Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo is sorry for comments he made about Dan Orlovsky’s playing career and made sure to let the former Lions QB know. On the Thursday, Feb. 8 edition of Mad Dog Unleashed, the Doggie extended the olive branch to Orlovsky as he invited the QB on for a segment. Russo then broached the subject on everyone’s mind but squashed any potential beef very quickly.
“Let me make an official apology,” Russo playfully but frankly said. “If in fact that bothered you, and it seemed like it did…so I apologize, I apologize.”
On the Feb. 6 edition of First Take, hosts Stephen A. Smith and Russo were shown a video of Orlovsky completing the NFL Pro Bowl Games’ “Precision Passing” event with a score higher than any active QB managed. While Smith was complementary, Russo was anything but, referring to Orlovsky as a “scrub” during his playing career. Orlovsky responded very quickly after via X, calling the move, “classless.”
Russo then asked Orlovsky why his comments struck such a nerve. Orlovsky replied, “I’m very aware of what my NFL career was. I know I wasn’t in any way a star but I’m very proud of it obviously. There’s a little sensitivity that, ‘Hey, I get to be on ESPN basically every day talking about quarterback play and I wasn’t a star,’ so I think there’s that initial sensitivity to it.” Orlovsky then let Mad Dog know that his wife wasn’t a fan of the host’s comments, either, and offered a way to make things right.
“I think the way to make this right is you gotta take me to Shorehaven [Golf Club] at some point,” to which Doggie happily obliged. All’s well that ends well.
