C.J. Stroud laid a massive stinker against the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round this past weekend. He threw four interceptions, contributing to an abysmal 21.1 QBR. Since that performance, NFL fans have put him under the scanner, with some questioning whether the Houston Texans should continue with him as their franchise QB.
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It was something that commentator Troy Aikman said near the end of the playoff game against the Pats. Stroud has been chasing his rookie success, when he won Offensive Rookie of the Year, for the past two seasons. Last year, his underperformance was blamed on offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who was promptly fired.
This season, though, there are no more excuses for Stroud seemingly plateauing at this junction of his career. Dan Orlovsky thought the Divisional Round showing was so poor that even bad quarterback play would have been enough to win the playoff game against the Pats. Instead, Stroud played atrociously.
“If you’re Houston, you win that game with 31 other quarterbacks,” Orlovsky said during a segment on Get Up. “Bad quarterback play wins that game- bad quarterback play… I think Houston and Buffalo walk away from this weekend sick to their stomach because they look at all of the self-inflicted wounds.”
It was quite the hot take from the ESPN analyst. Stroud played poorly over the weekend, but Orlovsky took it a step further. He essentially suggested that any other quarterback in the NFL would have gotten the job done.
Naturally, in reaction to the take, Patriots fans were offended. They took it as a diss toward their defense, which played otherworldly on Sunday. The fanbase responded by trolling Orlovsky on social media, prompting him to post, “This app will break ya man,” in response.
It sounds like the analyst was going through it while reading through his mentions and replies. Twitter, now known as X, has evolved into an unfiltered landscape over the years, where every user enjoys freedom of speech. The netizens utilized this ability to its fullest when roasting the former QB-turned analyst.
This app will break ya man.
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 19, 2026
Even Emmanuel Acho, the king of hot takes, found Orlovsky’s take on Stroud to be problematic.
“Stroud was awful. 31 other quarterbacks ain’t winning that game, though. No Jets quarterback is winning that football game, period. No Commanders quarterback after Jayden Daniels got hurt is winning that game. No Raiders quarterback is winning that game,” Acho stated on Speakeasy.
It was a very logical response from the former linebacker. Stroud was bad on Sunday, no question. But it’s hard to imagine players like Justin Fields, Geno Smith, or Marcus Mariota winning that game against the Pats, too. Give credit where credit is due; New England’s defense was outstanding on Sunday and made life difficult for Stroud.
All in all, fans were rightfully taken aback by Orlovsky’s hot take. However, that’s exactly what he gets paid to talk about. We don’t need to take it as far as to bully the analyst, like people were beginning to do at one point. Yet, it is important to shoot this quote down with logic and reason, as Acho did, because it’s simply not true that 31 other QBs would have won that game against the AFC Championship-bound Pats.
