Dan Orlovsky’s Hard Luck Figures to Continue (Colts v. Patriots)
By Editorial Staff
Dan Orlovsky is not a very good quarterback. In fact, he may have trouble making the case that he’s a decent quarterback by NFL standards, as the statistics will attest. But the fact remains that his name has an unsavory taint that the player himself has probably not earned.
To wit, when you mention the 2008 Detroit Lions, if anyone stops to think about who guided that historically bad (0-16) squad, the answer is nearly always “Dan Orlovsky.” While Orlovsky was surely a big part of that debacle, the fact is that he only played in 10 games that season and only started seven of them, thanks to a thumb/hand injury that took him out of action during the heart of the year. Jon Kitna and Daunte Culpepper were at least as bad as Orlovsky and, together, at least as responsible for the Lions’ rot.
Now, Orlovsky finally gets a chance to redeem himself, this time as the starting QB for the 0-11 Colts. The problem is, he’s going up against the Patriots in New England, where little Tommy Brady has his team sitting as 21-point favorites. Orlovsky may have some fun against the Pats’ holey secondary, but he’s very unlikely to emerge with his first career victory.
Maybe sometime in these last five games, Orlovsky can erase the round numbers from his record, and from the Colts’ seasonal tab. Don’t count on his opening December with a bang, though.