It was the Lionsiest play of the Lionsiest of seasons.
But old-new Detroit quarterback Dan Orlovsky said he can’t worry about returing to the scene of his crime against football.
The guy who ran out of the back of his own end zone for a safety during an 0-16 season said he’s confident in his own abilities, and that things will be much better now that he’s back as the backup.
“There’s not much I can say to unmask the things that happened or erase those things,” Orlovsky said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “My personal aspect of it is I knew I played well. We were just not a good football team. Did I have a part of that? Sure. I wish I played better in certain spaces, but I knew I played well, and I kind of look at it like this: It’s hard to play in this league for four years. It’s really, really hard to play it for 10 years.
“I get the fears maybe with obviously fans and whatnot, but the organization knows what they’re doing, and I know I’m a good player, and I certainly hope to just be part of changing some of that past, whether it’s directly or indirectly.”
That kind of glass-half-full optimism will be useful, although saying he played well makes you wonder what was in the glass.
He said much of the reason he wanted to come back was to work with Jim Caldwell again (after piloting the only two wins of 2011 with the Colts).
But if he can rewrite his own Detroit history, that might be nice too.