of Forensic Pathology. Dozens of people waited at the institute Thursday, wearing face masks and complaining about the smell as they demanded the release of their loved ones' bodies.

“The odor is unbearable,” said Wendy Sosa, who has been waiting since Wednesday morning for the body of her cousin, 61-year-old Nilka Curiel González. Sosa told The Associated Press by phone that the situation there was “chaotic,” and that officials had set up a refrigerated container to handle the volume of bodies being delivered.

She wept as she described her cousin as gracious, authentic, and “very empathetic."

Victims identified so far include former MLB players Octavio Dotel and Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera; and Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northwestern province of Montecristi whose brother is seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star Nelson Cruz.

Dotel was buried Thursday in Santo Domingo. Hundreds of people attended his wake on Wednesday, including Hall of Famer David Ortiz, formerly of the Boston Red Sox. Ortiz said the number of people who attended Dotel’s wake spoke volumes.

“He was a person whom everyone loved,” Ortiz told reporters. “It’s very hard, very hard, truly.”

MLB Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez attended another wake Thursday.

“There are no words to describe the pain we are all feeling,” said Martínez, adding that he knew more than 50 of those who died. “Life is but a breath.”

Also killed was a retired United Nations official; saxophonist Luis Solís, who was playing onstage when the roof fell; New York-based fashion designer Martín Polanco; the son and daughter-in-law of the minister of public works; the brother of the vice minister of the Ministry of Youth; and three employees of Grupo Popular, a financial services company, including the president of AFP Popular Bank and his wife.

More than 20 victims came from Haina, Rubby Pérez's hometown, just southwest of Santo Domingo.

The governor held a communal wake, setting up 10 stands for coffins beneath a banner that read: “Haina bids farewell to her beloved children with immense sorrow.”

Among the mourners was Juancho Guillén, who lost his wife three months ago and whose brother, sister and brother-in-law died at Jet Set.

“This family is in shock, is devastated," he told Noticias SIN. "We’re practically dead too.”

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.