Dan Orlovsky Deserves a Real Shot

Now that Matt Millen has been fired, angry-but-loyal Lions fans will need something else to chant about when they inevitably fill the stands for the next home game.

I know just the thing.

“Stanton, Stanton, Stanton,” Lions fans will cry as Dan Orlovsky throws an interception late in the game. It doesn’t matter what game it is, or whether the pick will be his fault, or his porous offensive line, or his blocking-challenged running backs. It doesn’t matter; it will happen.

The fans will be wrong. They will be wrong because Orlovsky has earned his chance to run the Detroit Lions. Dan Orlovsky may not be Tom Brady talent. He might not even be Gus Frerotte talent. Nobody knows, and that's the whole point. He deserves the chance to show what he can really do. The fans, Rod Marinelli, Drew Stanton, and Daunte Culpepper can sit on it until he gets his real shot.

Orlovsky has been holding a clipboard on the bench since 2005, at one point sitting third string behind Josh McCown, and now that the Lions are in turmoil (again), the man has earned his due.

At 0-7, nobody is talking playoffs, so the worst losing gets them is a better shot at Mel Kiper’s Big Board. The best scenario is the Lions, whoever that might consist of by the time the team’s fire sale is over, find something resembling an answer at quarterback.

If not, he’s gone in free agency. No harm done.

I know Orlovsky is starting now, so this may seem redundant. But who really thinks that he'll still be the starter by the end of the season? Did Marinelli just bring Culpepper in for tea and crumpets?

No, they did it because they don't have any faith in Orlovsky, and he deserves the rest of the season to play and state his case without looking over his shoulder.

You can’t fault the fans for being impatient. Their beloved Lions are looking at yet another year or three of rebuilding after Millen built a team that fit together like Lincoln Logs, Legos, matches, and paper-mâché.

After a perfect preseason in which Jon Kitna looked great and the defense looked faster and improved, the regular season (and reality) struck again. Kitna was awful and is now on injured reserve, and the defense has developed a habit of building 21-point deficits in as few drives as they can.

Admittedly, Drew Stanton is a sexy prospect. He has a big arm and can run with the football, and Lions fans love guys on the bench who have the potential to scramble and make plays on the run (see McMahon, Mike).

Maybe Stanton is the future. But what’s the rush? Stanton is effectively in his rookie year, after Mike Martz decided to redshirt IR him in 2007. Do the Lions really need another reminder of what happens to quarterbacks when they start too soon on teams that aren’t very good (see Batch, Charlie, and Harrington, Joey under the heading “shattered confidence”)?

So what is Orlovsky not doing that he should be doing? Why is everyone so anxious to pull him? He has started three games. In those three games, Orlovsky has:

Turned the ball over zero times. Thrown a touchdown pass in each game. Completed 55 percent of his passes. Accumulated a QB rating of 94.4. Spread the ball to at least five different receivers in each game, with a different receptions leader for each game.
Managed to improve the passing game in the wake of the Roy Williams trade. Led the Lions to their only three single-possession losses this season (in an 0-7 season full of blowouts, that's big). Decreased the number of sacks taken in each game, from six against Minnesota, to two against Houston, to one against Washington.

The only thing Orlovsky hasn't done yet is win a game. Arguably, he shouldn't be on the hook for that, since the defense is mostly responsible for digging holes he has to pass out of. Still, to make a legitimate case at starting, he is going to have to prove that he is a strong enough player to put the team on his back sometimes.

Now that Orlovsky has cut his teeth for a few games, it is time for him to start taking more risks, more shots down field, maybe even trying to force a few passes for big gains. That kind of play won't be kind to his interception numbers, but that's what NFL quarterbacks have to do—stop "playing safe" and "managing the offense" and start making big plays.

What if he turns the ball over six times against Chicago, passes for 93 yards, and the Lions lose by 40? What if they finish the season 1-15?

So maybe the fifth-round pick out of Connecticut in 2005 isn’t the Detroit Lions’ savior. Big deal. If he plays poorly at quarterback and never shows anybody a reason to keep him around, then the Lions can let him go to whomever will take him and replace him with Stanton, Culpepper, or Vinny Testaverde, for all I care. At least he got a shot, and he lost it because he didn't have the skill, not because he didn't get to show it.

What if he doesn't though? What if he’s been building confidence? Maybe he beats Chicago for four touchdowns and he shocks the league, Brady-style. Maybe the Lions, looking at a potential winless season, finish 6-10 under the Big O.

Is it likely? No. Is it possible?

Always.

At this point, do the Lions have anything to lose by trying?