Brian Hoyer Has Officially Stopped the Quarterback Carousel in Cleveland

Nearly every tourist who visits Central Park in New York City stops at the world-famous carousel ride. The 57 majestic horses have stood in that spot since 1871, and it is said that a live mule hidden underneath powered the ride until 1924. As was the case with the Central Park mule, the Cleveland Browns’ donkey-powered quarterback carousel has finally came to a screeching halt.

Brian Hoyer has done something that no man since the rebirth of the franchise has done. He has calmed the waters and established himself as the undisputed quarterback of the Browns moving forward. The job is his, and no one is taking it away anytime soon.

His three game-winning drives in just six full games with the Browns tell part of the narrative. His 97.7 quarterback rating, good for eighth among current starting quarterbacks, develops the story even further. Perhaps nothing tells the tale of Hoyer’s stranglehold on the Browns starting job more than his leadership, however.

“Poise, he stays poised,” veteran running back Ben Tate said of Hoyer after the come-from-behind victory, per Ohio.com. “He’s focused, relentless. He doesn’t give up.”

The players now see what the coaching staff saw on August 20 when they named Hoyer the starting quarterback despite a dismal training camp and start to the preseason. The confidence the coaching staff showed in Hoyer fueled him, and he has never looked back.

"This is becoming his team and he's taken ownership of it," quarterback coach Dowell Loggains told ESPN.com last week.

Did you notice that I have yet to mention he is a hometown kid who was overlooked his entire career and finally got a shot with the team he grew up cheering for? That's because it doesn’t matter.

It does not matter that Hoyer went to high school just 2.1 miles from FirstEnergy Stadium. It does not matter that he went undrafted and underappreciated. The perception of Hoyer essentially mirrors the national perception of the town in which he grew up and now plays. That fact is irrelevant.

It does not matter that even after returning home he was still brushed aside and forced to prove himself. After starting the 2013 season buried on the depth chart, he performed head-and-shoulders above what anyone anticipated when he got playing time. That did not stop the Browns from drafting a potential replacement and forcing him to compete for the job with a rookie hype machine.

All of that happened, but it does not matter anymore.

All that matters is that Hoyer is the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns and there is no debating that fact. The road to this point means nothing. All that matters now is how he performs with the reins firmly in his grasp.

That carousel in Central Park has nothing on the Browns. It has been rebuilt just four times compared to the Browns' 20 different restoration projects. For 15 years Cleveland has sanded, polished and rolled out a new version of the quarterback position only to watch it fall out of order time and time again.

Unlike Brady Quinn, Colt McCoy, Brandon Weeden, Tim Couch, Jake Delhomme and Jeff Garcia, Hoyer assumed the job with no expectations. His promotion was less earned and more given out of desperate necessity. The Browns had nowhere else to turn.

Maybe it is serendipity that the one time the decision was taken out of the Browns' hands, it finally worked out. It was Weeden’s injury and Jason Campbell’s perceived unwillingness to compete that forced a move to the third-string quarterback.

Once again, none of that matters.

When children climb on to the horses in Central Park and laugh jovially as the carousel spins and rotates, they do not question how their steed arrived at that place. They just enjoy the ride that comes along with its presence.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

That is what Browns fans are beginning to do as well. The debate over whether or not Johnny Manziel should start has died in all places except the minds of the dumb or clinically insane. There is no room for a controversy when your quarterback is completing 62 percent of his passes and has thrown just one interception to six touchdowns.

The miraculous part of all of this is that Hoyer is performing this well with one of the worst receiving corps in the NFL. On Sunday the Browns' leading receiver was an undrafted rookie named Taylor Gabriel. Andrew Hawkins, an oft-injured castoff from Cincinnati, and Miles Austin, a guy most thought was ready for the glue factory, are his two leading receivers on the season.

He does not have the help of Pro Bowl receiver Josh Gordon and has gotten just six total catches and 103 yards out of Pro Bowl tight end Jordan Cameron. Yes, Hoyer is making everyone around him better. That is what a good starting quarterback in the NFL does.

I will admit I was one of the last to come around. I could not look past Hoyer’s physical limitations and the years of negative analysis from other teams. How could so many other franchises miss on this guy?

That doesn’t matter either.

What matters now is that he is in Cleveland, and no one can deny the impact he has made on this Browns team. They are 2-2 and have four very winnable games in a row upcoming on the schedule. Would it really surprise anyone if Hoyer were able to lead the Browns to victory at Cincinnati on prime-time television in Week 10?

I know I wouldn’t be surprised. Nothing could surprise me anymore when it comes to Brian Hoyer. I am done trying to make sense of it all, and I am ready to enjoy the ride.

Because for once the Browns have an overcomer at the helm of the offense. They have a guy who never believes his team is out of the game. They have a guy that the rest of the team looks toward and believes in when it comes down to crunch time.

Realistically, just like the carousel in Central Park, the Browns will need to undergo a restoration project on the quarterback position at some point in the future. That could end up being next season, or it could be five seasons from now. All I know is that there are no renovations planned for 2014.

Barring injury, this thing isn’t breaking down at any point this year. For once, Browns fans can climb aboard and enjoy the ride without worry.