ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky has been known to throw out his fair share of hot takes from time to time. But on Tuesday, he showed off his football knowledge in an incredibly unique way with the help of virtual reality to break down the mindset of Bills quarterback Josh Allen in his victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
Allen and the Bills were able to hand the Chiefs their first loss of the season in a 30-21 victory on Sunday after scoring late in the fourth quarter to make it a two-score game that the Chiefs didn’t have enough time to overcome.
One key moment on the Bills’ final offensive drive came when Josh Allen was able to find Khalil Skakir on a 3rd-and-9 conversion to keep the drive alive before Allen ultimately iced the game with a 26-yard touchdown run.
Thanks to fellow ESPN personality Andrew Hawkins, the co-creator of StatusPro, which is the first virtual reality football game to be licensed with the NFL, Orlovsky was able to show viewers at home exactly what Allen was seeing on the third down conversion
On Tuesday’s edition of NFL Live, Orlovsky used the VR system to show the play from Allen’s perspective, detailing what both Allen and Shakir were thinking against the Chiefs Cover 0 defensive formation ahead of the key first-down pickup.
Orlovsky’s post on X of the NFL Live segment has since garnered significant attention, with over one million views and counting. Most of the replies were from his peers in sports media who thought that this was both expertly done by Orlovsky and a very creative use of this technology by the NFL Live production crew.
“Bravooo,” wrote FS1 NFL analyst Chase Daniel on X.
“This is really cool technology and execution,” wrote Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network.
“Very cool. Great job @danorlovsky7,” wrote former ESPN radio host David Todd. “Awesome job with the technology & ALL the personnel. Really good.”
“This is sick. BRAVO DAN-O,” wrote ESPN’s Pat McAfee.
In an era of sports media where hot takes and debates have largely dominated the headlines, this is proof that segments where the X’s and O’s are broken down by someone who has played the game at a high level are still something that football fans want to see.
Hopefully, we will see ESPN and other networks capitalize more on the expertise of their talent more in creative ways like this moving forward.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.