I'd love to hear that argument, because aside from the three you mentioned (Rivers, Manning, Rodgers) Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson have clearly outperformed Hoyer this year- he's not "definitely not playing like a top-5 QB." I don't even think a strong case can be made he's among the top-10, but I've got a different opinion of the performance of QBs like Tony Romo, Eli Manning, and Matt Ryan.
Before anyone wants to point out his QB rating (9th best in the whole league) there's other more relevant numbers: His completion percentage (62.1%, 21st in league) and yards per attempt (7.64, 13th in league) are nowhere near the league's elite, while the Browns numbers on 3rd down are atrocious on the year- 18 for 50 (36%) puts us at 26th overall, just above teams like Tennessee (32.8%), Oakland (33.3%), and Jacksonville (33.3%).
We haven't faced enough good defenses to have that number so low, my best guess as to why we're struggling to convert third downs is Hoyer seems to lock on to Hawkins. He's easily been our best receiver on the year and the best at creating space to get open, but defenses are keying in on him and starting to respect the chemistry the two have in the short passing game.
I'll readily say Hoyer's played better than I ever expected; being among the top 15-20 QBs so far in his first year in this offense while coming off an ACL tear is very impressive. I didn't ask for him to be benched last week during halftime like many others, the pass defense was the obvious concern that needed adjustments, not the QB play. Hoyer looked unfazed when we got the ball with a little over 2 minutes to go in the half down 28-3, hitting Benjamin for a 21-yard-gain on the first play of the possession then proceeding to drive 90 yards and get a much need TD.
But there's a difference in showing great poise and showing great talent. Hoyer's mobility is limited this year, he still misses too many easy throws, and his deep balls still float in the air like wounded ducks. I'm still amazed we had some posters putting him in the top-10 after three games, but now he's top-5? He's been good, but he shouldn't be put in a class with legitimate top-5 QBs like Peyton Manning and Phillip Rivers.
No, I'm not at all saying he's a top-5 QB. I don't think he is, I've said you can't even put him in the top-15 yet. I'm just speaking RIGHT NOW, he' playing like a top-5 QB. I said outside Peyton, Rivers, and Rodgers, you can make an argument no one is playing better.
I didn't say he's been better than Wilson, Eli, or other QB's, but are you going to tell me they're clearly playing better football than Hoyer? It's subjective, sure, but they've been easily better thus far. Really? Come on, you're allowing their names to influence your perception. Yeah, they've been good, but Hoyer has been right with them. He's playing with a new head coach, a cast of new receivers, most of them young. What he's had to work with, it's been nothing short of impressive.
This is just 4 games, I might add. I'm not getting ahead of myself proclaiming greatness for Hoyer, because he's not a great QB. He's good, not great. He's not elite. He's just playing some great football at the moment, but the season is very long, and we got a long way to go before we really can judge Hoyer as whole. I understand that.
This is not me saying he's as good as any of those QB's, just that he's playing as well as some of them right now. Right now, he's playing better than Tom Brady, that doesn't mean I seriously think he's better.
The poster made a claim that 15-20 QB's can do exactly what he's doing, and I just pointed out there aren't 15-20 QB's doing exactly what he's doing!
And I've never been one to get caught up in passer rating, yards, percentage, etc, as a judgment on why a certain QB is better. Although his passer rating is definitely very good, just because his passer rating isn't quite as high as say, Eli Manning, to me shouldn't dictate he's not played as well.
