Brian Hoyer Dominated By Jaguars’ Defense

Don’t look now, but the Jacksonville Jaguars have a defense again. Cleveland Browns quarterback Brin Hoyer found that out in a very real way while limping along to a meager 215 yards. He finished the day just 16 of 41 (39%) and the icing on the cake of a terrible day was an interception to Telvin Smith that set up a Storm Johnson touchdown for the final score of 24-6.

Hoyer may have convinced the Cleveland Browns that he is worthy of starting, but he was just dominated by the league’s worst defense (by a long shot) to have arguably one of the worst statistical days the NFL has seen in a long time. His final rating was just 46.3. Shockingly that was higher than the Jaguars’ Blake Bortles (40.3) in Sunday’s game.

The calls for Johnny Manziel may grow if Hoyer can’t move past Sunday’s terrible performance. It is tough to defend the inability to move the ball against a defense that has allowed the likes of Kirk Cousins to essentially waltz down the field.

The defense, however, should not be overlooked. The front four for the Jaguars played arguably their best game of the season and completely took away the Browns’ gameplan by stuffing the run. The Browns’ 69 rushing yards were easily their worst of the season and ended a two game streak of 200+ rushing yards. Hoyer was forced to throw the Browns to victory and couldn’t connect with receivers enough. Telvin Smith got his hands on more than one pass (credited with two passes defensed) and finally got his interception to close out the game.

The Jaguars’ defense also managed a decent seven quarterback hits paired with three sacks, making it tough for Hoyer to get comfortable. It’s the third game in a row the Jaguars’ defense has held the opponent to under 20 points, the first time they have done so since the 2007 season.