BEREA, Ohio - Before Brian Hoyer was the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, he was a fan of the Cleveland Browns, a kid who grew up 10 minutes from where he now goes to work and went on to quarterback one of the most prominent high school programs in the nation at St. Ignatius on Cleveland's West side.
He's old enough to have gone to games with his father at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, yet young enough to have seen and admired these new Browns as a wide-eyed teenager. Hoyer knows the names of those who have come before him -- most of them, anyway -- because he lived it.
On Sunday, he becomes the 12th different quarterback to start season-opener for the Browns since the team returned to the league in 1999.
History has not been kind to these 12 or the other eight who, at some point, have taken snaps in those 15 mostly lost seasons. Neither have opposing defenses, specifically the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday's opponent.
But Hoyer's focus is on these 2014 Steelers, not on history or geography or emotion, and on his chance. Two years ago last week, Hoyer was cut by the New England Patriots and had to wait for a call from the Steelers to get back in the NFL. He was there briefly, then in Arizona. Then he landed as a third-stringer with the Browns, who won his first two starts after getting called into duty last September and tore his ACL in his third start, ending his season.
Since then, the bosses who hired Hoyer have been fired, and the coaches who coached him have been fired, too, and the new bosses drafted the flashy and nationally-known Johnny Manziel in the first round last May. Two weeks ago, the new coaches picked Hoyer for the starting job. Hoyer's contract expires after the season that starts Sunday, Manziel looms and what's at stake should be pretty apparent by now.
Deep breath, Brian Hoyer. This is the game of your life.
"I think I'm the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns," Hoyer said Wednesday, confidently but casually dismissing a question about whether he'd been overshadowed by Manziel. "There's nothing to complain about. I'm happy where I am. I think we just have to continue to improve and get better, and we'll have a great year.
"I think I always had confidence in myself. I knew I'd get another chance somewhere, wherever it may be. It just so happened to be in my hometown, so it worked out pretty well."
The numbers are daunting -- and that's before you dive into the pedestrian numbers the Browns put up in the preseason while trying to master a new offense and develop a passing game that can threaten defenses.
The last time the Browns won a season opener, Hoyer was 18 and redshirting at Michigan State.
The last time the Browns won in Pittsburgh, Hoyer was still in high school.
The last time the Browns played the Steelers in a season opener, Charlie Frye started -- and got benched at halftime and traded the next day. Even by Browns standards, that was wild.
Hoyer knows most of the carousel that the position has been since. Maybe he's undaunted by the history because he's faced his football mortality before.
Hoyer said getting cut by the Patriots at the end of the 2012 preseason caught him off guard. He had spent three seasons there backing up Tom Brady, both making his way to a nice living after going undrafted and playing well in limited duty.
"My whole career has been about handling adversity, and it was just another situation that I had to fight through," Hoyer said. "My agent at the time told me straight up, 'Look, you could get a call this week or it could be two months from now, I don't know.'
"I really appreciated that from him was that he was honest with me. He could've said, 'It's going to be okay, someone's going to call.' I had a few workouts here and there. I got a call from the Cardinals earlier in the season and ended up with them later. It's about just pressing on and trying to control what you can. I think it just puts another chip on the shoulder. It's just (that) you are trying to defy the odds.
"There were a few nights where you toss and turn a little bit...but I think this is the business that we chose. We chose to get into this business so you put yourself in that situation and you just hope for the best and try to go out and perform the best that you can, kind of let the chips fall where they may."
Hoyer lived in a hotel for the two weeks he spent in Pittsburgh in 2012.
"Not enough time," he said, "to even know the roads I was driving."
Ben Roethlisberger was hurt, and Hoyer was signed by the Steelers as an emergency backup. By the time Roethlisberger got healthy, the Steelers had injury concerns at other spots and Hoyer became expendable.
"I was just grateful to have a job," Hoyer said. "I actually enjoyed my time there. As bitter as this rivalry is and being a Cleveland boy, I will always have a place in my heart for Pittsburgh because they gave me a job at a time when no one else would.
"I couldn't be (happier) to be a Cleveland Brown but I think that there will always be a spot in my heart for those guys because they gave me a job when 31 other teams wouldn't. I will always be thankful for that but at the same time, I think I'm on the right side of this rivalry now."
Friday night, Frye will call the plays for Wekiva High School in Florida. Last Thursday, Derek Anderson started against Bruce Gradkowski in a preseason game in Pittsburgh. Ken Dorsey is Anderson's quarterback coach with the Carolina Panthers.
Brandon Weeden, who started the last two openers for the Browns, is the backup in Dallas. Jason Campbell, who backed up Weeden and Hoyer last year, is the backup in Cincinnati. Colt McCoy is the backup in Washington, his second stop since being traded by the Browns 18 months ago. Brady Quinn, cut by the Dolphins last month, has a broadcast analyst role at FOX Sports. So does Tim Couch.
Round and round it's gone, right into something Hoyer doesn't have time to talk about.
"I'm not concerned with (any of) that, really," Hoyer said. "I'm concerned about going down there and playing well and trying to get to 1-0. The rivalry is and always will be because of the history, but like we said, the history doesn't have anything involved with what happens on Sunday. It's up to us to go out and play the way we can and the way we expect."
Hoyer will be 29 in October. Sunday will mark just the fifth start of his NFL career. He knows what's behind. Nobody has any idea what's next.
"I just want to go out and play, not worry about anything else," he said. "Which I think for me, that's my mentality regardless. This is something I've worked towards, and I'm not looking back."
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