The ‘Brian Hoyer Revenge Game’ That Only One Man Saw Coming

Let's be frank: our New England Patriots have not played good football this season.

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In the early weeks, we had glimpses of hope, but somewhere along the way, all hope has scattered, nowhere to be found. October 1st hit, and for whatever reason, our football team seemingly forgot how to play, well, football.

We lost to the Dallas Cowboys in week four, 38-3. That in itself is embarrassing enough; however, it gets worse. At least we scored in that game. Week five saw us lose to New Orleans 34-0 at home in Foxborough.

With reports of the starting quarterback, Mac Jones, being on a ‘short leash,’ there were added hopes that we could pull out a win in week six when going into Las Vegas to play the Raiders. This year’s Raiders squad has been appropriately nicknamed “Patriots West” for their personnel who have, for the most part, made their names in New England.

One of those personnel is the starting quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo. Garoppolo spent three and a half seasons with New England, backing up Tom Brady from 2014 to 2017, before being traded to the San Francisco 49ers on October 31, 2017, in exchange for draft capital, and, in a backward kind of way, also the 49ers quarterback at the time, Brian Hoyer.

Full transparency: I’m the biggest Brian Hoyer fan in the world. I think that I like Brian Hoyer more than Brian Hoyer likes Brian Hoyer.

Brian Hoyer, who spent three seasons backing up Tom Brady in New England from 2009 to 2011, found his way back into the Bill Belichick system after floating around the league, starting for various teams.

After another season and a half as a backup for Tom Brady, a season that included winning a Super Bowl, Hoyer ended up in Indianapolis for a season before again making his way back to New England for a third time in 2020.

After a few seasons of backing up quarterbacks like Cam Newton and the current Patriots QB, Mac Jones, New England released Hoyer on March 16th, 2023. Leading to April 4, 2023, Hoyer signed with the Las Vegas Raiders.

And here we are, in Week 6 against the Patriots. Hoyer came in as a relief for Jimmy Garoppolo, who left the game with a back injury. Hoyer finished with 106 passing yards, showcased several impressive tosses, and, most importantly, led the Raiders to a 21–17 victory.

While he didn’t punch any drives into the endzone, he was able to hold onto the lead and give the Raiders enough to maintain the victory.

It’s crazy how Brian Hoyer can still manage to bring the Patriots a loss, even when he’s no longer on our team.