That depends on what your definition of “attainable” is.

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But let’s throw all that out the window and focus on what Hoyer brings to the table and if replacing him as the starter will add any value.

First, let’s look at three quarterbacks from this season in terms of completion percentage and adjusted yards per attempt, a stat introduced in the book The Hidden Game of Football which gives a bonus for touchdown passes and a penalty for interceptions. Also included is the more familiar QB Passer Rating.

The performance of Quarterback A is clearly superior to the other two while Quarterback C is undoubtedly the worst. So if you were headed into a game which was crucial to accomplishing the goals set at the beginning of the season, would you choose Quarterback C? Of course not. Unless you are Pettine. You see, all three of those quarterback performances belong to Hoyer this season.

It’s not just the stats that have declined, either. According to the game charters at Pro Football Focus, Hoyer has seen a severe drop off in his overall play the last few weeks.

Manziel received a plus-0.3 rating for his Week 13 performance in relief of Hoyer, where he completed five of his eight passes for 63 yards and ran for the team’s only touchdown of the game. And while that performance was OK considering the circumstances, the real question becomes is the known quantity in Hoyer better than what you could get from an unknown Manziel? And because the bar is set so low, the answer looks to be that Manziel is the better choice. Here’s why: Hoyer is an average quarterback, at best.

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According to ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating, a statistical measure that incorporates the contexts and details of those throws and what they mean for wins, Hoyer is well below average, ranking 27th among 33 qualifying quarterbacks. He ranks 18th in Football Outsider’s Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement metric and 20th in Defense-adjusted Value Over Average among 42 qualifying quarterbacks. The former measures a quarterback’s total value while the latter measures his value per play.

Here is how Hoyer compares to the league average for completion percentage and adjusted yards per attempt, along with other quarterbacks this season who have thrown at least 300 passes. Again, he doesn’t fare well.

It looks like the grey dots are running away from Hoyer’s, but he is still starting.

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“It wasn’t perfect and he’s made his share of mistakes, but he’s gotten the lion’s share of the reps in practice and virtually all of them in games and has us in the thick of a playoff hunt. That to me was probably the biggest determining factor,” explained Pettine.

So with all the prep work and reps in practice, Hoyer still had a disastrous November. At least having Manziel under center gives the Colts’ defense something to think about.