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Brian Hoyer to start for Cleveland Browns against Bills

The Browns aren't messing with a good thing.

Coach Rob Chudzinski confirmed Monday that Brian Hoyer will start at quarterback on "Thursday Night Football" when Cleveland hosts the Buffalo Bills.

Hoyer has engineered back-to-back victories since replacing the injured Brandon Weeden, who suffered a sprained thumb back in Week 2.

Chud refused to name his starter after Sunday's 17-6 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but he said of Hoyer: "Certainly he's been the spark that I had hoped for."

Barring disaster, we've seen the last of Weeden. Hoyer has been more decisive with the ball, while showing a knack for fourth-quarter scoring drives. The return of receiver Josh Gordon and Cleveland's upstart young defense have helped.

The Browns and the Oakland Raiders have rolled out a league-high 16 starting quarterbacks since 2003. Those signal-callers for Cleveland have ranged from projects, to stopgaps to outright disasters. Hoyer's no savior -- the Browns will look to the draft for that -- but he's the best quarterback on a roster that was left for dead after Week 2.

Hoyer, in short, has brought hope, something that has been missing in Cleveland for too many years in a row.

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