Dan-O on his fresh start in Houston -- and "The Play"

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

From the Hartford Courant we catch up with former Lion and current Texan Dan Orlovsky. "Paying attention to detail and doing all the little things, I think, is why I was blessed to be in position to get the contract with Houston," Orlovsky said. Attention to detail? Um, what about the play where you ...? Actually, Orlovsky gives some interesting elaboration on that scramble out of the back of the end zone in Minnesota, that I don't think we've heard before:

The Lions were at their 1 when Orlovsky dropped back to pass. The Vikings' Jared Allen broke through the line. Breaking to his right, Orlovsky saw Allen but inadvertently stepped out of bounds in the back of the end zone. He not only ran out of bounds, but he kept running as if the play were still live while Allen was merely shadowing him and celebrating the safety. "That wasn't the impression I was looking to make," Orlovsky said, laughing. "But I felt terrible. It was a stupid play and I was really down about it, but Jared DeVries, a defensive end and an 11-year veteran, comes up to me right after the play and says, 'Forget about that. We need you. Everybody makes mistakes.' "[Wide receiver] Calvin Johnson comes up to me and says, 'Man, I didn't mean to laugh, but that stuff was funny.' So I mean, it happened. I'll be remembered for it, I'm sure. But you have to move on, and I did. After that game, I just went back to paying attention to detail again and doing the little things — like I always did."
Something about Megatron seeing Dan-O on the sidelines and cracking up about that infamous play will have me smiling all day -- though I wasn't smiling at the time. Talk about it in The Den.