by Pat McGuire ’14
Question marks were everywhere. Who is at Quarterback? Do we have a running back?
Brian Hoyer ’04 was able to answer those question in leading the Browns to their first win of the 2013 campaign.
Hoyer, the third string QB at the beginning of the season was favored over Jason Campbell after Brandon Weeden came down with a thumb injury. Head Coach Rob Chudzinski, a Saint John’s Jesuit High School graduate, had enough faith in the mobility and accuracy of Hoyer going into only his second career start.
Hoyer ’04 showed to his head coach that he could handle the adversity going into a difficult atmosphere in Minnesota without any running game to speak of due to the mid-week trade of Trent Richardson.
Hoyer began the game quickly for the Browns with two passing touchdowns in the first half, connecting with WR Josh Gordon on his first touchdown as a Cleveland Brown for 47 yards. In the second quarter, Hoyer would find his tight end, Jordan Cameron in the back left corner of the end zone on a 19 yard touchdown pass, giving the Browns a 14-7 lead. The Browns and Vikings would head into halftime with the Browns leading 24-17.
The second half was a different story. The Vikings defense were able to make the necessary adjustments to put even more pressure on the Browns offense. The Viking defense was able to take advantage of a mediocre (at best) Cleveland running attack, as well as a shaky offensive line. Hoyer and the Browns struggled to put together any offense until the very end of the game.
Starting on his own 45 yard line with 3:21 seconds remaining in the game, Hoyer engineered a two and a half minute drive that culminated in his third touchdown pass of the game. Hoyer led the Browns down the field without running a single running play, dodging Viking blitzes on every play until he was able to hit Cameron in the end zone with only a mere 51 seconds remaining in the game.
The Vikings would try to mount a come back, but the Browns defense sacked the Vikings Quarterback Christian Ponder as time expired, giving Brian Hoyer ’04 his first victory as starting Quarterback of his hometown Cleveland Browns.
Hoyer finished the game completing 30 of his 54 passing attempts for 321 yards and 3 touchdowns as well as 3 interceptions.
Congratulations go out to Saint Ignatius alumnus Brina Hoyer ’04 on his first win as starting Quarterback for the Cleveland Browns!
Hear McGuire’s interview about Hoyer with Coach Kyle:
