‘He Was a Scrub in the NFL!’ Stephen A. Smith and Mad Dog Roast ESPN Colleague Who Tore it Up in Pro Bowl Exhibition

Ahmad Austin Jr.Feb 5th, 2024, 2:42 pm
 

The First Take crew wasn’t entirely impressed by analyst Dan Orlovsky’s throwing performance at the NFL’s Pro Bowl Games this past weekend.

Orlvosky was part of the ESPN crew on hand to give commentary during the various Pro Bowl events. After the “Precision Passing” competition — which saw some of the NFL’s best quarterbacks throwing at various targets — the former QB decided to give it a try. Still in a dress shirt, tie, and pants, Orlovsky scored an impressive 27 points. It was more than several quarterbacks scored in the actual competition.

On Monday’s episode of First Take, Stephen A. Smith claimed the performance might make up for Orlovsky’s shortcomings in the NFL. He specifically mentioned Orlovsky’s infamous safety when he ran to the back of the end zone during a game.

“I’m very impressed with him,” Smith said. “Dan Orlovsky is not me. I was never good enough to be no damn elite college athlete, let alone a professional athlete. So, everybody knows I’m a scrub, so when I put forth a choke job, it’s perfectly understandable.

“But this was an NFL quarterback whose greatest video was him running out of bounds in the end zone without knowing it. Now that’s embarrassing; and so now that we have this video to show for Dan Orlovsky, it sort of offsets that faux pas that he committed many, many, many years ago as a member of the Detroit Lions — when they were winless, by the way. So, now we have this footage and we can lean on this to big up our boy Orlovsky.”

Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, on the other hand, didn’t see what the big deal was.

“Indoors, [with] a pair of pants on, tossing a football around. Who cares, for crying out loud?” Russo said. “He ran out of the end zone. Nobody cares! That’s like Steve making 15 free throws in an empty gym, and then he goes into a ballgame and his 4 for 10 at the line with the game on the line… Nobody cares, Steve!”

Molly Qerim said she was also impressed. Stunned, Russo didn’t hold back on his assessment of Orlovsky’s playing days.

“You’re impressed? I could do this! This is not that difficult!” Russo said. “I could do this! Hand me the ball and yes, I could! I’ll throw the football that far! This is ridiculous! He was a scrub in the NFL! This does not make up for that!”

Watch above via ESPN

Tags: