Dan Orlovsky doesn’t skip a beat on defending Josh Allen using comparison to Tom Brady
Josh Allen and Tom Brady only shared the league for a short time, but not many analysts compared the two during that time. Now, one season after TB12's retirement, Dan Orlovsky has done just that.
Speaking on First Take, the former quarterback defended the Bills quarterback, using the roster as Exhibit A. Here's how he put it on Monday's show:
"[00:09:02]There's one quarterback in the history of the NFL that's accounted for 50 touchdowns in a season. When you include the playoffs, Josh Allen [has] done it twice. Don't tell me he wasn't great. [00:09:23]"
He continued, also mentioning Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski:
"[00:13:32] The difference in a game is one quarterback had cats make plays down the field. One didn't. You talk about Tom Brady and rising up to the moment. Tom Brady rolled up to the moment, Adam Vinatieri finished the moment. Tom Brady rose up to the moment and Edelman finished the moment or Gronk finished the moment. [00:13:51]"
Orlovsky has been a staunch defender of the quarterback for much of the season. At one point, he was on record mentioning Allen in the MVP race much later than most other pundits.
Josh Allen slides into "Ben Roethlisberger" role as Bills slip against Patrick Mahomes again
Before Josh Allen and Mahomes, it was Brady and Roethlisberger. Both the Patriots and Steelers were dominant in the regular season on a perennial basis as some of the top teams in the AFC. However, when the two franchises faced off, Brady usually came out on top, especially in the latter half of the two quarterback careers.
Between 2004 and 2019, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost ten times to the Patriots. However, early on, both quarterbacks seemed on a similar level, as the Steelers went 3-4 against Brady between 2004 and 2012.
However, what happened next was a five-game Steelers losing streak against the Patriots and it quickly became clear which of the top two phenoms was king. Josh Allen's all-time record is now 3-4 against Mahomes.
Of course, other quarterbacks were rivals of the Patriots quarterback, such as Peyton Manning, but aside from the Denver Broncos quarterback, no other AFC quarterback truly gave No. 12 a run for their money on the biggest stages consistently enough to be an on-paper favorite.
With the Chiefs winning on Sunday, Lamar Jackson stands as the last line of defense, with Mahomes slipping into the Brady role as the yearly playoff favorite no matter the seeding.
If any of the above quotes are used, credit "First Take" and H/T Sportskeeda.