Hoyer Paranoia

One day after the Cleveland Indians did their usual disappearing act whenever fans fill those green seats at Progressive Field to the max and the national media pays attention, the Cleveland Browns had the chance to turn those frowns upside down in the exact same scenario.

While most of the NFL Network's preseason hype on this game surrounded Buffalo first-round rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel, lately, the talk had shifted to this little-known third-string quarterback that had suddenly made the Browns relevant this early in the season -- North Olmsted native Brian Hoyer.

Most football gurus remembered Hoyer as Tom Brady's primary backup for a few seasons in New England after Hoyer made the Patriots as an undrafted rookie out of Michigan State. Hoyer had a stellar career at St. Ignatius, but wasn't exactly the second-coming while playing for the Spartans. In fact, some might say his college career was eerily similar to that of Brady's -- both were Big Ten quarterbacks in the state of Michigan, both weren't exactly great in college and both were lightly regarded by the NFL after their senior seasons.

Whatever knowledge Brady passed on to Hoyer he appeared to soak up like a sponge. Those close to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick believed that Hoyer had what it took to become a good starting quarterback in the NFL, including an NFL Network insider who previously worked in Cleveland named Michael Lombardi.

In December of 2011, Lombardi went on the NFL Network and proclaimed that both New England backups Hoyer and Ryan Mallett had what it took to become franchise quarterbacks in the NFL. His quote that has gotten repeated a lot over the past few weeks -- "I think Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett are starters. I've said this many times; If I would have taken the GM job of the 49ers, I would have gone after Brian Hoyer, because I think he has all the traits and characteristics. If I were the Cleveland Browns, I'd rather have Brian Hoyer behind center than Colt McCoy. I think he's got all the traits you need, in terms of leadership, toughness, the arm strength, the ability to move a team."

Within months of becoming the new GM of the Cleveland Browns, Lombardi proved to be a man of his word, signing Hoyer to a two-year contract. Then, after Brandon Weeden sprained his thumb late in a Week 2 14-6 loss to Baltimore and backup Jason Campbell threw an ill-advised underhanded toss to Jordan Cameron on fourth down with his team trailing by eight, Hoyer got his chance to show the world that Lombardi was actually right.

Hoyer's come-from-behind rally to beat the Minnesota Vikings after a tumultuous Week 3 had Cleveland buzzing. He then outplayed Cincinnati's Andy Dalton in his first home start ever, leading the Browns to a 17-6 win over the team most had pegged as the favorite to win the AFC North this season.

Needless to say, the NFL Network and the rest of the country had begun to take notice of Hoyer. Cleveland was already going nuts over their homegrown quarterback. In a hero-starved city desperately looking for the next Brian Sipe, Bernie Kosar or a combination of both, Hoyer appeared to be on his way to becoming the next one on that list.

Then, just six snaps into his nationally-televised debut, after what could have been an 90-yard touchdown pass to Josh Gordon was dropped after hitting Gordon in stride and right in the breadbasket, Hoyer took off on an innocent scramble after not seeing anyone open, went to slide after an 11-yard gain, was blasted by Buffalo rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso and tore the ACL of his knee when his leg bent awkwardly beneath him.

Now, the old Browns would have simply tucked their tail between their legs and gotten run out of their own building. The Bills had a 10-0 lead and Weeden, who had barely taken any snaps since suffering his thumb injury three weeks ago, was rusty as heck and was hearing about it from the Browns fans who had fallen head-over-heels in love with their homegrown quarterback. Even those who had supported Weeden were now buying into "Hoyer Paranoia."

However, these Browns aren't those old Browns.

Weeden suddenly shook off the rust and led the Browns to a touchdown drive. Then Travis Benjamin lit a spark in the crowd of 73,000 with a long, dazzling punt return touchdown that gave the Browns a sudden 17-10 lead.

Even after Buffalo came storming back to take a 24-17 lead, the Browns didn't quit. Weeden made, arguably, the two best throws of his career on back-to-back plays -- a 47-yard rope to Greg Little and a 37-yard bomb to Gordon that Gordon made a fantastic play on -- to tie the game at 24. Weeden then led the Browns to two more field goals before T.J. Ward sealed the deal with a pick-six off of undrafted rookie Jeff Tuel, who appears to have no business being on an NFL roster, let alone as the backup of the Bills (the Bills agreed, promoting ex-Browns third-stinger Thad Lewis to starter for the foreseeable future with Manuel's timetable to return undetermined).

Cleveland was understandably happy. The bad taste left in their mouths following the Indians' 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay was gone. The Browns had won three straight games and found themselves in sole possession of first place in the AFC North five weeks into the season. This after many believed they were raising the white flag on the season after giving up Trent Richardson for a 2014 first-round pick.

But, when the news hit that Hoyer was out for the rest of the season, suddenly first place didn't matter (at least to some people). That entertaining performance the previous night under the national spotlight was forgotten. The fact that Weeden was the quarterback for 95 percent of that game was apparently forgotten as well.

This is Cleveland, where we dwell on the negative and forget about the positive. Hoyer was done, and apparently, so are the Browns.

Joe Cleveland begs to differ.

Keep in mind that Weeden came into this season as the Browns' starting quarterback. He was a first round pick last season and started 15 of 16 games. If he doesn't injure his thumb in Week 2, Hoyer doesn't even get his chance.

Hoyer couldn't even beat out Campbell for the backup job in preseason, even though, by all accounts, Hoyer outplayed the veteran. And, when Rob Chudzinski announced that Hoyer was going to bypass Campbell and start in Week 3, many of you felt that it was a sure sign that the Browns were in tank mode.

Just two weeks later, many of those same fans believe that Hoyer was the next Kosar or Sipe, and he only played in two full games. Calm down, people!

We may never know if Hoyer would have been the answer or not, which is a shame because he had been playing so well. But Hoyer's debut coincided with the debut of Gordon after a two-game suspension, and if you can't see the difference in the Browns offense with it's only true vertical threat playing, then you're not watching the same game.

Perhaps the Browns would be 0-4 if Weeden hadn't gotten hurt, but we'll never know, will we? The fact is, Hoyer came in, played very well and helped the Browns get into the position that they are. And while Weeden does not have Hoyer's quick release and takes too many sacks, the fact is, when they take the shackles off of him, Weeden can make any throw necessary for his team to win. That was evident on those two tosses to Little and Gordon that turned this game solely on its axis in favor of the Browns.

When Weeden says he was friends with Hoyer, I believe him. And when he says he learned from some of the attributes Hoyer brought to the table, along with the work ethic he brought with him from the Patriots, I believe him too. And, if Weeden can't be motivated to play his absolute best after seeing one his backups play as well as he did with talk still swirling about the Browns still targeting a quarterback in next year's draft, then there's no hope for him.

I believe we'll see the Brandon Weeden that some folks believed he could be after a stellar career at Oklahoma State. Perhaps it took getting injured and coming off the bench to light a fire under his ass. Prior to that, everything was handed to him. The starting job was handed to him after Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert took him with the 22nd overall pick, and he was never challenged by Colt McCoy or Lewis or Seneca Wallace. His GM called the Weeden selection a "panicked disaster" on the NFL Network last season, so he knows the deck is stacked against him.

He very correctly answered that "those things are out of my control," when Rich Eisen asked him about the QB rumors in the postgame show Thursday night. It's true. All he can do is play as well as he can and things will take care of themselves.

This Browns team has a legitimate shot at a postseason berth, something I don't think anybody would have said with a straight face just three weeks ago. The North Division looks very mortal, as the Bengals and Ravens pull Jeckyl and Hyde impressions every other week and the Steelers can't win a single game. The rest of the schedule doesn't look very daunting, as a 3-2 Lions team comes to town this Sunday that was just throttled by the Packers and went a dismal 4-12 last season. Even Green Bay looks beatable this season, as does New England (both on the Browns schedule).

The Browns aren't going to win every single game the rest of the season, and if they happen to lose to Detroit, fans will point out Weeden's 0-3 record as a starter compared to Hoyer's 3-0. But they have the defense to hang with any team in front of them, and the offense has enough playmakers (even without Richardson and Hoyer) to do some damage.

Remember how people were complaining about the kicker position and how the Browns would regret letting Phil Dawson go? You don't hear that very much anymore, do you? Billy Cundiff has only missed two field goals (one was blocked) and most of his kickoffs go through the uprights. Spencer Lanning even made an extra point for good measure and has proven to be the Browns' most reliable punter since the days of Dave Zastudil. And Benjamin has made many people forget about Josh Cribbs, although they do miss Cribbs on kickoff returns.

The Browns are not a finished product, by any means. But can they win this season and make a playoff push? Absolutely.

The Browns may wind up being like the Indians in this regard -- being good enough to qualify for the playoffs, but not quite good enough to make a championship push. And you know what, that's fine.

You don't hear many people complaining about the Indians today because they exceeded everyone's expectations by simply winning 92 games and qualifying for a Wild Card berth. Sure, you would have liked to see them score at least one run against the Rays, especially when they had numerous chances to do so, but the fact that they brought exciting October baseball back to Carnegie and Ontario after five years seemed to have lit a spark under this dormant fan base. Now, everyone's excited about this offseason, and deservedly so. It's been a while since fans have legitimately been anticipating an Indians offseason, and the Tribe has some decisions to make if they want to keep building off of this season.

The Browns are in the same boat. If this team somehow goes 10-6 or 9-7 or even 8-8 and wins the AFC North, you don't think Browns fans aren't going to be excited? Even if that means they're set up for an ass-kicking by the Denver Broncos, so be it. This offseason was already anticipated before the Browns captured our imaginations and won three straight games. Every Browns offseason is anticipated, but you don't think the anticipation would grow 10-fold if this team somehow snuck into the playoffs? NFL playoff football hasn't visited Cleveland since 2002 and only twice since 1994 -- you're damn right we're going to go apeshit, just like everyone did when the Tribe made it after a six-year absence.

Cleveland fans are dying to see what the Indians can do for an encore in 2014 and whether or not the 2013 was an abberation or something that can be built upon. They will be dying to see what the Browns can do for 2014, regardless of whether they make the playoffs or not (but it will be greater if they can be a postseason team). And, Lord only knows about the Cavs in the summer of 2014 when you-know-who decides to become a free agent, regardless of whether they can finally taste the postseason for the first time since that you-know-who took his talents elsewhere in the summer of 2010.

Can we see three playoff teams in the same calender year for the first time in a long time, perhaps EVER? The closest we got was 2007, with the Cavs making the NBA Finals, the Indians making the ALCS and the Browns winning 10 games, but finishing a tiebreaker shy of an NFL playoff berth. Too early to tell.

But don't let Hoyer's season-ending injury spoil your feelings about the Cleveland Browns. Yeah, it's a tough break for the hometown hero. But let's see if Weeden can rise to the challenge and answer the bell. Let's see if this defense continues to play like one of the best units in the NFL. Let's see if the special teams continue to do special things. Let's see if Willis McGahee can get better as he works off his own rust, and let's see if Gordon, Little, Cameron and Davone Bess can continue to give Weeden reliable weapons that he can use to attack NFL defenses and put points on the board.

The Browns are playing their best football in YEARS. Don't let an injury to a guy who began the year as the third-string quarterback spoil that.

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!