Tag: Brian Hoyer

Brian Hoyer Seems to Have Singlehandedly Won the Super Bowl for the Patriots

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Yahoo – Patriots backup quarterback Brian Hoyer used one of the projects [Peyton] Manning is currently involved with to help him prepare his teammates on defense for the Super Bowl…He bounced around a bit, but got a chance to be a starter in 2013-14 with the Cleveland Browns. In Cleveland, Hoyer played under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan — and a young coach named Sean McVay, who was then tight ends coach.

Via Albert Breer of The MMQB, Hoyer (who also played for Shanahan in San Francisco) believed he’d have institutional knowledge of the offense McVay now runs with the Rams because of his time in Shanahan’s system.

So in the days before the Super Bowl he watched Manning’s “Detail” on ESPN+, the episode centered around Rams quarterback Jared Goff, and quickly realized the offense is the same one he worked in.

Hoyer watched film of the Rams, saw an interview in which Goff and McVay discussed McVay being in Goff’s ear right up until the 15-second cutoff during games, and for good measure, he watched the Amazon series “All or Nothing” which focused primarily on the last days of Jeff Fisher’s tenure with the organization but included McVay’s first organized team activities from his first months with the Rams.

The language was the same.

Armed with all of that, Hoyer was able to do a great job impersonating Goff during practice, preparing his teammates for how to play Los Angeles’ young quarterback.

I mean this was bound to happen sooner or later was it not? You have one of the best, most analytical quarterbacks of all-time in Peyton Manning just breaking down game footage for anyone with $4.99 in their pocket to see. Surely someone was going to watch that and use it to their advantage. Especially the Patriots if their opponent in the Rams appeared on said show. Especially if those MORONS didn’t even bother to change anything in the last 5 fucking years.

The key excerpt is just that. Brian Hoyer, from his time playing under Kyle Shanahan, and a young Sean McVay, on two different teams knew the type of system they like to run on offense. Except it wasn’t just the system that was the same.

“The language was the same.”

How is that even possible? For a league that treats the smallest of details like Soviet Bloc state secrets this is laughable. Now a lot of coaches rehash the same ideologies and styles of play over the years (i.e. Andy Reid, Wade Phillips), but to just re-use the same system without even changing a word here or there? Come on Sean, you learn this in every 9th grade homeroom across America when you need to copy off of your buddy’s homework.

 This was why it took two full years for the “A Football Life” documentary on Bill Belichick to come out. Released in 2011, the doc featured behind the scenes footage of the 2009 Patriots season, the one made famous for Bill predicting how easily the Pats would be stopped in the playoffs:

and him commiserating with Tom Brady on the sidelines during a blowout to the Saints

That was legendary, behind the scenes, insightful footage that I never thought would see the light of day. But it literally took two years after the season ended to come out. When half the players featured were no longer even on the team.  Not a couple of weeks after a game in real time so anyone with an ESPN+ subscription can watch behind the scenes Rams footage to go along with Rams game tape as well as a Hall of Fame quarterback breaking it down so even idiots like me can follow along.

Well hats off to Brian Hoyer for doing his goddamn job.

Hoyer had done such a good job preparing his teammates that when the Patriots were practicing in Atlanta, he felt frustrated.

“They had everything covered,” Hoyer said. “I was like, ‘Either these guys know what all our plays are, or they’re gonna ball out in the game.’ You could see it. They were playing so fast, they were so on top of it. And you get to the game, and they go and have the best defensive performance I’ve ever witnessed.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Despite All the Dirt Thrown On Him, Josh McDaniels Still Drawing Interest from Multiple Teams as Head Coach

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CBS Sports – Less than one year after spurning the Colts, it doesn’t appear that Josh McDaniels is going to have any issues finding a head coaching job this offseason if he wants one.

The Patriots offensive coordinator is expected to land multiple interviews over the next few weeks and it looks like one of those will be going down in Green Bay. According to NFL.com, the Packers are expected to hold an interview with McDaniels on Friday. Since the Patriots have a bye this week, McDaniels is allowed to interview for open jobs this weekend. The Packers moved quickly to land an interview with McDaniels with the team sending in a formal request to interview him just one day after the NFL regular season ended.

Despite all the dirt thrown on his name after backing out of the Colts job, Josh McDaniels is still very much in on several head coaching job openings this offseason.

And I love it.

This may be the height of my “Patriots against the world” complex, but hey thats what happens when everyone calls you a cheater and openly roots for your demise for over a decade. Thats also what makes winning so much sweeter though. So yes, rooting for Josh McDaniels to get a head coaching job primarily out of spite against anyone that talked ill of a Patriots employee is petty, bizarre even; I fully admit that. Doesn’t change the facts though.

“Besides the Packers, the Browns and Bengals have also requested to interview McDaniels. CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reported on Dec. 30 that the Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is “very high” on McDaniels, which could make Cleveland a wild-card in the sweepstakes for the Patriots offensive coordinator.”

This comes less than a year after talking heads around the interwebs all but buried the guy under Gillette Stadium. The simple fact of the matter though is who would you rather have? There are a TON of head coaching vacancies this offseason and not nearly enough competent names to fill them. Eight to be exact. Yup, the Browns, Packers, Jets, Broncos, Dolphins, Bucs, Bengals, and Cardinals are all in the market for a new head coach.

Now as always, this comes with the disclaimer that Josh McDaniels has worked under potentially the greatest head coach of all time along with the greatest quarterback of all time for years. Lets be honest, I could be Tom Brady’s offensive coordinator and the Pats would probably still win the division. So aside from a brief stint with the Broncos (11-17), it’s hard to really peg McDaniels’ true value.

But thats also what makes him such an intriguing candidate.

If I’m the owner of an NFL franchise do I want someone from the Belichick Coaching Tree (more on this in a moment) that is young, innovative, and has worked with the best in the business for the past 10+ years? Or do I want to hire a guy thats already been a head coach for a long time and has already proven multiple times that he’s not a difference maker? Would you rather hire Josh McDaniels or Jeff Fisher?

Granted the Belichick Coaching Tree hasn’t exactly flourished when Bill’s assistants have gone on to set up their own programs, but this is a quarterback driven league. A lot of these coaches simply haven’t had “the guy.”

Romeo Crennel (28-55) had Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Matt Cassel, and Brady Quinn again at quarterback over the years before being axed for the final time. Eric Mangini (33-47) had Chad Pennington, 39-year-old Brett Favre, Brady Quinn (again!), and Colt McCoy at QB before he got axed for the final time. Charlie Weis (41-49) went over to the NCAA, which is an entirely different animal and failed at multiple schools. More recently we’ve seen Bill O’Brien (42-38) have moderate success in Houston, relatively speaking. Sure, he was rumored to be on the hot seat this year, but they’ve made the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years. Before Deshaun Watson, O’Brien had Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, Brock Osweiller (which was his own fault), and Tom Savage. So now that he has an actual QB in Watson you see what that team is capable of. Not a lot of Pro Bowl quarterbacks in there guys. Then theres Matt Patricia (6-10), who’s first season in Detroit can be described as nothing but disastrous.

So 1 out of 5 ain’t good, but hey I’d rather take a chance on a young guy with a great pedigree than hire a guy that I KNOW will have my team going 8-8 every year.

Here are some of the other candidates with previous head coaching experience just to name a few.

  • Mike McCarthy (125-77-2, 10-8 in the playoffs)
  • Adam Gase (23-25, 0-1 in the playoffs)
  • Todd Bowles (26-41)
  • Bruce Arians (49-30, 1-2 in the playoffs)
  • Vance Joseph (11-21)
  • Jim Caldwell (62-50, 2-4 in the playoffs)

Do ANY of those candidates excite you if you’re a fan of one of those teams that has an opening at HC? Maybe Bruce Arians, but he retired after the 2017 season and would be the 3rd oldest coach in the NFL, were he to come back, behind only Belichick and Pete Carroll. I’m looking for someone at least *a little* bit different if I’m an owner. Hell I’d take a shot on Lincoln Riley (Riley legit just signed an extension with Oklahoma yesterday) or Kliff Kingsbury over any of those guys. Am I biased because I’m 29 and I want to see more young blood in the league? Yea, probably. But these teams that are mired in mediocrity year after year, make the same dumb decisions every season and wonder why they never go anywhere. Hell it took the Bengals 16 years to get out of their own way before finally firing Marvin Lewis and his 0-7 playoff record. (Although they might step right back into their own way and hire Hue Jackson)

So yea McDaniels is kind of a dick for leaving the Colts at the altar last offseason (and hosing a few assistants in the process). I can understand why you wouldn’t want to grab a beer with the guy. But this is the NFL where the only thing that matters are results and Josh McDaniels has 5 Super Bowl rings working with the Patriots in various roles. And before you say it’s all because of the head coach and the QB, whether thats true or not, the Offensive Coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs, Eric Bieniemy is rumored to be a hot head coaching candidate despite this being his FIRST year as an OC. Why? Because of what the head coach and the QB have been able to do this season. This comes less than a year after Bieniemy’s predecessor Matt Nagy was hired by the Chicago Bears as their new head coach who also had just one year as an OC on his resume. So you can’t have it both ways folks — the OC matters or he doesn’t.

TLDR; I think Josh McDaniels is as good as gone this offseason and I’d take McDaniels over a ton of other guys in this league as a head coach. Now, Bill Belichick isn’t one of them though so if it’s between him and McDaniels? Best of luck, Josh!

Former Jets QB Christian Hackenberg is Visiting the Patriots Today

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How about that Belichick, man? When the rest of the league is playing checkers he’s playing chess. He trades away his elite young backup QB and then just sits in the weeds waiting for the Jets to outsmart themselves and dump Hackenberg onto the Raiders who then cut him less than 2 weeks later, and thats when Belichick POUNCES.

In all seriousness I hated this pick by the Jets from Day 1. Well technically Day 2 since he was a second round pick. But the guy flashed as a freshman at Penn State with 20 TDs and 10 INTs under old friend Bill O’Brien. Then he regressed the next two years throwing 12/15 and 16/6 before going pro and getting drafted by the New York Football Jets, despite never posting a completion percentage above 59% in college.

In two years with the Jets he threw a grand total of zero passes despite being surrounded by bums like Bryce Petty, Geno Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Josh McCown. Not exactly murderers row ahead of him.

But before we all freak out lets just remember that the Patriots, as does every other team in the NFL, routinely workout guys that they never sign. Guys they never even hope to have to sign. These are often just workouts to keep the pipeline full in case disaster strikes and guys on your roster get injured.

Or Belichick is dabbling in the dark arts again and has grand plans for young Hackenberg. Jimmy Garoppo-WHO am I right??

The Patriots Spoke with Johnny Manziel TWICE on Tuesday. I am Officially on Manziel Watch.

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Boston Herald – The Patriots were in attendance at Texas A&M’s pro day today at the team’s indoor practice facility. They were there with 31 other teams to watch 14 Aggies players auditioning for next month’s draft. But there was also someone else there of note: Johnny Manziel. Manziel threw to receivers and running backs including Texas A & M’s star receiver Christian Kirk, who has drawn a lot of interest. According to a source, the Patriots spoke with Manziel both before the workout, as well as after the session..The Patriots certainly appear to be taking notes. It’s not out of the realm for them to be thinking about having him come to camp as a third quarterback. At the very least, it would be an interesting curve ball by Bill Belichick.

Karen Guregian reported on Tuesday that the Patriots met with Johnny Manziel both before AND after his workout at the Texas A&M Pro Day. Couple that with the Patriots taking Johnny Manziel aside to officially weigh him after he threw at the USD Pro Day last week and I think its safe to say that I am EXCITED. For a guy that has thoroughly enjoyed Johnny Football’s rise and subsequently agonized over his fall, I am pretty god damn jacked up about him potentially joining my favorite team.

If it was just one meeting its pretty easy to write off, especially with so many other team scouts at the various Pro Days to watch other guys with a Manziel workout included as a bonus. BUT, with the Pats going to not one, but two of Johnny Football’s workouts has my antenna’s up. Like way up. Erect almost.

First things first, the Patriots could sign Colin Kaepernick tomorrow and make a damn donation to the Fidel Castro Fund and Bill Belichick would kill the story within a fortnight. This is not a team thats afraid of a distraction, not if theres a player out there that can help them win games. They signed our lord and savior Tim Tebow for christ’s sake (sorry Tim).

So I wouldn’t worry about the Pats signing or not signing a guy for any reason other than Bill thinks he can help the Pats win a game.

Now, is Manziel worth it? Well would you rather 32-year-old Brian Hoyer? I like Hoyer as much as the rest of you in New England, but lets be real, the man is a career backup QB. Brian Hoyer is not the future of this team. The Patriots traded away their young, cheap, handsome, franchise QB in Jimmy G. Don’t get me wrong, Tom Brady is a freak of nature who won the Most Valuable Player award at 40 years old so I don’t blame the Patriots for doing what they did. Hell, I wouldn’t be able to dump Tom Brady even if he’s 65 and eating at the Early Bird Special after practice, but thats why I’m not a GM.

With that being said, the Patriots have a soon to be 41-year-old QB and a 32-year-old backup QB, so the opportunity is right there for a young developmental QB. We don’t need a guy to come in and start winning games in September obviously. Manziel is only 25-years-old. Or the Pats could draft a QB, but for a team that is so depleted on the defensive end and so clearly in Win Now mode, I wouldn’t be surprised if they restocked the cupboards with young defensive players and looked elsewhere for QB insurance.

On to my final point. Who in this league is better at rebuilding players careers and buying low than the New England Patriots? No one. It would be the ultimate Patriot move to sign a young, publicly chided, humbled, former Heisman Trophy winning Johnny Manziel (who has volunteered to play for free) as the new backup QB on the cheap. It makes perfect sense. If he sucks or he starts frequenting the Foxy Lady then you cut him. But, if he’s legit and he really wants to work his balls off and get back into the league then you get a former 1st round pick and former Heisman winner for peanuts. That my friends is what they call a win-win. And before you all start giving me shit, I know winning the Heisman doesn’t mean anything in regards to NFL success; Troy Smith won the Heisman. BUT Troy was a goddamn savage for my Madden team running the 5-wide spread offense and thats all that really matters isn’t it?

This is Why You Don’t Gamble Kids

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Last night was the most entertaining Thursday Night Football game I can ever remember watching. Now obviously these go back to like 2006, but that was a great game that I did not expect. First off, fire flames Color Rush jerseys by the Rams.

Props to them for actually wearing an absurdly loud uniform like the Bills and Jets original Color Rush jerseys before all the blindos complained.

BUT, if you had money on the Rams then you were well within your rights to smash everything in the house. The Rams were a (-2.5) point favorite, meaning they had to win by at least 3 to cover, which we said they would in our Week 3 picks.

So, after a Sammy Watkins’ TD catch midway through the 4th quarter the Rams go up by 15 with a little under 9 minutes left in the game. At that point I’m feeling pretty good about my pick.

That tweet was where it all started to unravel. After the Watkins TD the two sides exchanged punts and then the 49ers get the ball back with a little over 6 minutes left. From there on out it was Brian Hoyer time. Dude completes a 59 yard BOMB to Pierre Garcon in stride.

Now I’m getting a little nervous.

Hoyer promptly throws for another TD, the kick is good, and now the Niners are down 8 with a little over 5 mins to go.

OK, Todd Gurley time to run out the clock. Grind time baby. Oh wait nevermind, the Rams fucking FUMBLE the ball on the kickoff return. Niners ball. On a short field the Niners take 8 plays for Carlos Hyde to punch it in for a 1-yard TD with 2:17 left in the game.

The 49ers are now down 2 before they elect to go for the 2-point conversion. At this point I am PRAYING that they convert so the Rams will actually have a reason to move the ball and score again. Nope, of course Brian Hoyer throws a goddamn pick and they don’t convert the 2-point attempt. Shit.

The 49ers onside kick it and the ball perfectly bounces off a guys head before the Niners RECOVER IT! We’re back in business baby! If the Niners score then the Rams have to go all out. Lets see what you got Hoyer.

Two incompletions. Offensive holding penalty. Incompletion. Sacked on 4th down. Game over. Rams win by 2 points.