CLEVELAND — Like any other Cleveland-area boy growing up in the late 1980’s, Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer idolized Bernie Kosar.
Like this writer, I grew up on the East Side inner-city area of Cleveland idolizing the former Boardman and Miami Hurricanes standout, who circumvented the NFL Draft to want to play for his hometown Browns. For me, nothing was more thrilling than watching Kosar and his unique side-arm throws to the likes of Webster Slaughter, Brian Brennan, Reggie Langhorne, Herman Fontenot, Ozzie Newsome and hand the ball of to the likes of Kevin Mack, Eric Metcalf and Earnest Byner.
If Hoyer was anything like me, his proverbial world came to a screeching halt on that fateful day when then-Browns head coach Bill Belichick cut his—and my hero—due to his “diminishing skills”.
Such as life as it is in the NFL, the show went on and the Cleveland West Side native of North Olmsted would ply his trade and hone his skills at the all-boys local and national powerhouse, St Ignatius in the Cleveland neighborhood of Ohio City.
After Ignatius it would the Red Bank of the Cedar and Michigan State for Hoyer, before being drafted by the New England Patriots and an opportunity to learn from perhaps the greatest quarterback of this generation in Tom Brady.
After a brief stint in the desert and the Arizona Cardinals, Hoyer would finally come back home to Cleveland and get a chance to follow in his idol’s footsteps in Cleveland.
With incumbent starter, Brandon Weeden firmly entrenched, Hoyer would be relegated to third-string clean-up duties, before finally getting his shot on the road against the Minnesota Vikings, due to Weeden spraining his thumb.
Let’s be honest here, readers.
No one, and I mean, no one expected the outcome of what Hoyer did in throwing three touchdowns and 321 yards in a 31-27 win on the road, in a loud and usually very hostile environment.
Video courtesy of NFL. com http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap2000000248557/Week-3-Browns-vs-Vikings-highlights
This coming after the tumultuous week that the Browns and their ever-jaded and heart-broken fans enduring in seeing Cleveland trade the “ordinary” Trent Richardson to the Colts and the demotion of former second-round pick, Greg Little to No. 3 wide receiver and special teams due to him channeling his inner Braylon Edwards.
While the return of Josh Gordon helped Hoyer, NO ONE expected to see a completely different and more attacking up-tempo offense with a third-stringer, let alone the first-ever Cleveland-born native to play quarterback for the Browns in Hoyer.
With the shocking win over the Vikings, the only question the remains to be answered is will Hoyer add to his growing legend against a team that many “experts’ have pegged to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender in the Cincinnati Bengals at home?
The growing hype and legend behind the local-bred Hoyer may be a bit premature, but after watching Weeden struggle and mostly flop under center—sans Gordon, but who knows—Hoyer could be just what the Browns need now.
In being the 19th—that is NOT a typo!—different quarterback to start for the Browns, Hoyer has the special kind of Brian Sipe-like magic and appeal that could really reinvigorate a morally depleted fan base that has seen so much ineptitude and failure under center. Being a Browns fan is being born with a cast-iron stomach for pain, torture and suffering and at the same time the NFL equivalent of being a hopeless romantic who loves rom-coms.
While you hope for the best, you expect the worst, and in the case of Browns fans,is painfully and brutally predictable.
Depending on the outcome on Sunday, Hoyer has a chance to be the proverbial knight in shining armor and the heroic Prince Charming for Browns fans, who rides in to save the day.
If Hoyer pulls off the shocking upset, the former Spartan would join the ranks of Kosar and be celebrated as a new Cleveland sports hero and quickly help Browns fans forget about Weeden at the same time.
#Browns #OnlyInCleveland #BelieveInBrian
Robert D. Cobb is the Founder/CEO/Senior Editor-In-Chief Of The Inscriber : Digital Magazine, for questions, comments and concerns email me at [email protected] and follow the Inscriber : Digital Magazine on Twitter at @TheInscriber
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