The last time Brian Hoyer started for the Patriots, it was not pretty
FOXBORO -- Nothing is official, but it's safe to assume that Mac Jones is going to have to miss some time after he limped off the field Sunday, screaming in pain after hurting his left leg against the Baltimore Ravens.
Jones is undergoing more tests on Monday, but reportedly suffered a nasty high-ankle sprain when he was taken down -- and fallen on -- by the 307-pound Calais Campbell. All signs are pointing toward a stint with Brian Hoyer at quarterback for the New England Patriots.
The last time we saw Hoyer starting a game for the Patriots, it was not pretty. Not at all.
Hoyer has plenty of experience, with 39 starts and 75 appearances over his 14-year NFL career, but he's never really enjoyed much success as a starter, sporting a 16-23 record. The record is a bit skewed by his 1-12 record since 2016 -- which includes an 0-11 stretch -- as Hoyer did enjoy some success for the Cleveland Browns (10-6 between the 2013 and 2014 seasons) and the Houston Texans (5-4 in the 2015 regular season). But he's mostly remembered for his four-interception playoff game with the Texans.
He's had more success as a serviceable backup, and is now in his third different stint in New England. Hoyer was behind Tom Brady on the depth chart his first three seasons after New England signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He was backing up Brady again in 2017 and 2018, and after a year with the Indianapolis Colts, returned to the Patriots in 2020 as Cam Newton's backup. He's been Jones' backup and mentor the last two seasons.
Hoyer has started just two games over the last four years, one for Indy and one for New England, and he didn't win either of them. He was thrown into Week 4 start in the 2020 season after Cam Newton tested positive for COVID-19, and had a rather embarrassing evening against the Kansas City Chiefs with the Monday Night Football spotlight shining bright on him.
In his defense, Newton tested positive on Saturday, giving Hoyer and the Patriots only a couple of days to figure out their game plan against the AFC powerhouse. But Hoyer had one of his worst games ever, and it was mostly self-inflicted by way of several mental miscues. They were the kind of miscues you would expect out of a rookie quarterback and not a long-time veteran.
The Patriots were actually in their Monday night clash with the Chiefs, trailing 6-3 just before halftime. The offense was in field goal range after an impressive 12-play stretch that took 5:30 off the clock; which was 5:30 that Patrick Mahomes was not on the field. New England had done everything right to that point and had a chance to tie things up before heading to the locker room.
With 11 seconds on the clock, Josh McDaniels called for one final shot at the end zone. The caveat was that Hoyer couldn't make a bad decision, because the Patriots were out of timeouts.
Hoyer made a really bad decision, though. As he scanned the field and found no one open, he didn't launch the ball into oblivion. Instead, he obliviously ran around and let Frank Clark bring him down. The clock expired, and the Patriots went into halftime still trailing by three.
That sack took the wind out of the team's sails and robbed New England of any momentum that they had built. Hoyer returned after halftime, but not for long.
The offense went three-and-out on their first drive of the half, and then disaster hit again after another lengthy march into Kansas City territory. With the Pats set up at the KC 10-yard line, Hoyer again held onto the ball for too long, and was strip-sacked by Taco Charlton. More points taken off the board for the Patriots.
The Chiefs marched down the field and scored a touchdown to go up 13-3 to basically seal the win. That strip-sack was Hoyer's last play of the game. He finished 15-for-24 with 130 yards, and interception, and that fumble.
Jarrett Stidham took over for the rest of the evening, and that was the only time that Hoyer played in 2020. Heck, it was the only time that he dressed on game day in 2020.
He got some late-game duties in 2021, connecting on nine for his 11 passing attempts for 227 yards and a touchdown. Now we may be getting a lot of Hoyer over the next few weeks and potentially longer, depending on how long Jones is sidelined.
Bill Belichick could always opt to throw rookie Bailey Zappe right into the fire, but don't expect that unless it gets really bad over the next couple of games.
The Patriots offense wasn't all that great with Mac Jones at quarterback, and now they may have to operate with Hoyer in the most important position on the field.
Can Hoyer manage the game? Can he keep the ball out of the defense's hands? Can he lead the offense down the field?
These are all very important questions surrounding the Patriots at the moment, and we may start getting answers Sunday in Green Bay.
