Dan Orlovsky is backpedaling on his criticism of CJ Stroud.
After Stroud’s terrible performance against the Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs — he threw four interceptions in the first half — the ESPN analyst crushed him, saying that any other quarterback in the NFL would have won that game.
“If you’re Houston, you win that game with 31 other quarterbacks,” Orlovsky said on “Get Up” on Monday morning. “Bad quarterback play wins that game — bad quarterback play.”
Apparently, Orlovsky went too far with those comments.
“I want to publicly apologize to C.J. Stroud,” Orlovsky, a 12-season NFL QB, said Thursday on “Get Up.” “I crossed the line. I don’t ever want to do that… I’ve been called out on it. Accountability. Full stop, shouldn’t have done it.”
There had been discussions about whether Stroud should have been benched at halftime after four first-half interceptions.
It is unclear who gave Orlovsky static for the comments for the Stroud-bashing session, but he wasn’t alone in his analysis of the QB’s game.
Fellow ESPNer and ex-NFL linebacker Ryan Clark was one of Stroud’s staunch supporters at halftime, but later admitted that his poor performance cost the Texans what could have been a historic playoff run.
“CJ Stroud is my little bro, I love him,” Clark said on Monday. “He had an awful outing yesterday, but miss me with questioning his future. I believe his play cost the Texans defense a historic playoff run, but people are forgetting he’s gotten the Texans to the Divisional round 3 years straight.”
Still, Orlovsky’s over-the-top apology certainly draws some eyes and conspiracy theories about who or what might have sparked the possible backlash.
After the loss, Stroud told reporters that this was a growing year for him where he “didn’t have to be Superman all the time.”
Stroud was anything but Superman this year, throwing a career low 19 touchdown passes in his third year in the league.
