If Cleveland Browns QB Brian Hoyer is Just Average Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo isn't Much Better

Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals Brian Hoyer turned in another solid performance by completing 15-23 passes for just under 200 yards; not a great night, but a good one overall. He did do what mattered most though--he led the team to another win and a share of the division lead.

Like every quarterback, he made some not so good throws, but no one is perfect. The best of them make bad throws from time to time. They should not be enough to downgrade or label him, but for one Dallas Cowboys beat writer they were.

Clarence Hill Jr. sent this tweet out in to the Twitter-verse during the second half of the Bengals-Browns game Thursday night:

Hoyer blew this drive. Horrible under throw on deep ball. Horrible over throw on third down. Average qb
— Clarence Hill (@clarencehilljr) November 7, 2014

Two bad passes and he's nothing more than average? As Ochocinco and Andre would say:



One game let alone a couple of drives or throws is nowhere near enough to label as quarterback as anything other than a football player. Someone that has been writing for as long as Hill has should know that.

So--let's assume that he does and that his criticism is based on the work Hoyer has turned in this season. Since Hoyer is average let's compare him to a quarterback Hill should be more than familiar with to see if he too is average:

• Passing yards per game: Hoyer 246     Tony Romo 250
• Yards per attempt:          Hoyer 8.04             Romo 8.26
• Completions:                  Hoyer 161              Romo 165
• TDs:                               Hoyer 10                 Romo 15
• INTs:                              Hoyer 4                  Romo 6
• Sacks:                             Hoyer 13                Romo 17
• Rating:                            Hoyer 90.4             Romo 103.6

Romo is better in most categories, but in some not by much. Looking at this if Hoyer is average than Romo is just barely above average. To equate it to grades--if Hoyer is a 'C' Romo is just a 'B-.'

Some things like touchdowns can be explained by the caliber of players each has at their disposal and the type of offense they run. The difference in sacks could be because of mobility or it could be because of the offensive line (and the defenses they've played).

Lots of factors outside of a quarterback's play can effect his stat line. That is why many folks will point to Romo's fourth quarter comebacks, and that is fine as long as they consider the number of times they needed to make said comeback because of how poorly he played in the previous three quarters.

So--am I trying to say that Hoyer is as good as Romo? Absolutely not, but Hoyer is a good quarterback (Romo--really good but certainly not great).

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