NFL Rumor: Brian Hoyer will start Thursday against Buffalo
September 30, 2013Browns building dominant defense
September 30, 2013
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During his Monday press conference, Cleveland head coach Rob Chudzinski confirmed that Brian Hoyer will start Thursday night for the Browns against the Buffalo Bills.
He added that quarterback Brandon Weeden was cleared to play, but would not start.
He would not go as far as to name Brian Hoyer the quarterback for the rest of the season. He will continue to evaluate the quarterback situation on a week by week basis.
[Related: Cleveland Browns Winners and Losers]
30 Comments
no-brainer of the week
I’m not convinced Hoyer is better than Weeden, (yet) but he’s not worse, and you can’t not start him next week after what happened the past two.
Observation and question for the good of the order:
Observation: The offense has clearly been more effective under Hoyer than under Weeden.
Question: Is this on Hoyer or on Norv Turner?
I know it’s already been debated on some level here, but the impression is that the play calling has been more aggressive/creative in the last 2 games than in the first 2 games. If so (and it may not be true – though trading your RB would tend to create this result), I’d still kind of like to see Weeden under center with the “new” (if indeed new) play calling. Now, I think Hoyer has earned the next start, but the question is still there in my mind.
Quick decisions by Hoyer is something that we haven’t seen (and have been concerned with) by Weeden.
Agree. That’s the one readily-identifiable difference between the two guys. But then, I have to wonder how much of an impact Josh Gordon has had on that . . .
(Also already debated.)
Duh part deux!
Exactly Hoyer knows what he wants to do and can obviously think much quicker on his feet. Makes a world of difference for the OL who hasn’t given up very many sacks since the QB change.
something else I have not seen in the past two weeks: delay of game penalties, or any news stories about “malfunctioning” helmet headsets. Hoyer seems to get the play called and the team ready for the snap much more efficiently than Weeden.
Brian Hoyer has rescued this franchise from the depths of despair this season. What an incredible story! The FO deserves a LOT of credit for bringing him here to play.
As Hoyer was upgraded from QB3 to Starter, this story has been upgraded from NFL Rumor to NFL News.
I think you’re seeing a younger guy who has 4 years of NFL experience and strong coaching outplay an older guy with 1 year of NFL experience and poor coaching.
My guess that the play calling has remained the same. Obviously, the addition of Gordon can’t be ignored, but I think this is more a case of a guy who “gets the game” versus a guy who “doesn’t get it” (yet? ever?).
Exactly, this.
Of course Gordon had an impact, but IMO Hoyer has demonstrated skills on the field that Weeden just doesn’t possess.
Agreed. It would probably take years for Weeden to learn how to read a defense and anticipate throws as well as Hoyer.
don’t buy the aggressive play-calling theory. Two things stick out in my mind:
– Before we get to the respective QB ability, in the Norv offense the presence of Josh Gordon. Little can’t get deep. Benjamin, when starting, couldn’t release off the line. Gordon pulls the secondary downfield and opens the middle routes. I don’t think Benjamin could have weaved for his 30+ yards on that look right/throw left play, or Cameron would have cleared the middle untouched and scooted upfield for his 30, or Bess would have caught the quick slant over the middle to the 1 yard line, without the attention Gordon draws. Having said that …
– Where to throw/When to throw/How to throw: Weeden does not (yet?) do any of this competently. Hoyer, with 3 career starts, does all of it competently. On all 3 of the aforementioned big plays, plus the TD throws to Cameron and Ogby, he did this effortlessly. Hoyer leads his receivers pretty well and releases quickly, crucial on all the slants for first downs we had yesterday. Hoyer has dropped in touch passes to Cameron in the end zone. Even the jump ball that Gordon picked off Pacman”s helmet had a touch where the tall leaping athlete could make a play. Can’t remember a Weeden touch pass – remember the bullett to Ogby wide open in the flat 2 weeks ago that should have gone for 40? He could have caught it but where’s the touch, the feel? Not even starting on the field vision thing, the sense of looking toward Point B if the defense is coming from Point A. Hoyer got few reps in training camp or practice up until the thumb and he’s competent.
I’m not anointing Hoyer. I want to know: is Weeden a football dunce?
It’s because it’s unfair to try and get Weeden reacclimated to game speed in a short work week.
(pffft)
[BTW, I’m going to watch the Thursday game with some ambivalence. With all the league concern about player safety, tell me just 3 days rest from the hitting we saw yesterday is sufficient to permit a body to recover]
That’s really the biggest positive of Hoyer on the field. The O-Line doesn’t have to hold their blocks for long. It keeps them fresh and before they lose their blocks, the ball is out.
I noticed this problem with the Cowboys yesterday. The O-Line was gassed and Romo kept holding onto the ball forever, killing his O-Line.
Not sure what games you were watching.
While I love a lot of what Hoyer has been doing, we had to burn all three of our first half time outs to avoid delay of game penalties this week, so that’s not entirely true.
Anticipating a low-production night from Cameron, for this reason. Guy looked completely battered and spent by the 4th quarter yesterday.
I actually think it could be sloppy and high scoring. Buffalo doesn’t have a ton of time to plan for Hoyer, and the defenses have to be tired. If Chud wants to pull out some of the misdirection razzle dazzle or fake punts they worked on in camp, Thursday may be the perfect day. A double reverse, a pitchback to Hoyer with Ogby going deep …
In game two, Weeden was 21-33 for 227 yds, a completion rate of 63.6%, an average of 6.88yds per completion, and a QB Rating of 83.8. In week 3, Hoyer was 30-54 for 321yds, a completion rate of 55.6%, an average of 5.94yds per completion, and a QB rating of 68.5. This with the benefit of Josh Gordon, or “not Greg Little,” as I like to call everybody else. He also threw 3 interceptions to go with his two touchdowns, which I know Weeden had done in week 1, but two of those bounced off of stone hands and were against a much better defense.
Now, this past week Hoyer was definitely improved, but it’s a little early to call that proof of anything. Their secondary was dinged up pretty good while a heroic performance from ours kept their defense on the field quite a bit and wore them out. there were also a couple of big catches made (including his first touchdown pass) that simply haven’t been made for Weeden. And don’t forget, Weeden was pretty good against the Bengals last year too. (553yds, 65.2%, 8.38/per, 4T/1I, 105.2 in 2 games)
I’ll not debate the validity of your data. I will state, that, to my eyes, the offensive players seem to “click” more with Hoyer in.
I agree with all the points you made here. Well done.
Stop the run and you can beat Buffalo.
Yep. On the plus side, if Weeden ever does get back in, maybe he’ll play with a little more fire and urgency than he has to date.
yeah I was on the road yesterday and couldnt watch or catch a signal…I went through the play by play and only looked for delay penalties. Fair enough
With time it may bear out that this is because of Hoyer, but it’s only fair to assign some of that production in the passing game to Josh Gordon’s presence. He accounted for 45% of Hoyer’s passing yardage against the Vikings.
I’m certainly not rooting against the guy. I have also seen generally better functionality of the offense the last two weeks. I sincerely hope he keeps it up against better defenses.
The dude gets rid of the ball quickly and to the correct read. Meanwhile, Weeden holds the ball for a long time waiting for guys to run themselves open.
Hoyer…consider this your offense until further notice.
Also, I have this gut feeling that this Thursday night will be a coming-out party for the Browns, specifically the defense. Sure, it’s the Bills, but it’s a national broadcast, and it’s at home, and the defense is going to wreck the Bills’ offense. Hoyer will get his chance to shine on the national stage with many short field opportunities thanks to the defense…of this I am certain.
Weeden is a football dunce. He played in a scripted, one-read system in college and he just can’t keep his head calm enough to make quick reads and good decisions.
He’s lazy too. And doesn’t really give a crap. This is the flip side of “maturity.” I sense 0 ambition on him to be good. Too bad the bonus will accelerate on the salary cap once we cut him.