National Football League roundup

[December 08, 2017]   (The Sports Xchange) - The Cleveland Browns have fired executive vice president/general manager Sashi Brown, the team announced on Thursday.

With Brown's departure, the franchise will be searching for a general manager for the ninth time since it returned to Cleveland in 1999. The team, however, said it will keep Hue Jackson as its coach for the 2018 season.

Winless thus far this season, the Browns own a 1-27 mark under the watch of Brown, who was hired to run the front office on Jan. 3, 2016.

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Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier underwent spinal stabilization surgery Wednesday night on the heels of the injury he sustained earlier in the week, the team announced.

"(University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) neurosurgeons and Pittsburgh Steelers team physicians Drs. David Okonkwo and Joseph Maroon performed spinal stabilization surgery on Ryan Shazier to address his spinal injury," the Steelers' statement said.

The team initially said that Shazier, 25, would not require surgery. The Steelers have not released any information about whether Shazier has any movement in his legs, or whether he is expected to make a recovery.

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Buffalo Bills rookie cornerback Tre'Davious White told reporters that it's "a joke" that New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski received only a one-game suspension from the NFL following his late hit in Sunday's game.

White cleared concussion protocol on Thursday, four days after Gronkowski leveled an elbow/forearm to the back of the head following an interception in the Patriots' 23-3 win.

With the game in hand in the fourth quarter, Gronkowski dove into a defenseless White on the ground near the sideline, driving his head and back into the ground. Gronkowski was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the hit, but was not ejected from the game.

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Cincinnati Bengals rookie wide receiver John Ross admitted to concealing an injury to his left shoulder, coach Marvin Lewis said during an interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

Lewis said that Ross had been hiding the injury before finally "coming clean" with the team, which placed him on injured reserve Wednesday. The coach said that the ninth overall pick of the 2017 draft didn't divulge the severity of the injury because he wanted to play.

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