Brian Hoyer enjoying ‘whirlwind’ journey as Pats’ backup QB in Super Bowl

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. >> Although it’s certainly in the back of every backup quarterback’s mind that they’re only one play away from having to enter the game, it’s somewhat rare for that to actually happen, especially this time of year.

For New England Patriots second string signalcaller Brian Hoyer, however, the possibility has been a little more realistic as of late.

Had Tom Brady not been able to play against the Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game, it would have been the nine-year veteran Hoyer who would have been under center for the Patriots’ biggest game of the season to date. Of course, Brady, gloves and all, led his team to victory, but it would seem that wasn’t always such a sure thing.

“Last week, against Jacksonville, pretty much up through the week, I thought I was going to be playing the whole game,” Hoyer told The Trentonian during the team’s final media availability of the week at Mall of America.

“I’m always preparing to be ready to go, and obviously that doesn’t change when you get to the Super Bowl. You’re always one play away.”

The 32-year-old was Brady’s backup for Super Bowl 46 — a 21-17 loss at the hands of the Giants — and knows that even with the well-documented issues with the hand of the starter, he doesn’t need to change anything he does this time of year as the backup.

“Coach Belichick does a good job of telling us to continue to stay with your routine and continue to prepare the way you would prepare, do what got us here,” he said. “That really resonates with me. The only difference would be that you have an extra week to prepare, so you go through that week back in Foxborough and prepare the best you can, and now there’s that chance to review it and go back over the game plan and see certain plays a second time around.”

This is, of course, the second time around with the Patriots for Hoyer, who came into the league with them back in 2009 as an undrafted free agent. Since then, he’s been with the Steelers, Cardinals, Browns, Texans, Bears and most recently the 49ers, for whom he started the first six games of the year before being supplanted by rookie C.J. Beathard and then when the team traded for Brady’s backup at the time, Jimmy Garoppolo.

After initial reports that he was involved that the trade — due to compensatory draft pick concerns, New England reportedly asked that he not be — San Francisco released him outright, and Hoyer signed a three-year contract to return to the Patriots. It’s only fitting that this has been a roller-coaster year in what’s been a roller-coaster career.

“It’s been crazy,” he said.

“Moving from Chicago to San Francisco, going in and being the starting quarterback and then things not going very well, then getting a call from Kyle Shanahan and figuring out I’m coming back here. That was a range of emotions. I was shocked, upset that things didn’t work out there. But obviously, I was excited to come back to a place where I was my first three years in the NFL and get back and see guys I’ve known 9-10 years and get a chance to be back on a great team and be where we are now. It’s been a whirlwind, but I think you’ve got to look at it that when one door closes, another door opens. This door opened to a great team, a great organization and a chance to win a Super Bowl.”

While the familiarity certainly made the transition easier for Hoyer on the field, things weren’t quite as easy as they seemed off of it.

“To have to tell your wife that you just moved to this place, and here you are 4-5 months later and you’re moving again ... and it’s not like it’s a small move, you’re moving cross-country,” he said.

“It was a range of emotions, but once I got back into that locker room and saw Matt Slater and saw Tom (Brady), coach Belichick and Julian (Edelman) and all those guys that I had been with early on, I felt at home. It’s been an exciting ride. I think it’s been three months to the day since I got here, and it’s been a crazy three months. It would be a great way to finish it off by winning on Sunday. To cap this year off in that way, it would prove to me that things are meant to be and things happen for a reason. I put a lot of hard work in, and of course these guys have put a lot of hard work in, so it would be sweet.”