AUSTIN HOOPER

Sleepless nights.

Keeping pace in the AFC West is turning into quite the arms race.

The Browns’ COVID-19 outbreak has widened and worsened.

Los Angeles Rams receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has been added to the COVID-19 reserve list as the NFL reports 28 more positive tests among players.

Baker Mayfield threw two touchdown passes, Myles Garrett scored his first career TD and the Cleveland Browns stayed in the thick of the playoff race, surviving Baltimore’s late comeback for a 24-22 win.

Mac Jones threw three touchdown passes, rookie Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for a career-high 100 yards and two scores, and the New England Patriots rolled to a 45-7 victory over the Cleveland Browns.

The Kansas City Chiefs have had plenty of success with the goal line shovel pass, so on Sunday the Cleveland Browns decided to borrow it.

Myles Garrett made a franchise record 4 1/2 sacks on Justin Fields and Cleveland brought down Chicago’s rookie quarterback nine times while harassing him throughout his first NFL start as the Browns thumped the Bears 26-6.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) celebrates as he walks off the field following a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in an NFL wild-card playoff football game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. The Cleveland Browns overcame all of it. The Browns dismantled the Pittsburgh Steelers 48-37 in the wild-card round Sunday night, picking up the franchise’s first postseason victory in more than a quarter-century and earning a trip to Kansas City next Sunday to face the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. The kick bounced into the end zone for a touchback and Mayfield calmly took Cleveland 80 yards in six plays. So much for the Browns being the Browns, a winking assessment Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster made about Cleveland in the middle of the week.

(AP Photo/David Richard)CLEVELAND – The Browns can finally practice for the playoffs. The Browns have been kept off the field and limited to virtual meetings in advance of Sunday night's wild-card game in Pittsburgh. On Thursday, quarterback Baker Mayfield said he hadn't thrown a football since last weekend, when the Browns clinched the AFC's No. The league maintains the game will be played as scheduled despite the Browns being without Stefanski and other players due to the virus. The Browns have seven players and six coaches, including Stefanski, who are unable to be around the team due to COVID-19 protocols.

The Trojans will host Santa Clara instead of Long Beach State, which had to cancel because of ongoing COVID-19 issues in its program. ___UCLA’s women’s basketball game at Oregon State on New Year’s Day has been postponed indefinitely. The Beavers announced a confirmed case of COVID-19 on Dec. 20. The team issued a statement Saturday announcing the positive test and saying it had closed its facility for tracing. The day's other suspended games include league leader Portsmouth against Swindon Town.

They're thinking much bigger than all that after a dominant 20-6 win over the New York Giants on Sunday night. The victory got the Browns closer to clinching their first playoff spot since 2002, the NFL’s longest drought. New York's opening drive stalled at the 8 after McCoy's throw to Evan Engram fell incomplete in the end zone. It could've worked, too: Kicker Graham Gano was wide open in the end zone. The Browns came right back with a scoring drive capped by Mayfield's 2-yard pass to a wide-open Hooper in the back of the end zone early in the second quarter.

(AP Photo/John Froschauer)Denver Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay has cleared concussion protocol and will play against the Los Angeles Chargers. Bears: WR Ted Ginn Jr., DB Duke Shelley, RB Artavis Pierce, OL Cody Whitehair, WR Riley Ridley, LB Trevis Gipson. Seahawks: RB Chris Carson, RB Carlos Hyde, DE Benson Mayowa, CB Ugo Amadi, SS Jamal Adams, CB Shaquill Griffin. ___LOS ANGELES RAMS AT MIAMIRams: RB Raymond Calais, OL Brian Allen, WR Trishton Jackson, TE Brycen Hopkins, DL A’Shawn Robinson. Dolphins: RB/WR Lynn Bowden Jr., RB Salvon Ahmed, FB Chandler Cox, CB Jamal Perry, RB Jordan Howard, DE Jason Strowbridge.

(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)CLEVELAND – Odell Beckham Jr.'s second season with Cleveland ended painfully and prematurely. The star wide receiver suffered a torn left knee ligament during Sunday's 37-34 win at Cincinnati, a devastating personal blow or Beckham and a setback to the Browns, who are off to their best start since 1994 and eyeing a playoff spot. An MRI taken Monday in Cleveland confirmed the diagnosis of a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The team said Beckham will be placed on injured reserve, but there is no immediate word on when he'll undergo surgery. While Beckham had continued to make some headlines with some off-the-field antics, he had been emerging as a leader on the Browns.

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)Las Vegas starting offensive linemen Kolton Miller, Denzelle Good, Rodney Hudson and Gabe Jackson are active for the Raiders against Tampa Bay after spending time on the COVID-19 list this week. Safety Johnathan Abram remains on the COVID-19 list for at least one more day and is missing the game. ___TAMPA BAY AT LAS VEGASBuccaneers: QB Ryan Griffin, OL Aaron Stinnie, LB Quinton Bell, DL Khalil Davis, WR Cyril Grayson. Raiders: WR Bryan Edwards, CB Keisean Nixon, QB Marcus Mariota, G Patrick Omameh, DE David Irving. ___CAROLINA AT NEW ORLEANSPanthers: QB Will Grier, CB Stantley Thomas-Oliver, G John Miller, OL Mike Horton, WR Marken Michel.

For Mayfield, it was a porous Cowboys pass defense that was poor against the run this time as well. For Garrett, it was an undrafted rookie right tackle who was overmatched against the star defensive end. Mayfield threw for two touchdowns, one of which was set up when Garrett had a strip sack for the third straight game, and the Browns held on for a 49-38 victory over the Cowboys to improve to 3-1 for the first time since 2001. The Cowboys got within a field goal with three straight touchdowns followed by successful 2-point conversions. Cowboys: C Joe Looney injured his right knee on the first offensive play of the game and didn't return.

(AP Photo/Ron Schwane)BEREA, Ohio Baker Mayfield knew he needed to drop some weight, and maybe a little of the attitude. If there was anything the Browns' self-assured quarterback learned during a chaotic, losing 2019 season in Cleveland it was that he had to change. I would say I lost myself not having that success, not finding out what was working, he said. For Mayfield, this past offseason provided the chance for a restart, and the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner and 2018 No. Mayfield said he got out of shape last season partly because injuries prevented him from working out the way he would have liked.

Baker Mayfield went back to his roots during this strange offseason, a time he's used to reflect and forget a season that didn't go well for the Browns' brash quarterback. Mayfield knows the upcoming season is vital. If I play better, thats why quarterback is one of those positions thats the hardest in sports. If I play better, our teams going to do better. This is the first media thing I have done, just because there is no need to be talking about it.