When Jimmy G was traded to San Francisco on halloween and all the Pats got back was a second round pick everyone assumed Bill saw a ghost that scared him into giving away the heir to the throne for practically nothing. We can argue all day whether or not that return was significant enough, or whether it was the right move (it was ), but that is not the point of this blog. After acquiring Jimmy, Brian Hoyer was released and subsequently signed with the Pats, and his impact has been felt, behind the scenes, since the day he came back.
Lets start with the fact that Hoyer had known Tom for, at that time, 8 years. The two spent years dedicating hours and hours in the film room, weight room, and stadium together. The bond you build with the people in your locker room is one that doesn’t disappear overnight, but lasts a lifetime.
Secondly, he played under two head coaches who have spearheaded the offensive renaissance that has taken place in the NFL over the last few years in Mcvay and Shanahan. He has a deep, intricate knowledge of their systems and how the operate. The knowledge he gained gave Bill an inside track on how to stop the locomotive that is the modern day NFL offense that has produced the two highest scoring seasons in NFL history.
What he knows not only translates to the film room, but to the practice field. The McCourty twins credited Hoyer with his scout team performance in the two weeks before the Super Bowl as to how they were able to shut down the second highest scoring offense in the NFL and make the wunderkind Mcvay look like he walked into the bathroom and saw a guy peeing at the urinal with his pants at his ankles. You know what I’m talking about. We all see it and are dumbfounded and spend the rest of the day wondering what was going through that persons mind.
So when someone still whines and moans about how the return for Jimmy G was diminutive, remember that without that trade there is no Hoyer, and with no Hoyer there may not be a sixth lombardi at 1 Patriot Place.
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