For any quarterback, more than arm strength or speed, the most valuable skill is the ability to dissect film and anticipate what a defense might do to stop him on the field.
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Few players in NFL history have done that better than Tom Brady, and unsurprisingly, one of his longtime backups, Brian Hoyer, still marvels at how deep TB12’s preparation went.
Speaking on the Games With Names podcast with Julian Edelman, Hoyer explained that as a young player, he thought studying tape meant watching offensive plays. Brady, however, saw the game completely differently.
“It’s amazing how he sees film,” Hoyer recalled.
“As a young player, I’m like, all right, I’m going to watch this film. I’m going to watch like the offensive plays. But, no, he’s watching for techniques of corners. He’s like, all right, the star’s inside, that’s giving me the read that it’s going to be cover two. Now he’s outside, it’s going to probably be cover three,” the former QB added.
As a result, for Hoyer, those moments as Tom Brady’s understudy became an education that shaped his own career. “To me, that first time I backed him up was learning mode. And so then when I went out and had an opportunity to be a starter of my own, it gave me a good foundation of how I wanted my routine to be,” he explained.
That foundation also helped Hoyer carve out one of the league’s most unique resumes.
Even though the former Michigan State quarterback went undrafted in 2009, he managed to last a decade and a half in the NFL, making three separate stops with the Patriots. In total, he spent time with seven franchises, including the Browns, the 49ers, the Bears, the Colts, and most recently, the Raiders in 2023.
As he admitted to Edelman, his reputation as a reliable journeyman QB owed much to the habits he picked up from Tom Brady. That said, Hoyer also shared another telling moment from those early years.
As a rookie, he once planned to study film of an opponent’s prior game like many do, only for Brady to intriguingly stop him:
“He’s like, don’t waste your time with that. Their offense is absolutely different from ours. Like the way that the Ravens played them is going to be totally different. You’ve got to find teams that run a similar system to us or similar play cards.”
This meticulous approach was summed up by the coaching wisdom Hoyer remembers from New England. Quoting legendary Patriots assistant Dante Scarnecchia, he said: “Do business as business is being done.” Edelman, in response, jumped in to echo it in his own words: “Fellas, same cars, just different license plates.”
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Though Brian Hoyer may have taken in Tom Brady’s lessons as just memorable soundbites, little did he know that it would also end up designing his roadmap for survival. By adopting the GOAT’s approach to preparation, he transformed an undrafted beginning into a 15-year career.
