Tag Archives: Brian Hoyer

Week 7: Bears at Packers

23 Sunday Oct 2016

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Green Bay Packers 26
Chicago Bears 10

This was another strange Thursday night game which didn’t quite take off, and was further hampered by the injury to Brian Hoyer in the second quarter, which allowed the Packers to grind out the win despite their problems at running back.

The Packers offence managed to rack up over one hundred yards of running in this game despite their two leading rushers being receivers Ty Montgomery and Randall Cobb, but nothing was quite fluent for most of the game. Yet again there were sections of the game where no receivers were getting open, and the Bears were able to pressure Aaron Rodgers as he was unable to find someone to pass to. That said, thanks to a game flow where the Bears offence offered very little, the defence wore down and the Packers finished with very credible numbers. For all of his drops last season, Davante Adams looked like a different player as he caught thirteen of sixteen for one hundred and thirty-two yards and two touchdowns. Equally Randall Cobb finished with ninety-five yards receiving to go with his twenty-one yards of rushing, but Ty Montgomery should get special mention for gaining sixty yards on nine carries as well as sixty-six yards receiving as he lined up all over the formation. In the end Aaron Rodgers’ numbers looked much like their usual self as he throw for over three hundred yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. However, the Packers had to work hard for these and it could be an interesting few weeks for Green Bay.

For the first half of the game and into the third quarter the Bears defence kept Green Bay out of the end zone, and were causing them all kinds of problems with their coverage holding up and they were able to get pressure on Aaron Rodgers. Their first round draft pick Leonard Floyd caught the eye with two sacks and three quarterback hits, as well as scoring the Bears’ only touchdown of the game when he sacked Rodgers causing a fumble and was able to recover the ball in the end zone. However, with their offence offering very little after Brian Hoyer went out injured the Bears defence wore down and having given up the odd pass interference call in the first half, receivers started to get open and then penalties started to crop up. There was one pretty dubious pass interference call, but De’Vante Buasby’s name started to crop up in bad ways down the stretch as things got desperate for the Bears.

The Bears offence finished with anaemic numbers, only going for sixty-nine yards rushing as they struggled against the Packers defence that has looked good against the run for most of the season. They really were not able to sustain anything, and even more so once Brian Hoyer went down with a broken arm in the second quarter. But it should be noted that Hoyer was only four of eleven for forty-nine yards when he went down, whilst Matt Barkley went for six of fifteen but also managed to throw two interceptions. The second was particularly bad as he tried to throw the ball away as he was being sacked and basically just threw it up in the air for the Packers to intercept. With Hoyer out things could be rough for the offence for a while, unless Jay Cutler comes back from his thumb injury playing much better than he had been before he went down. Certainly Barkley didn’t seem to offer much, but it’s hard to read too much into either running back’s game from this performance alone.

The Packers defence did what they had to in this one, stuffing the run and covering receivers enough to prevent the Bears from moving the ball, but when facing a unit that seemed to be struggling so much it is hard to tell too much from it. They were on the field for nineteen minutes less than the Bears and only gave up a field goal in the second quarter, but it was a team effort rather than any particular player standing out, at least that’s how it looked  from the standard TV coverage.

Overall, the Bears offence gave one of the worst performances I’ve seen this season, and caused their defence to wear down after starting off strongly. The Packers did what they needed to do, but I am curious to see how they will play going forward, but it feels like they will be somewhere around ten wins again.

Week 5 Colts at Texans Recap

11 Sunday Oct 2015

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The Colts at Texans game is something of an odd one to write up with one franchise having shifting uncertainty at quarterback through coaching decisions, and the other through injury and illness. I don’t remember seeing a Coach get called for unsportsmanlike conduct as happened to Coach Pagano as he stepped off the Colts sideline having already been warned. The Colts also looked very old on offence as they managed to get the win so let’s look at how the game was played,

The Colts were suddenly old, but efficient on offence. Veteran backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck had been fighting some kind of bacterial infection all week, but was able to gut out a competent performance at forty years old. His figures of eighteen completions from twenty-nine attempts to gain two hundred and thirteen yards with two touchdowns are not spectacular, but several of these completions were on third and fourth down plus he didn’t turn the ball over, which is something Andrew Luck has been struggling with all season. Whilst TY Hilton led the team in targets and yards for receivers, we saw Andre Johnson, who had done very little so far this season, pick up two touchdown receptions as Hasselbeck consistently was able to find him. The final Colts offensive player over thirty who played well this game was Frank Gore who came up just short of one hundred yards with ninety, but looked effective all game and ran in a touchdown of his own. The line which I haven’t liked for most of the season, seems to be solidifying after the changes last week and gave up no sacks in this game despite the presence of JJ Watt and was able to block for  over one hundred yards of rushing across the game.

So if the Colts offence was looking steady if not spectacular, what was happening to the Texans defence, as it is hard to understand why they didn’t cause more problems. On paper with JJ Watt, Vince Wilfork, Brian Cushing, and Jadeveon Clowney in the front seven, and Johnathan Joseph in the secondary, it is not like the Texans defence is without names we recognise even before their appearance on Hard Knocks in the pre-season. However, they are not playing well. There was very little pass rush, and whilst at one point Frank Gore got called for chop blocking JJ Watt in trying to stop him, which wiped out a nice pass to Donte Moncrief, Watt was then called for roughing the passer three snaps later. This defence in fact only hit the quarterback three times this game with no sacks and Hasselbeck was able to make the throws he needed to win. They also did not look that good against the run, and if they weren’t giving up pass plays, they were committing various interference penalties. We expected the Texans to have questions on offence, but this defence was what they were meant to be able to hang their hat on this season and it simply has not been the case.

If the Texans struggles on defence are unexpected, their offensive woes are actually somewhat predictable. The offensive line has not been that great, and the return of Arian Foster has not sparked them in the running game. You could tell that Foster was coming back from injury, he flashed a couple of times but was unable to get enough done on nineteen carries that yielded only forty-one yards. The passing game has been an interesting mess thanks to the changing quarterbacks. In Ryan Mallett they have a petulant talent with an incredible arm that doesn’t seem to posses any touch so there are moments where he pulls off things that very few quarterbacks in the league could manage, but balls are also fired in unnecessarily and he makes bad decisions. In this game he took a heavy late hit, came out of the game to get checked out, and never made it back in despite trying to take the field and spent the rest of the game sulking, frequently on camera. In came Brian Hoyer, who I think is more solid than people given him credit for, and in this game he was able to move the ball well and it looked like there was some hope for my Texans underdog pick. He was repeatedly able to find DeAndre Hopkins, who was the Texans stand out player and finished the game with one hundred and sixty-nice yards from sixteen receptions. Hoyer was also able to give rookie Jaelen Strong his first two NFL receptions, both touchdowns, including one of the worst defended Hail Mary plays at the end of the first half that I have seen. However, under pressure with a minute to go, for some reason he heaved the ball up in the in air and straight to the Colts Mike Adams, giving them the game and almost wiping out all the good things he had done. It has already been announced that Hoyer has the start in week six, but he could have very easily cost himself that with this play, but the Texans did outgain the Colts by one hundred and twenty-four yards in this game and Hoyer did record over three hundred yards in less than three quarters.

The Colts defence has been a question mark, and whilst Vontae Davis has been playing well, they gave up a lot of yards in this game. In fairness they did slow the Texans’ rushing game, frequently standing up their blockers and giving Foster very little room to work with. However, they gave up a lot yards in the passing game, and both of Mike Adams’s interceptions were somewhat fortuitous given that one came from the awful ball thrown by Hoyer at the end of the game that I’ve already mentioned, and the other was a pass that bounced off Arian Foster’s hands and up into the air. They didn’t get a consistent pass rush, although they got pressure when it mattered at the end of the game, but I still don’t think this is a good unit, that may well cost them games later in the season.

The Colts got their wind, moving to 3-2 for the season, but all these wins have been against divisional opponents and I suspect it is the games against the likes of the Patriots, Panthers, Broncos, and Falcons in the next five that will give us a true indication of how this team stands.

Meanwhile, the Texans are a hot mess, and whilst a lot of blame for the quarterback rotation lies with Bill O’Brien, the defence also should be playing better and this looks to be a very tough season for the fans in Houston, although at least the have the Jaguars, Dolphins, and Titans coming up in the next few weeks.

NFL Week 10 Browns @ Bengals Recap

09 Sunday Nov 2014

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As a Bengals fan this was a tough game to watch live, and I only made it through so much coaching tape as it was just horrible to pick the debacle apart. At the start of the year my things to watch for these teams was left tackle Joe Thomas and the quarterback situation for the Browns, and for the Bengals it was AJ Green, Geno Atkins and Vontaze Burfict. The problem with the Bengals players was that coming into the game Burfict was out with a knee problem, and having watched the game live, the only real stories for me were Andy Dalton’s epic melt down and Marshall Newhouse’s problems at right tackle. I gave up making notes of BE#14 incomplete pass or variations of, as well as BE#74 beaten or gives up pressure, but before we get into that let’s start with the positive things in this game.

One of the things I was interested in at the beginning of the season was the quarterback situation for the Browns, and whilst this is bubbling under, there is no controversy in this game. Brian Hoyer is a competent quarterback who has led his team to a 6-3 record this season, with an overall record as a starter of 9-4. He doesn’t exactly set the world alight, but he is a solid starter who threw for 198 yards on fifteen of twenty-three passes with no touchdowns and no interceptions. The Browns rushing game had been struggling since Alex Mack went out injured, but they managed to run for 170 yards in this game. The interesting thing for me was that at the end of the game when the Bengals had pulled Andy Dalton, the Browns didn’t put Johnny Manziel into the game to get him some reps, and I can only think that this is because they knew what a media circus this would cause, and that in of itself is a little worrying.

However, what the Browns’ QB does not have to worry about is pressure from the right side of the opposing defence. Their left tackle Joe Thomas is seven time Pro Bowler, four time First-Team All-Pro player, and he certainly looks the part. The Bengals pass rush has not been good this season, and certainly didn’t look to trouble Thomas. I’m no expert in line play, but he was always in control of the engagement in pass protection, never off balance and didn’t look like he was going to give up pressure in this game at any point.

Pretty much the complete opposite could be said of Marshall Newhouse who was standing in for Andre Smith at right tackle. There were very few plays where he didn’t seem to be giving up pressure or being forced back into the play, and these were usually when he wasn’t being rushed. He also managed to give up a couple of drive killing holding penalties, and the problem is further exacerbated by Andre Smith being currently listed as questionable due to his ankle problem with the Bengals about to go to New Orleans, not the kind of place you want to play if you are having line issues.

Whilst the Bengals offence looked bad all game, the defence hung in for a while, but it is worrying that a team with starting defensive tackles of Domata Peko and Geno Atkins are ranked dead last in rush defence by DVOA. Some of this will be down to how little Vontaze Burfict has played all season, and Rey Maualuga is currently out as well with a hamstring problem, but there are clearly issues with stopping the run. The only real bright spot in this game was Geno Atkins bursting through the line so quickly he was able to tackle Brian Hoyer before he could hand the ball off. In this age where players come back so quickly from ACL tears, it seems like Atkins is still getting his burst back, and I would not be surprised if we see a resurgence from him next season.

The one player who needs resurgence straight away is Andy Dalton. I have been impressed with the way that Hue Jackson has been running the offence, with a good amount of creative play calling, which included a thirteen yard run by wide receiver James Wright off what looked like normal receiver motion in the slot, and a good looking run by Jeremy Hill who was lined up at fullback. However, the commitment to the run that was so vaunted before the season doesn’t quite seem to be working in practice, and Andy Dalton has been having issues in the last couple of weeks.

There is a narrative that Dalton is not good under the pressure of nationally televised games, and certainly his record is pretty paltry. This game however was the worst, with Dalton finishing with a quarterback rating of two. He threw for eighty-six yards, completing ten of thirty-three attempts with three interceptions, and should have had a fourth when he overthrew another pass straight to Browns safety Tashaun Gipson who leads the league in interceptions yet somehow dropped it. It was straight after this dropped interception that Dalton was sacked twice and I gave up watching the coaching tape.

For the first sack Desmond Bryant straight beat Marshall Newhouse at right tackle to get to Dalton, then on the very next play the Browns only sending three pass rushers, somehow Bryant ended up one on one with Bengals rookie centre Russell Bodine and got his second sack. However, these were the only sacks  of the game and  the problems began much earlier.

The Bengals opening drive finished in an interception, when Dalton threw to Jermaine Gresham who wasn’t really open and Craig Robertson simply beat him to the ball. The fact that the Bengals only managed three points in this game is made worse by the fact that the offence did not really generate them. On their second drive of the game, the Bengals initially stalled and it was only that the Browns fumbled the ball on the resulting punt return that got the Bengals decent field position, but they couldn’t really take advantage of it. The drive was only kept alive, when on fourth and ten, Andy Dalton’s pass to Mohamed Sanu fell incomplete, but Buster Skrine was called for pass interference. The drive continued to falter until finally on third and fifteen, Andy Dalton ran past the line of scrimmage and then threw an illegal pass which fell incomplete and Mike Nugent kicked the field goal. I’d just like to remind you that this was the only scoring drive of the game.

Every now and a gain the Bengals would start a drive with a good run or complete a pass, but they could not sustain anything and this was not a surprise as Dalton kept missing throws, often by quite a margin. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Dalton actually threw more interceptions, but by the time the second and third ones came the game was already over, and it just added more insult to the horrible performance by Dalton.

The Browns have been competitive year and whilst I don’t know if they will be able to maintain their push for the playoffs, things are looking up in the city of Cleveland. For the Bengals, I said it was a playoff win or bust this season. There have been injuries, but frankly I’m not sure they are even going to make the playoffs. The regular season record of Andy Dalton got him his contract extension, along with having AJ Green to throw to, but if he doesn’t find a way to win nationally televised games regularly then the Bengals are going to remain the team with the longest playoff drought in the NFL.

I think I need to take a break from football for a bit now…