Brian Hoyer literally dropped the ball in his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad playoff performance Saturday at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Hoyer threw a career-high four interceptions and fumbled twice as Kansas City shut out the Texans 30-0, making Houston the first team since 2005 to be shut out in the playoffs.
"I’ve dealt with a lot of adversity, obviously this might be one of the worst parts of my career," Hoyer told reporters after the game. "It’s disappointing. It’s embarrassing. There’s no one that feels lower than I do right now."
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Hoyer was booed by the home crowd throughout, finishing 15 of 34 for 136 yards and getting sacked three times. Despite his poor performance, coach Bill O'Brien insisted on keeping Hoyer under center instead of inserting backup Brandon Weeden.
"The best thing for us in this game was to stick with (Hoyer)," O'Brien told reporters. "I named him the starter. With the game plan and the amount of reps Brandon had gotten during the week, which was basically nil, I felt the right thing to do was to stick with Hoyer."
Said Hoyer: "I’m the quarterback of this team. I fought my way back to play out here and didn’t want to be coming out of that game. Those guys out there deserve me to finish that game … for me to cop out would show lack of being a man and lack of leadership."
Hoyer's disaster of an afternoon was largely uncharacteristic for the seven-year veteran. Entering the postseason, Hoyer had thrown just seven interceptions in 11 games.
"Obviously I didn’t play the way I’ve played all year," Hoyer said. "I picked the wrong time to have the worst game. The biggest thing for me is to own up to it and learn from it."
O'Brien didn't put the full brunt of the loss on Hoyer, saying "you have to look at the whole picture," but he didn't send a vote of confidence for Hoyer, a backup much of his career, as the team's QB next season.
"Every year is different," O'Brien said. "I have no idea what next season will be like five minutes after the game ends."