CLEVELAND — Wearing large headphones to block out the world, Johnny Manziel walked slowly from the Browns’ locker room, pausing to sign an autograph for a young fan who painted his face for the occassion.

Manziel then stopped briefly to talk with friends waiting for him, but the Browns’ rookie quarterback was hardly in the mood to socialize.

There were no money signs being flashed, no discussion about hitting any clubs, nothing but sympathetic pats on the back.

It was time for Manziel to go home.

His debut was a disaster.

Manziel couldn’t live up to the enormous hype surrounding his first NFL start as the Cincinnati Bengals rolled to a 30-0 win Sunday over the Browns, who were eliminated from the AFC North race and will likely miss the playoffs for the 12th straight year.

Manziel didn’t provide a spark. He didn’t do much of anything.

“It was tough,” Manziel said. “I need to be better. It’s tough to come out and there and lay an egg like that and I put that on me. I’m not using the rookie excuse. It’s not me. I needed to play better.”

With the Bengals determined not to let him transform into Johnny Football and make big plays, Manziel spent the afternoon running or ducking from trouble. The 21st starting quarterback for Cleveland since 1999, Manziel looked a lot like his 20 predecessors — lost and alone.

He completed 10 of 18 passes for 80 yards, threw two interceptions and was sacked three times. He was also constantly taunted by Bengals players, who gleefully flashed Manziel’s “money-rubbing gesture” in his face every chance they got.

“I didn’t even notice it,” he claimed.

It would have been hard for him to miss Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga, who batted down one of Manziel’s passes and nearly stuck his hands inside the quarterback’s facemask to make a point. As the week progressed, Cincinnati’s defense grew tired of all the talk about Manziel.

“We didn’t want to let him be Johnny Football versus us,” said Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap.

Manziel never got a chance.

The first-place Bengals (9-4-1) scored the first time they had the ball, building momentum the Browns (7-7) could never turn around.

Cleveland’s offense went three-and-out on its first three series, picking up just one first down thanks to a penalty on the Bengals defense.

And when the Browns finally got a scoring chance, Manziel squandered it by forcing a pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Bengals cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones.

Manziel took the blame for the miscue.

“You can’t throw the second one whether you’re playing in a Pop Warner league or if you’re 6 years old playing in the driveway, you can’t throw that ball,” Manziel said. “That’s 100 percent on me.”