Lions Sticking With Orlovsky At QB - December 15th, 2008

By WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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Only two more chances for the Lions to avoid infamy, and that job is in Dan Orlovsky’s hands for at least one more week.

Coach Rod Marinelli confirmed Monday that Orlovsky will be the Lions’ starting quarterback in Week 16 against the Saints as Detroit tries to avoid 0-15. Daunte Culpepper (shoulder) is still banged up, so Drew Stanton should be Orlovsky’s backup this week.

The Lions are 6.5-point home underdogs against New Orleans on WagerWeb.com.

Orlovsky started Sunday’s 31-21 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, and actually wasn’t too bad. He played well enough to keep the Lions in the game into the fourth quarter and he kept throwing the ball to Calvin Johnson, which is smart considering he’s about the only weapon Detroit has.

Trailing 21-13 late in the third quarter, Orlovsky completed all seven of his passes for 77 yards in setting up a Detroit touchdown to close to 21-19 with 12:52 left. Orlovsky then hit tight end Casey FitzSimmons on a pass for the two-point conversion to tie the score.



Orlovsky didn’t commit any turnovers in the game, marking the fourth time in his five starts this season that he didn’t throw an interception. Johnson had a career-high nine catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.

“Going into this week and watching film and watching what they do, I had a really good game plan in my head,” said Orlovsky, who was 23-of-34 for 233 yards and had a passer efficiency rating of 96.8. “Watching game film this week, I saw who I wanted to attack and who I wanted to use and my goal was to have no sacks and get Calvin the ball 12 times.”

Marinelli said he always goes week to week, so it remains to be seen who will start the season finale Dec. 28 at Green Bay.

The coach also said the Lions are taking pride in staying together as a team despite the fact they could become the league’s first-ever 0-15 team this weekend.

“I think this team has been cut down,” Marinelli said. “I think it’s coming closer and closer together. I feel a real good unity as a team. It’s something you emphasize as a coach. We respect this game, and we’re going to play as hard as we can. When we cut down our mistakes, we’ll win.”

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