Of all the preseason worst-case scenarios being contemplated for the 2023 New England Patriots, nobody had them losing to Brian Hoyer.
But it did happen, and because it happened, we now have one of those banquet-quality, “Ripley’s Believe It or Not”-type footnotes that’s guaranteed to be brought up in conversation years from now.
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Try to imagine telling the grandkids about this clumsy assemblage of gridiron muscle called the 2023 Patriots. You’ll tell scary stories about all the actual football stuff that went wrong, such as the porous offensive line, the can’t-get-open receivers and the quarterback, Mac Jones, who had this infuriating habit of throwing across his body, usually with disastrous results. You’ll tell even scarier stories about how the season turned into a weekly referendum on the viability of Bill Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach of the Patriots who by 2023 either didn’t have the players, or no longer possessed his old sideline fastball, or both.
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But then there will come the kicker: “Things were so bad that year that when they played the Raiders in Las Vegas, and when starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo went out with a back injury, they brought Brian Hoyer into the game. And he beat the Patriots!”
True, Hoyer isn’t the only reason the Raiders emerged with a 21-17 victory over the hapless Patriots on Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium. Nor is it meant to impugn the integrity of Hoyer, a (mostly) career backup quarterback who has gutted out 15 seasons in the NFL, including three different stints in New England, and who looked just fine in his emergency fill-in role against the Pats.
The Patriots (1-5) lost because they were called for a whopping 10 penalties for 79 yards, many of them the type of asleep-at-the-switch infractions that suggest a lack of preparedness and/or urgency.
The Patriots lost because, in the second quarter, Jones threw a pass intended for Hunter Henry that sailed past the tight end and into the waiting mitts of Trevon Moehrig. (The Raiders would come out of the drive with a 37-yard Daniel Carlson field goal.)
The Patriots lost because Jones, having finally acquired a late-in-the-game passing touch, threw a magnificent downtowner on second-and-11 from his own 8, 1:59 remaining, the Patriots trailing 19-17, except that the magnificent downtowner went right into, and out of, the hands of DeVante Parker.
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And it goes on like that. But what makes the appearance of Hoyer so memorable, and revealing, is that it’s the type of goofy subplot that used to be so common with the old Patriots. And by that I mean the old, old, old Patriots. The Fenway Park Patriots. The Clive Rush Patriots. The Patriots who had to use the Homestead Inn in Cambridge for their postgame showers when they played the 1970 season at Harvard Stadium because Harvard wouldn’t let them use their locker rooms.
Those Patriots.
Brian Hoyer served mostly as the understudy to the No. 1 guy during his New England years, which means mostly Tom Brady. But in 2022 he was backup to Mac Jones, and, well, that didn’t turn out well. Given the start against the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 2 after Jones sprained an ankle the week before, Hoyer suffered a concussion on New England’s first drive and was lost for the rest of the game. And for the rest of the season.
Hoyer, who turned 38 on Friday, considered retiring. It would have been the end of a long, distinguished, workmanlike career. He’d have walked away with a Super Bowl ring and enough acquired knowledge from over the years to make him an instant candidate for a coaching position somewhere.
Instead, he reunited with his former offensive coordinator in New England, Josh McDaniels, now head coach of the Raiders. So when Garoppolo had to leave Sunday’s game against the Patriots, it was Hoyer who was sent into the game.
Hoyer, then, joined McDaniels, Garoppolo and, of course, wide receiver Jakobi Meyers as former Patriots who helped beat the Patriots on Sunday. Garoppolo even connected with Meyers for a touchdown. Of course, McDaniels, Garoppolo and Meyers have names-above-the-marquee roles for the Raiders. Hoyer? Save for the Raiders’ 17-16 victory over the Denver Broncos in the season opener when he came in to deliver two handoffs while Jimmy G. was being examined for a possible concussion, this was Hoyer’s first game action since being injured against Green Bay last season.
He completed 6 of 10 passes for 102 yards against the Patriots, no touchdowns, no interceptions. He threw a couple of crisp passes, notably a 48-yard completion to Tre Tucker. Funny thing about that completion: Hoyer would later explain he threw to Tucker because he got it into his head that his old coach — Bill Belichick! — wouldn’t allow the Raiders’ top receivers to get open on third down.
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“Having been there for the last seven years, I know a lot of times on third downs they want to take away your best players,” Hoyer said. “And for us that would be Davante (Adams) and Jakobi. And that was something we were keyed in on. It’s something that I’ve seen in practice over the years, a lot of times.”
And Hoyer said this: “That’s a play that we’ve kind of had in our pocket for a while, and it’s just a matter of the right coverage.”
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Amazing. In a season in which so little has gone right for the Patriots, in a season in which there’s a growing mob that wants Belichick to be either fired or moved to some type of ambassadorial role, there are still players who pay attention to the old coach and who learn the nuances of the game.
One of those players is Brian Hoyer, who on Sunday added to Bill Belichick’s misery.
That’s so 2023 Patriots.
(Top photo of Patriots receiver DeVante Parker dropping a pass while defended by Marcus Epps: Chris Unger / Getty Images)
