Dan Orlovsky Snaps Indianapolis Colts' Winless Streak

In the span of just five days, Indianapolis Colts backup quarterback Dan Orlovsky has snapped his team's 13-game winless streak, helped his fans forget about Curtis Painter and may have proven to be a decent backup quarterback to Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Eli Manning or whoever else leads the Colts in the future.

Most of all, he wrecked the playoff aspirations of two AFC South opponents. 

Sunday, Orlovsky did a modest job—going 11 of 17 for 82 yards with one touchdown—but he threw a key block that set up Donald Brown's 80-yard touchdown run. This is positive proof that quarterbacks are all-around players—including offensive linemen, if necessary. 

The Colts'  27-13 win knocked Tennessee out of the playoffs. 

Five days later, Orlovsky was 23 of 41 for 244 yards and threw the Colts' only touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne in the closing seconds in a 19-16 comeback win over the Houston Texans. Their loss prevented Houston from securing home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs and leaving them winless in 10 trips to Indianapolis.

In both cases, Orlovsky got help from his defense: They limited the Titans to a mere field goal in the closing possession of the first half, and did not let them score in the opening possession of the second half. 

In the Houston game, the defense—after giving up an early Texans touchdown following an Orlovsky sack/fumble—stiffened the rest of the way, yielding just three field goals.