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Report: Brian Hoyer to be named Texans starting QB

The only thing I am really worried about to be honest is the turnovers. Now I know he's taken care of the ball better "in practice" than Mallet and that seems to mean something to OB but last year when things went south for Hoyer he was a turnover machine and so in a funny way I kind of feel like Oakland signing Schaub and thinking "Hey, he had a bad patch there but he'll be OK" and I'm hoping really badly that this is true and Hoyer is like early-2014 Hoyer and not late-2014 Hoyer throwing picks like he's trying to set a record or something.

But I really do expect him to be better than Fitz was. I really do. Enough better to offset not having Foster? I don't know about that but better but the turnovers he had in Cleveland last year worry me.

That could happen and honestly, it's not even completely what I'm worried about all by itself. I'm worried about the possibility that the Texans throw him out there and he starts screwing up and throwing picks and then OB doesn't pull him like he didn't pull Fitz for-*******-ever and then like he didn't pull Mallet when it was clear that Mallet couldn't hit the broad side of the barn against the Bengals. My one and only real fear here is that Hoyer will get the call and OB will let him be Bad Hoyer for a butt load of games before pulling him.

Admittedly that's as much an OB related concern as it is a Hoyer related concern but there it is. Hopefully it never happens.
Herv,

There are a few youtube clips on Hoyer last year.

In just 2 or 3 of them, I saw 3 INTs that were not Hoyer's fault.

One one, Gordon ran the wrong route (it was mentioned in a few blogs and media pieces) and on the other two, the ball was in the receiver's hands first.

I don't think he can be called a turnover machine.
 
My only issue as things are here is we already know with good reason that Hoyer is nothing special. He's servicable and that's ok. But he's done nothing special in a bunch of starts. Mallett could be nothing special, or he could be something. He absolutely won't show any of that holding a clipboard while nothing special is taking snaps for real.

It's not like Mallett couldn't be yanked if he went out and layed an egg.

I agree. I wanted Mallett to start just so we could find out and get it over with. O'Brien knows a hell of a lot more about QB's than I do though so I give him the benefit of a doubt. He wants to win games right now and he seems to think that Hoyer gives him a better chance of that.
 
I think we got 3 pretty good QB's we will be fine this season has long has our O line plays good
 
I would say the competition was over when Hoyer signed here.

That's what I said at the time: :)

I'm going to go on record one more time here to make sure I'm not accused of hindsight in a few months. I think Hoyer is the starter next season and I base that on my perception of how O'Brien views Mallett, which I laid out in detail earlier.

I've always thought the fans rated Mallett far more highly than O'Brien did.

1) He stuck with Fitz over Mallett so long last year.
2) This one is more about fan perspective. The contract ideas floated for Mallett around here were many times what he signed for. This indicates many Texans fans have a higher opinion of Mallett than NFL coaches, of which O'Brien is one.
3) The need for Hoyer this year. The team already has competent backups, not great but adequate for a team that has so many other holes to fill. Hoyer is almost a luxury unless O'Brien thinks he might need him to start.
 
I agree. I wanted Mallett to start just so we could find out and get it over with. O'Brien knows a hell of a lot more about QB's than I do though so I give him the benefit of a doubt. He wants to win games right now and he seems to think that Hoyer gives him a better chance of that.

So let's take the Mallett context out of the Hoyer equation. Do you think that Hoyer is the long term answer for this team? Honest question for dialogue, not challenging that you do think that and need to justify it.

I don't. Dude is turning 30 in six weeks, has been a backup/journeyman his whole career, and won the starting gig by being the default in the coach's head. It's silly to hear people argue that OB went with the experience factor. He has what? 17 career starts? One season. So I see this team starting off no better this year than last year in terms of having someone under center who will be the long term answer. Looking forward to the next FA project or low round draft pick project next year.
 
Brian Hoyer threw 13 interceptions and fumbled twice in the 14 games he played for the Browns last year. At least six of those interceptions the ball either hit the intended target's hands or was deflected before being picked off if you check his game logs and play-by-play. Meaning it took a bit of bad luck to transpire into a turnover. He also played the majority of those games without his two best receiving options.

While he hasn't looked particularly great this preseason he has made two big plays in the passing game. He continues to work hard and seems to have a good grasp of what Bill O'Brien is at least asking for.

I'm still optimistic he will have some success for the Houston Texans in 2015. I think Brian Hoyer is a better quarterback than Ryan Mallett at this point in time. That's how I feel despite many people who will disagree with my opinion.

All that matters is what Bill O'Brien thinks. He named Brian Hoyer the starter for a reason.
 
if hoyer gets us to the playoffs then Obvs that's the only way he gets to stay on the team next year

and Mallett will be gone and 2016 will be Hoyer/Savage
 
So let's take the Mallett context out of the Hoyer equation. Do you think that Hoyer is the long term answer for this team? Honest question for dialogue, not challenging that you do think that and need to justify it.

I don't. Dude is turning 30 in six weeks, has been a backup/journeyman his whole career, and won the starting gig by being the default in the coach's head. It's silly to hear people argue that OB went with the experience factor. He has what? 17 career starts? One season. So I see this team starting off no better this year than last year in terms of having someone under center who will be the long term answer. Looking forward to the next FA project or low round draft pick project next year.
Long term answer? Not at all. But we're playing for 2015. This season is all that should matter to any of us right now. We'll talk about a long-term franchise quarterback during the next NFL draft or free agency? The time for that isn't now though. I'm ready to support Brian Hoyer and the 2015 Houston Texans.
 
So let's take the Mallett context out of the Hoyer equation. Do you think that Hoyer is the long term answer for this team? Honest question for dialogue, not challenging that you do think that and need to justify it.

I don't. Dude is turning 30 in six weeks, has been a backup/journeyman his whole career, and won the starting gig by being the default in the coach's head. It's silly to hear people argue that OB went with the experience factor. He has what? 17 career starts? One season. So I see this team starting off no better this year than last year in terms of having someone under center who will be the long term answer. Looking forward to the next FA project or low round draft pick project next year.
17-2. Yep, more starts - more experience. You may not agree, but it's not silly.
 
Brian Hoyer threw 13 interceptions and fumbled twice in the 14 games he played for the Browns last year. At least six of those interceptions the ball either hit the intended target's hands or was deflected before being picked off if you check his game logs and play-by-play. Meaning it took a bit of bad luck to transpire into a turnover. He also played the majority of those games without his two best receiving options.

While he hasn't looked particularly great this preseason he has made two big plays in the passing game. He continues to work hard and seems to have a good grasp of what Bill O'Brien is at least asking for.

I'm still optimistic he will have some success for the Houston Texans in 2015. I think Brian Hoyer is a better quarterback than Ryan Mallett at this point in time. That's how I feel despite many people who will disagree with my opinion.

All that matters is what Bill O'Brien thinks. He named Brian Hoyer the starter for a reason.

So what you are saying is, in the one season where Hoyer was a starter, everything bad was someone else's fault or plain ol' bad luck.

If all you got going for him is that he is a better QB than Mallett, it is going to be a long season.
 
Long term answer? Not at all. But we're playing for 2015. This season is all that should matter to any of us right now. We'll talk about a long-term franchise quarterback during the next NFL draft or free agency? The time for that isn't now though. I'm ready to support Brian Hoyer and the 2015 Houston Texans.

So they did Fitz to win now in 2014. They're doing Hoyer to win now in 2015. Two off seasons. Two drafts. Two FA periods. Two journeyman QB's to be coached up to win now. Please let me know when I'm supposed to talk long term answer so I can mark it on my calendar.
 
So what you are saying is, in the one season where Hoyer was a starter, everything bad was someone else's fault or plain ol' bad luck.

If all you got going for him is that he is a better QB than Mallett, it is going to be a long season.
I wanted to study up on his lowest of lows last season. It really is a team game. People just say he sucks and don't actually research some of his play last year. They just see his numbers and assume he's Ryan Fitzpatrick 2.0

I don't think Brian Hoyer is going to be the 27th ranked starting quarterback in the NFL in 2015. Or whatever low grade ESPN.com recently gave him out of all the potential 32 starting quarterbacks. I think he could be somewhere in the middle of the pack. 15-18 range. And that's all we need to possibly win an AFC wild-card spot in 2015 if our defense is as dominating as I feel they could be.

I think we can be 5-3 at the halfway point when Arian Foster returns. That will have us no worse than a game back or even tied for the final wild-card spot. Maybe even a game back of the Colts in first place. I think the Colts will go 6-2 through 8 games.

Heck, I think we have a fighting chance to win the AFC South if all goes well in 2015. But an AFC wild-card spot is more likely if we stay in the race halfway through the year. 5-3 is a realistic goal when Arian Foster returns.
 
So let's take the Mallett context out of the Hoyer equation. Do you think that Hoyer is the long term answer for this team? Honest question for dialogue, not challenging that you do think that and need to justify it.

I don't. Dude is turning 30 in six weeks, has been a backup/journeyman his whole career, and won the starting gig by being the default in the coach's head. It's silly to hear people argue that OB went with the experience factor. He has what? 17 career starts? One season. So I see this team starting off no better this year than last year in terms of having someone under center who will be the long term answer. Looking forward to the next FA project or low round draft pick project next year.
Have you seen a single person on this board say they believe Hoyer is the Texans QB of the future? I know I haven't

And I don't think it's silly at all to argue the experience factor (if that's what you want to call it). I think based on 17 starts and the cumulative hands on observation of both himself and Godsey, OB established a floor and ceiling in his mind that he felt comfortable enough with to give Hoyer over $5 Million to play football in 2015. I think it's fair to credit the establishing of that floor and ceiling to Hoyer's experience. Mallett's job was to convince the Texans brain trust that he could surpass Hoyer's ceiling, and he didn't do it.
 
So what you are saying is, in the one season where Hoyer was a starter, everything bad was someone else's fault or plain ol' bad luck.

As opposed to evaluating Mallett on his one very good game and throwing out the entire bad game "because he was hurt". Throwing out half of the quarterback's body of work, especially when it is all the bad stuff and the "body" is just two games, might just lead fans to believe the quarterback is better than he is.
 
I wanted to study up on his lowest of lows last season. It really is a team game. People just say he sucks and don't actually research some of his play last year. They just see his numbers and assume he's Ryan Fitzpatrick 2.0

I don't think Brian Hoyer is going to be the 27th ranked starting quarterback in the NFL in 2015. Or whatever low grade ESPN.com recently gave him out of all the potential 32 starting quarterbacks. I think he could be somewhere in the middle of the pack. 15-18 range. And that's all we need to possibly win an AFC wild-card spot in 2015 if our defense is as dominating as I feel they could be.

I think we can be 5-3 at the halfway point when Arian Foster returns. That will have us no worse than a game back or even tied for the final wild-card spot. Maybe even a game back of the Colts in first place. I think the Colts will go 6-2 through 8 games.

Heck, I think we have a fighting chance to win the AFC South if all goes well in 2015. But an AFC wild-card spot is more likely if we stay in the race halfway through the year. 5-3 is a realistic goal when Arian Foster returns.

Don't get me wrong, Mallett needed to play better than Hoyer to change OB's mind, and he didn't, so this isn't a Hoyer v. Mallett thing from me. But really you are doing a lot of thinking and hoping without anything to hang your hat on. We HOPE Hoyer plays better than he did in Cleveland. We HOPE that Hoyer shows more in the regular season than he did in his TC "competition" with Mallett. But Hoyer still hasn't proven he could do what Fitz did on bad Bills teams in terms of QB stats. Much less the career year he had last season for the Texans. Once he proves it, I will quit calling him Fitz 2.0 but not before he earns it.
 
So they did Fitz to win now in 2014. They're doing Hoyer to win now in 2015. Two off seasons. Two drafts. Two FA periods. Two journeyman QB's to be coached up to win now. Please let me know when I'm supposed to talk long term answer so I can mark it on my calendar.
Well, unfortunately the past few free agent classes and drafts weren't all that appealing for the position. I actually had Brian Hoyer ranked near the top of this past free agent class among the quarterbacks who were available. And we signed him so not sure what more we could have done to address our major need.

We drafted Tom Savage a few years ago who I thought had just as much upside as everybody in that draft class. Ideally, I'd have wanted Teddy Bridgewater or Jimmy Garoppolo instead but the Vikings and Patriots pounced on both guys before we could come up again in the area they were drafted. It wasn't like we were going to draft either guy first overall.

Perhaps we should have taken a harder look at the quarterbacks in this past 2015 draft but again, we already had a young guy in Tom Savage, and we signed what I felt was the best free agent quarterback on the market.

Let's play out 2015 and see what happens. If we have to address the quarterback position again we can surely do so in the 2016 NFL Draft or during the next free agent class.

Also many people were high on Ryan Mallett who we also re-signed.
Going into the 2015 NFL Draft there wasn't a major need at quarterback.

We had three guys we had already invested into at that point in time.
 
As opposed to evaluating Mallett on his one very good game and throwing out the entire bad game "because he was hurt". Throwing out half of the quarterback's body of work, especially when it is all the bad stuff and the "body" is just two games, might just lead fans to believe the quarterback is better than he is.

And I'll say it again, Mallett didn't do enough to beat out Hoyer. This isn't about being compared to Mallett anymore. How about both of them suck and we stop trying to convince ourselves that we have "three really good QB's" on the roster.
 
Don't get me wrong, Mallett needed to play better than Hoyer to change OB's mind, and he didn't, so this isn't a Hoyer v. Mallett thing from me. But really you are doing a lot of thinking and hoping without anything to hang your hat on. We HOPE Hoyer plays better than he did in Cleveland. We HOPE that Hoyer shows more in the regular season than he did in his TC "competition" with Mallett. But Hoyer still hasn't proven he could do what Fitz did on bad Bills teams in terms of QB stats. Much less the career year he had last season for the Texans. Once he proves it, I will quit calling him Fitz 2.0 but not before he earns it.
What did Fitz do on bad Bills teams that Hoyer hasn't proven he can do?
 
I always thought Kubiak figured he could make lemonade out of lemons with lousy quarterbacks because his system and coaching were so good. I'm hoping this isn't something like that.
 
And I'll say it again, Mallett didn't do enough to beat out Hoyer. This isn't about being compared to Mallett anymore. How about both of them suck and we stop trying to convince ourselves that we have "three really good QB's" on the roster.

We are on the same page there. For many seasons now I have been wanting the Texans to invest a high draft pick on a quarterback that truly has potential to be a franchise QB. Many on the board think that is unrealistic, because there hasn't been a good quarterback in the draft for at least three years and probably not for many years in the future. :rolleyes:

Now we have Brian Hoyer and two guys with little to no experience who couldn't even unseat him. I can't wait to hear how dumb it is to invest a first round pick in a quarterback next draft when we have bench all-pros in Mallett and Savage.
 
If anybody is angry about Brian Hoyer being named the starting quarterback they should direct their anger towards Ryan Mallett's inability to step up and win the job with some consistently good play. He's always making dumb mistakes which irritate Bill O'Brien.

We should not be putting Brian Hoyer down or thinking any less of him. All he did was work hard in practices, had that beautiful TD pass to Shorts running in stride in one of the preseason games, and was named the starting quarterback for the 2015 Houston Texans. Now is the time to rally behind Brian Hoyer and cheer for him moving forward. I'm sure if he plays well many people who criticized him will become a believer if the team is winning games.
 
i wanted mallet to start but i will stick with the coaches decision after all HE is a football coach. I'm not complaining cause i couldn't do any better
 
What did Fitz do on bad Bills teams that Hoyer hasn't proven he can do?

Throw over 60% completion rate. Have a positive TD:INT ratio. Throw over 20 TD's. Have a QBR over 80%. Gain positive yards on QB scrambles (had 2/24 scrambles last year greater than 3 yards).
 
Herv,

There are a few youtube clips on Hoyer last year.

In just 2 or 3 of them, I saw 3 INTs that were not Hoyer's fault.

One one, Gordon ran the wrong route (it was mentioned in a few blogs and media pieces) and on the other two, the ball was in the receiver's hands first.

I don't think he can be called a turnover machine.

Maybe not. At the end of the day it really does come down to "How many TD's to INT's did you have during this stretch?" and "Then after that how many?" and I realize there are always some picks that are due to mixed reads (QB saw one thing, WR did something else). Hoyer threw a crap load of picks at the end of the 2014 season. That is simply what happened. If a lot of them were things that were out of his hands then great. Lets hope he didn't get in a rut and more things that are out of his hands follow him here.

I mean it's not like we ever had any WR's run the wrong route. Thank goodness that never happens here.
 
If anybody is angry about Brian Hoyer being named the starting quarterback they should direct their anger towards Ryan Mallett's inability to step up and win the job with some consistently good play. He's always making dumb mistakes which irritate Bill O'Brien.

When did Hoyer step up and win the job?
 
Mallet had his shot and this says to me that he just wasn't good enough to hold the starting job. Not that I think Hoyer is all that great. I just think that Hoyer is not as bad as Mallet, which is a schitty endorsement. With Foster being out I think either QB would struggle so I don't have high hopes for this season. I am glad that we didn't give Mallet a huge contract and I hope the defense gives us something to cheer about.
 
We should trade mallett to the jets or Bills. Get something for him.

OB doesn't believe he's better than Hoyer so if Hoyer goes down we might as well see what Savage has.

Trade mallett, pick up some young guy to be behind savage.

If all else fails, trade for Keenum.
 
This is something I don't think a lot of people understand.


Without Arian, our running game is going to struggle.

Most likely true. Almost certain. Unless one of these guys, none of whom stand out to me in any real way steps up and has himself a little Steve Slaton breakthrough moment we're in for a tough 8-10 weeks where the running game is concerned.
 
Most likely true. Almost certain. Unless one of these guys, none of whom stand out to me in any real way steps up and has himself a little Steve Slaton breakthrough moment we're in for a tough 8-10 weeks where the running game is concerned.

Yeah. We've got to hope one of our backs step up, or Brian Hoyer+Bill O'Brien is better than Hoyer on his own..... or both.


Sounds like a fools bet to me.
 
When did Hoyer step up and win the job?
If you aren't seeing much progression from either of the two then you typically go with the more experienced guy. Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett both had their first legitimate chance to start games last season. Hoyer played in fourteen games and Mallett had gotten hurt after two starts. It sucks we didn't have a better look at Mallett last season otherwise he could have came into this training camp "as the man" and frontrunner. We had actually nearly made the playoffs with Case Keenum, of all quarterbacks, winning those last two games of 2014.

Also John McClain mentioned that Brian Hoyer was out-performing Ryan Mallett in the closed practices which none of us could see. All we could see was their preseason play and open-to-the-public practices.

But either way, that question you asked is a good one. But only Bill O'Brien can answer it.

I'm only trying to figure out what it could have been. If Ryan Mallett didn't take control of the opportunity, for whatever reason, then it stands to reason that Brian Hoyer would win the starting job.
 
I recognize that I know nothing about what's been going on away from the cameras, so my comments are strictly based off what I see. OB sees lots more. But I've definitely learned from prior coaches that blindly trusting them to make the best decision is folly, so no blind homerism here.

This "leak" today about Hoyer looking better in closed practices should destroy any trust. Yeah they're neck a neck whenever fans can witness it but magically Hoyer stands out when they aren't around.

And last I checked there are fans during the games.

That rumor is insulting.

My only answer to that is watch the drops. The play call dictates how deep the drop is. You're not going to throw the ball deep from 3 and 5 step drops, and that's just about all Mallett did during preseason. The coaches dictated that. They wanted to see other things on film, evidently.

Exactly.

Woe be to any puppy that crosses my path today...

Can't kick puppies but I'm looking for cat #3.
 
Throw over 60% completion rate. Have a positive TD:INT ratio. Throw over 20 TD's. Have a QBR over 80%. Gain positive yards on QB scrambles (had 2/24 scrambles last year greater than 3 yards).

Actually, his passer rating was just under 80, his completion percentage was just under 60, and his record was 20-33 at his time in Buffalo compared to Hoyers 10-6 while in Cleveland. We can go back and forth on passer ratings (Hoyer's was all of 2.2 percent less during his time in Cleveland), and I could cherry pick a few other things (like yards per attempt, yards per completion, and interception ratio) but the one thing that is virtually indisputable is that OB believes Hoyer gives the 2015 Texans a better chance to win that keeping Fitz would have. I just don't see any reason not to believe he might be right.
 
OB better not let this qb thing be the end of him.

He's passed on quite a few guys to land on Brian Hoyer. I'm of the opinion that he doesn't want to be tied to a guy until that guy happens to prove it on field. He can string this gig out for a while if he keeps getting guys like Hoyer and fitz...he can have qb competitions every year and then default to the vet.

Vet stinks or gets hurt he goes to the next guy in line. if that guy does not prove himself he'll repeat the process next season.

The process allows him to not put his stamp on a guy. Instead it will be so and so's fault that he didn't step up and take the job no matter how much of a farce the competition was. Do you guys know how hard it is to take a half way decent players spot based off of practice???? It's incredibly difficult.

I hope he knows what he's doing. I'm in wait and see mode. Not the decisions I hoped for, but iiwii at this point. I'm over the decision for this year at this point. I want to see some good football.

I reiterate: Time to win some games Bill.

I'm looking square at you bro....this is the guy you chose whether you want the fans to believe it or not.
 
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If anybody is angry about Brian Hoyer being named the starting quarterback they should direct their anger towards Ryan Mallett's inability to step up and win the job with some consistently good play.

Why can't we also be upset with Brian Hoyer's "inability to step up and win the job with some consistently good play"? I didn't see anything from Hoyer that impressed me all preseason either. So in my eyes, he didn't win the job. He was given the job. The same could be said if Mallett had been given the job too, so I don't see how anyone can try to make Hoyer look good in all this. I mean, is anyone really excited that Hoyer "won" the job? We get why he got the job and why Mallett didn't, but there's nothing to be excited about there. From my POV, I have as much right to be upset with either QB (which is all framed in sports fan context - not really upset anyway).
 
If anybody is angry about Brian Hoyer being named the starting quarterback they should direct their anger towards Ryan Mallett's inability to step up and win the job with some consistently good play. He's always making dumb mistakes which irritate Bill O'Brien.


Perfect example.

Direct anger towards Mallett instead of OB who set up this qb situation. He said himself, these guys are here because he chose them.

If the qb situation is not good this year it's OB's fault. Not mallett. Ok he "didn't step up"....stop bringing in QBs that aren't good then????
 
Something not being talked about a lot.

Aaron Rodgers is 6'2"


Brian Hoyer.... 6'2"
 
My excitement for the season just went from "m'eh" to "I'm not wasting any beautiful autumn days and will just DVR the games".

It's not that I don't care, but rather I'm just apathetic about it.

Ride or die baby...... ride or die
 
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