Cleveland Browns president John Collins denied that he was about to fire general manager Phil Savage - hired less than a year ago.

It was reported on Friday that Savage who was brought in to stabilize a volatile front office in Cleveland, was on the verge of losing his position due to "philosophical differences."

However, Collins maintains that he is pleased with Savage's performance in his first season and has no intention of letting him go. Savage could not be reached for comment.

Savage and Crennel are the most recent appointments to a front office that hasn't worked together for a year. Collins said the group is still finding its feet and that there were bound to be problems. He hoped his recent meeting had dealt with any issues for now.

Cleveland face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Football gambling spreads have the Browns at +3 for the game.

Sunday's games:

Oakland at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m.
St. Louis at Minnesota, 1 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Carolina, 1 p.m.
Chicago at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.
Cleveland at Cincinnati, 1 p.m.
Houston at Tennessee, 1 p.m.
Indianapolis at Jacksonville, 1 p.m.
New England at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
San Francisco at Seattle, 4:05 p.m.
Washington at Arizona, 4:05 p.m.
N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia, 4:05 p.m.
Kansas City at Dallas, 4:15 p.m.
Miami at San Diego, 4:15 p.m.
Baltimore at Denver, 4:15 p.m.
Detroit at Green Bay, 8:30 p.m.

Monday's game
New Orleans at Atlanta, 9 p.m.

Mike Nolan says the San Francisco 49ers will use the final five games to sort themselves out for 2006. So nothing new there. The potentially great draft class has not lived up to the hype.

Top pick quarterback Alex Smith has played just four games and really struggling in two of them. David Baas, first pick of the second round, has yet to make any contribution.

But the 49ers are going to use their younger players a lot more, starting this week against Arizona at Monster Park. Smith is back in the lineup and Baas and Snyder will be on the starting offensive line.

For football gamblers, the 49ers are gettng +3 on pointspread.