RADIO
Yes, you read that correctly—Brian Hoyer could very much play the part of an offensive juggernaut this weekend against Cameron Jordan and the New Orleans Saints. Honestly, it probably doesn’t matter who’s under center for the Houston Texans come game time. Using just about any defensive metric, the Saints are the worst defensive team in the league, and any quarterback would be lucky to have his shot at picking them apart.
While there’s certainly a chance that the sudden firing of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan could positively jump-start the Saints’ defense, a dramatic transformation is highly unlikely. Seriously, if you think about it, there’s only one of two explanations for the Saints’ face-to-palm defensive squad: there’s literally no talent on the defensive side of the ball, or Ryan’s system was simply too poor to be effective.
Either way, fantasy owners would be wise to run the risk of starting Hoyer given the Saints’ string of poor defensive performances. Why? Well, in nearly every game the Saints have played in this season, they’ve struggled to stop opposing quarterbacks. Believe it or not, it gets worse …
Reports Jamey Eisenberg of CBSSports.com, “Every quarterback to face the Saints this season has either had their best game of the year or their second-best outing, and the past three opposing passers in Eli Manning, Marcus Mariota and Kirk Cousins have all scored at least 36 fantasy points in a standard league.”
And even if he weren’t facing the Saints, Hoyer’s not as bad of a quarterback as some people would have you think. Before suffering a concussion during the Texans’ Week 10 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals, Hoyer racked up at least 21 points for owners for five consecutive weeks. Thus far, Hoyer’s best fantasy performance came in at 29 points. If he’s to do the exact same thing as those who’ve gone before him against the Saints, owners can expect to get anywhere between 26 points—his second best start—and 30 points.
So, though Hoyer might not be the most attractive of fantasy quarterback selections this Sunday, he’s definitely someone who should be considered. The situation is simply too perfect to look the other way.
