Dan Orlovsky has officially made it as a media personality.
It’s not easy to follow up a successful first career with an even more successful second one. And before you attempt to discredit Orlovsky’s playing career, remember this is someone who was paid millions of dollars for over a decade in the NFL. That’s successful. But not as successful as his second career as an NFL analyst.
How do we know that? The thing Orlovsky was known most for as an NFL quarterback isn’t the thing fans bother to ask about when they see him out and about. According to Orlovsky, people don’t really bring up his infamous running out the back of the end zone safety anymore.
Which is kind of surprising.
Orlovsky joined The Dan Patrick Show Friday morning while making his way to Baltimore for the Ravens Saturday afternoon home game with the Cleveland Browns via Amtrak. It prompted Patrick to wonder what other people on the train are likely to approach Orlovsky with when they see him.
“Most people that come up to me say one of three things. Number one, ‘I love how much you and Stephen A. argue.’ That’s a huge thing,” Orlovsky said. “Two, they say, ‘Love your show’ or ‘Love your work’ which I’m super grateful for. Or three, they’ll bring up, ‘Hey, that really wasn’t a fart on McAfee show, was it?’ Those are like the three most prevalent things.”
Sure, it’s been more than 16 years. But the infamous safety doesn’t even make the top three? Who would have guessed that?
“They’re not bringing up stepping out of the end zone anymore?” Patrick asked with surprise.
“Not much, it really doesn’t happen,” Orlovsky claimed. “Now, mainly because I’ve probably had a couple more embarrassing things happen since then. But no, the running out of the end zone has not come up often. Here and there, but not nearly as much as it did two or three years ago.”
Patrick celebrated the news, noting he was happy for the former quarterback turned ESPN analyst. To which Orlovsky acknowledged it showed some positive career growth. But they may have even been underselling it because this is a big development.
When Orlovsky orchestrated one of the more embarrassing plays in NFL history in 2008, everyone would have assumed this was going to be his legacy. And while even ESPN has attempted to cement this safety as his legacy, the rest of America has seemingly started to move on by simply thinking of Orlovsky as that really weird, but great football analyst on TV.