{"id":532173,"date":"2026-01-21T12:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/532173\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:43:09","slug":"the-knives-are-out-for-dan-orlovsky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/532173\/","title":{"rendered":"The knives are out for Dan Orlovsky"},"content":{"rendered":"

NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky is a genial family man<\/a> and goofball<\/a>, prone to strange food takes<\/a>, and valuable to ESPN for his film breakdowns without becoming a caricature<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, he\u2019s also developed a reputation, fairly or not, for playing favorites with his analysis, especially when it comes to quarterbacks. Even Stephen A. Smith\u00a0once said that Orlovsky\u00a0lacks<\/a> objectivity when discussing NFL signal-callers<\/a>, while FS1\u2019s Nick Wright took him to task for his inability to criticize QBs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last season, Orlovsky became public enemy No. 1 in Baltimore after he spent much of the year saying Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen deserved to be the MVP<\/a> over Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. He eventually snapped from the vitriolic responses<\/a> and had to apologize<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the year since, Orlovsky\u2019s appreciation for Allen<\/a> hasn\u2019t subsided, and critics have zeroed in on that, much in the same way Tony Romo or Cris Collinsworth seem to fawn over him.<\/p>\n

That came to a head this past weekend when the Bills lost to the Denver Broncos, in large part due to Allen\u2019s four turnovers, including a costly fumble just before halftime. Orlovsky broke down the play on social media and, in a viral clip, seemed to blame Buffalo\u2019s offensive linemen for failing to recover the fumble rather than Allen.<\/p>\n

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Dan Orlovsky is paid by the Bills organization to be part of Josh Allen\u2019s PR team and you can\u2019t convince me otherwise pic.twitter.com\/uRtx4z53Wr<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 JacksonMuse (@Jackson_muse) January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBuffalo\u2019s there to recover the fumble, and they don\u2019t. Their big guy doesn\u2019t get on the ball, and they don\u2019t,\u201d Orlovsky said.<\/p>\n

Orlovsky, who also criticized the game officials in other posts, did offer a rebuttal, but it didn\u2019t appear to do much good in the public sphere.<\/p>\n

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With all due respect<\/p>\n

This is 1 clip out of I think 6 or 7 that I displayed. I show his INT and say can\u2019t miss this, I show the fumble and say he can\u2019t do this\u2014I show the fumble and say guys double teamed \u2014\u2014the point I made is how many self inflicted wounds Buffalo had.\u2014Josh\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, Orlovsky appeared on ESPN\u2019s Get Up on Monday to discuss the weekend that was in the NFL Playoffs. He ended up stepping in it all over again with his commentary about the Patriots\u2019 win over the Houston Texans, saying that if anyone other than C.J. Stroud had been playing quarterback for Houston, they would have won.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you\u2019re Houston, you win that game with 31 other quarterbacks.\u201d \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n

\u2014@danorlovsky7<\/a> on the Texans\u2019 loss to the Patriots pic.twitter.com\/QsjfpYwstx<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Get Up (@GetUpESPN) January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He went on to say it\u2019s \u201cunfortunate\u201d that Houston\u2019s defense will not be playing in the AFC Championship Game, and \u201ceventually the Super Bowl,\u201d after Patriots QB Drake Maye threw three touchdowns against them.<\/p>\n

As you might imagine, this didn\u2019t sit well with Patriots fans<\/a>, and they let him have it on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pushback and criticism got so intense that Orlovsky offered up a mea culpa, writing, \u201cThis app will break ya man.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This app will break ya man.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While he might have hoped that would have stemmed the tide a bit, it appeared to do the opposite, with critics taking him to task for painting himself as a victim<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Adding insult to injury, Orlovsky appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday.\u00a0McAfee has had some fun with Orlovsky over his quarterback affinities<\/a> in the past, and the show\u2019s studio offered him no quarter over this latest round of controversies.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone thinks that when Lamar loses, I say, \u2018Lamar stinks.\u2019 And when Josh loses, I make excuses for Josh, which is not factually accurate,\u201d Orlovsky told McAfee. \u201cIt\u2019s literally not true. It\u2019s just made up. It\u2019s 100 percent made up. \u2026 It\u2019s 100 percent made up that I\u2019m hypercritical of Lamar.\u201d<\/p>\n

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You were taking it on the shins @danorlovsky7<\/a> #PMSLive<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/UQoxV5Wqm7<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, McAfee and his crew kept giving Orlovsky the business, pushing back on his rebuttals that he\u2019s not biased and doesn\u2019t favor certain quarterbacks.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019re very active on twitter except when the guys you bandwagon for are playing bad\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWere you kicked out of your X account, we didn\u2019t see anything every time Josh committed a turnover?\u201d<\/p>\n

Pat McAfee and crew calling out Dan Orlovsky\u2019s bias towards Josh Allen on ESPN just now. pic.twitter.com\/fE6P5mj0pB<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Kip Smithers (@Chughes612) January 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While there, Orlovsky also explained why the Chicago Bears don\u2019t seem to appreciate him very much either.<\/p>\n

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What\u2019d you do to Chicago @danorlovsky7<\/a> \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02#PMSLive<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/Oe4VFfQNuR<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wOZotrBQxD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

All in all, a pretty brutal stretch for the former NFL quarterback.<\/p>\n

Sports are inherently tribal and emotional. And if your chosen profession is to discuss the particulars of teams and players across an entire league, each with their own intensely loyal fanbases, you are putting yourself in a position to receive criticism and pushback, especially if you espouse opinions that don\u2019t jive with what that fanbase believes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Is Dan Orlovsky biased? Perhaps. Could he believe that he\u2019s unbiased but unaware of the small ways that those biases bleed out into the way he talks about certain players? Also possible. Sometimes, the answers to these questions are less important than the perception that exists.<\/p>\n

The perception is that Orlovsky favors certain players and teams over others. He denies it, but it would be good for him to step back and reflect on why this perception exists. To his credit, he offers apologies and mea culpas when called for, so we take him at his word that he\u2019d do that if he felt it necessary.<\/p>\n

As another NFL season comes to a close and we move into the offseason, it could be a time for the ESPN analyst to reflect on whether he needs to reconsider how he discusses certain players, or stand his ground and keep reminding people they\u2019re mistaken.<\/p>\n

Also, it never hurts to put the phone down and walk away from social media whenever you can.<\/p>\n

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