Dan Orlovsky claps back at critics of Colts' Jeff Saturday
Dan Orlovsky has clapped back at critics of Jeff Saturday after the interim head coach guided the Indianapolis Colts to a win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
"You talk about an inexperienced, entitled, embarrassing win for Jeff Saturday," Orlovsky said during Monday's edition of the ESPN "First Take" program, as shared by Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing. "Good for Jeff Saturday. There was a lot of noise around Jeff Saturday this past week."
Orlovsky continued:
"You know what I don’t understand, we select players in the NFL and we place them above proven people because they’re more talented and they’re highly sought of because of the relationship they have with people. This is the same case that happened with Jeff Saturday and for a person who’s inexperienced, certainly [didn’t] look like it. Good for him."
Colts owner Jim Irsay shocked the NFL community when he named Saturday as the replacement for the fired Frank Reich on Nov. 7 even though the former center and then-ESPN analyst possessed no college or pro coaching experience before Sunday's 25-20 victory over the Raiders. Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher went viral when he called the Colts hiring Saturday "a disgrace to the coaching profession" during CBS' pre-game show on Sunday afternoon:
Saturday later refused to dunk on Cowher or any others despite his 1-0 record. The 47-year-old told NBC Sports' Peter King that negative takes won't "change who I am or what I believe I’m called to do" and that he remains "excited about the opportunity" to coach the Colts through the end of the season.
Meanwhile, Irsay has taken multiple victory laps via Twitter:
Ahead of Week 10, Orlovsky let it be known he could be interested in joining Saturday's staff. It's unknown if the ESPN colleagues will again work alongside each other as employees of the Colts.
Saturday will look to improve to 2-0 as interim coach when his 4-5-1 Colts host the Philadelphia Eagles this coming Sunday.
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