Last week, a local television station approached Rory Fitzpatrick, the athletic director at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, with an idea for a promotion.
The station wanted to host a “Throw Like Johnny” contest at halftime of the school’s last football game of the season to capitalize on the popularity of the Browns’ rookie backup quarterback, Johnny Manziel.
There was one major problem: St. Ignatius is the alma mater of Brian Hoyer, the Browns’ starting quarterback.
“I was on the phone and I said, ‘Don’t you know that Brian Hoyer graduated from here?’ ” Fitzpatrick recalled during halftime of a recent St. Ignatius game. “No, I’m not doing a ‘Throw Like Johnny’ contest.”
Fitzpatrick laughed as he told the story, but the anecdote illustrates how intensely proud the St. Ignatius community, and also the Cleveland community at large, is of Hoyer. Despite the popularity and visibility of Manziel, one of the Browns’ two first-round picks, Hoyer is the hometown hero who has returned — fans hope — to lead Cleveland to a winning season. He grew up across the city line in Lakewood, Ohio.
“The Ignatius crowd is very loyal to Brian,” Fitzpatrick added. “We never see any bad throws. We see bad routes.”
In his youth, Hoyer was a steadfast Browns fan. He shared the devastation and heartbreak in 1995 when the Browns’ owner at the time, Art Modell, announced that he would move the team to Baltimore. In many ways the Browns’ move prepared Hoyer for the realities of professional sports he has experienced.
Indeed, as heartwarming a story as his return to Cleveland may be, Hoyer, 29, said his emotional connection to the Browns ended 19 years ago. Cleveland is the city of his youth, and the Browns team for whom he plays has no such bond.
“The Cleveland Browns that I was a fan of moved away in 1995,” Hoyer said.
When a new Browns team returned to Cleveland in 1999, Hoyer never attended a game.
“My first game in the new stadium was as a member of the New England Patriots,” he said.
After going undrafted out of Michigan State in 2009, Hoyer signed with the Patriots and earned a spot as Tom Brady’s backup. In three seasons in New England, Hoyer earned what amounted to a postgraduate degree in how to be a quarterback. Hoyer was cut by New England before the 2012 season, and then had a failed tryout with the New Orleans Saints.
After brief stays at Pittsburgh and at Arizona, Hoyer signed with Cleveland in May 2013. He was home, but not home free. After playing well in relief of the injured Brandon Weeden, Hoyer started three games and displayed the same skills Browns fans are seeing this year. But in a game against Buffalo, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and was lost for the season.
Ahead of this season, in what might be interpreted as a vote of confidence, the Browns released two veteran quarterbacks — Weeden and Jason Campbell — to leave Hoyer as the provisional starter. But on draft day, Hoyer received a courtesy call from Ray Farmer, the Browns’ general manager, giving him a heads-up that the Browns planned to draft Manziel.
For Hoyer, the selection was no surprise, only one more obstacle to overcome.
“I always expected to be the starter,” he said. “Once I played those games last year and had success and proved that I could be a winning quarterback in this league, I always planned on getting back to that point.”
Still, Manziel has been a shadow and an ever-present cloud overhead everywhere Hoyer goes. He sees the traces of Manziel around the city: Johnny Football shirts and caps; Manziel jerseys. Manziel’s presence is everywhere except in the starting lineup. No doubt, some would like to see him there, too.
Two weeks ago, led by Hoyer, the Browns overcame a 28-3 deficit in their 29-28 win at Tennessee, the largest comeback victory by a road team in N.F.L. history. Last Sunday’s 31-10 victory over the Steelers at home that pushed the Browns’ record to 3-2 was especially bittersweet. Yet, some fans on talk radio said that they would have liked to see Manziel run a few plays.
The team’s first-year head coach, Mike Pettine, wisely resisted.
“If you ask around, people are kind of happy that it’s a hometown guy who’s out there,” said Chuck Kyle, who is in his 32nd season as the St. Ignatius head coach.
“He’s gone through all the things with the Browns, all the ups and downs,” Kyle said. “The fans know it means something extra to Brian.”
And as a Cleveland native, Hoyer is acutely aware — painfully aware — of what a winning season would mean. He knows the hunger and frustration Browns fans feel, and how their emotions rise and fall season to season, and sometimes quarter to quarter.
“I’ll always have that chip on my shoulder,” he said. “Once you get cut, it’s always in the back of your mind.”
The Browns can practically fill Lake Erie with all the losing quarterbacks who have failed to deliver a championship. Hoyer can name most of them.
For all the good feelings around his early season success, Hoyer knows that he is one bad half, one bad game, one bad loss from hearing calls for the next Johnny-come-lately.