I must say, I'm impressed. Great head on this kids shoulder. Intelligent kid. I didn't know he wasn't a drop back QB, that might be why his stock slipped.

LIONS QB DAN ORLOVSKY
On coming to Detroit where he played his final college game (Motor City Bowl):To tell you the truth, it's great. I got the opportunity to know Coach (Greg) Olson because he was recruiting me when he was at Purdue and I know Coach Mariucci's background and how good of a coach he is. (Detroit) is a great town; I had a great time when I played there. If you look at what the organization has done - getting those offensive weapons. I played against Kevin Jones so I know what he can do and obviously drafting Mike this year and having Roy Williams and Charles Rogers; it's a great situation. I know Joey Harrington personally so I'm going to go in there and just continue to learn as much as I can from him and Jeff Garcia. It's a great stadium; it's a great town; people love football there. I'm just happy to be a part of it."

On what he expects out of his first year: "I'm going to go in with the mindset that I'm going to compete for No. 1. That's just how I'm going to work my tail off. I'm going to be in Joey and Garcia's back pockets. I'm going to try and learn as much as I can from them. Obviously both of them are very, very good quarterbacks. I'm just going to go and compete and learn and soak up as much as I can and just try to do whatever I can to help the organization. If it's standing there over the clipboard or whatever - if that's my role then that's my role. If that's what they need for me to do to help that organization for that year then I'm going to get it done. I can't tell you guys how excited I am. I'm just going to go in ready to work and take off."

On whether he was surprised to be drafted on the second day: "To tell you the truth, to be drafted in the first- or second-round, you have to be the type of player to go in and make an impact right away. I just turned 21, I'm young, I still need to mature and grow so I didn't expect myself to be drafted in the first two rounds. Third round I said maybe and once Andrew Walter was picked by Oakland, my linebacker Pincher who was my roommate that ended up going to New Orleans last night - if Walter went there then there's a pretty good chance that I might go today. It didn't happen and I fell to the fifth-round and I was sitting there kind of disgruntled and what not, asking: 'when am I going to go?' I'm not disappointed. I'm a quarterback in the NFL right now. To have the opportunity for which millions of people would trade. Everything happens for a reason. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. You never know what's going to happen. I'm going to take full advantage of it. I'm not going to sit here and be shy or anything. I have an opportunity and that's all anyone can ask for."

On Whether he thinks his stock slipped because of a poor workout at the combine:"It was the Senior Bowl. When I went to the Senior Bowl I actually got very sick in mid-week and I was doing things that I've never done before in the Senior Bowl, like taking a five- and seven-step drop. I had never done that in my career. That was new to me and to throw it to receivers who are that fast at making cuts like that and trying to anticipate - it was all new. The thing with me, I know that I'm going to get it down. I know I'm going to be able to make those throws and everything like that because I've done it before. I just need to get into the rhythm from under center like that. I think what happened was that the Senior Bowl slipped me a little bit. I started coming back up a little bit but I'm not going to look at where I slipped or why or who. I don't care. I know that I'm part of the Detroit Lions and I'm ecstatic about it and I'm just going to go there and work my tail off."

On how he knows Joey Harrington personally: "I had the opportunity to meet Joey a few times because he and I have the same agent - David Dunn. About two months ago, I was with him for a night out in California. We were at a barbeque and hung out. He's absolutely a great guy. I also watched him at Oregon and in the Rose Bowl and things like that. He's a good guy and I'm fortunate to be able to learn from someone like him."

I think this guy and Jeff will make Joey all the better, god damn Millen seems to know how to get these late round guys...

He passes the eyeball test for me as a QB

He is humble and knows his place, but also wants to excell.

Millen does draft people with good character, I'll give him that much.

And I pray for Tom Brady every night. We could not be that lucky folks!

He's a gunslinger. He's got guts. He is a MAN. I see the entangibles in him, that I don't see in Joey or Garcia.

Maybe... just maybe... in one or two years, Dan is the man.

I agree.


Make No Mistake... That is why he's here. (And not McPherson).

I listened to him on NFL radio Friday. They ask him what he thought would happen and so on after he was drafted. He said it is not "how a qb starts it how he finshes." Riggins talked about him haveing a big time arm.

DO does have a big arm, from what little I have seen of him he looked very inconsistent to me. Great throw, then in the dirt. McP was still my choice here, that guy could move, had a nice arm, very accurate (even more so on the run).

What I liked about McP was the upside. DO brings a bit of that to the table as well. It was the safer move. I can't wait to see him in preseason.

Regardless - Joey, Jeff and Dan is a significant upgrade over Joey, Mikey and Ricky...

The only thing I didn't like about McP is that a lot of his long balls didn't look good to me. They looked like jump ball floaters. Granted, I have only seen little of his game film, but all his deep balls on his highlight reels looked that way. They were downfield, straight routes. I never saw him hit a receiver in stride running cross field at about 25 yards. That's more than likely due to the fact that is Arena League and the game is so much different. What I DO like about McP is his mobility, the fact he can throw on the run, and he has a very quick release - that's huge. He reminds me of a McNabb type - how can that lose?

DO has pretty good upside. He's a safe pick. The guy has a cannon and has great size to him. He's not very mobile, but they can teach that. I'm sure that's something he'll work on - as with the accuracy. I'm not a fan of drafting another McMike who can't hit the broad side of a barn...

That's a fact, Jack!!


...er, I mean Pablo.

When you have CRog, ROY and BMW - jump ball floaters work just fine against all those 5'9" CBs.



BTW - you can see DO and McP video highlights here:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/draft?round=5&dl=nfl

just click on the camera next to their name

I remember right before last years draft, you and I were having a discussion about the draft when you told me to keep my eye on Orlovsky. You told me then that you thought Detroit should take him in this years draft. I just wanted to commend you on the great foresight.
Although I still feel Joey is going to be fine.

Wow cool. Thanks for the link to those clips.

I must say about Dan's throwing motion though. That is some ugly looking mechanics. Not pretty at all. But he gets it done obviously. Maybe it'll all come together when they get his mechanics and motion tightened up.