ESPN ANALYST SAYS NFL TEAM MISLED MEDIA

Saying the word “bamboozled” on an ESPN show means something.

It meant something when Stephen A. Smith went on SportsCenter and claimed that Phil Jackson and the Knicks had “hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok and flat out deceived” New York Knicks fans after Kristaps Porziņģis was selected with the No. 4 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

And it also means something when Dan Orlovsky goes on Get Up and seemingly accuses the Pittsburgh Steelers of holding a rigged quarterback competition. At least in Orlovsky’s eyes, he doesn’t feel like Justin Fields got a fair shake in a competition that seems increasingly likely to go to Russell Wilson.

When asked by Mike Greenberg if he were the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who would he give the ball to? Orlovsky admitted it was Fields. But as one of the former Chicago Bears quarterback’s staunchest defenders in the media, Orlovsky took it a step further.

“I would’ve started Justin Fields, but this was never a quarterback competition,” says Orlovsky. “We were bamboozled a little bit. And I have endless amounts of respect for Mike Tomlin, but there’s no way that this is a quarterback competition. Russell missed practice and only played in essentially one game. Greeny, I remember when both of the moves were made, being on the show, and we said, ‘If this was really going to be an open quarterback competition, I expected Justin Fields to win that.’

“This was never a quarterback competition. Russell played in preseason Week 2. He threw the ball twice against [the Buffalo Bills]. Now, Justin Fields has had the ups and downs, the waves, and whatnot. I thought he threw the ball really well versus the Detroit Lions. Everyone who’s gonna say he took two more sacks, neither of them were on him. And so, I understand the premises of they’re banking on the hopeful, more consistency from Russell Wilson.

“But this was never a quarterback competition. If it was, Russell would’ve played much more in preseason Week 3 this past weekend. I would’ve started Justin Fields, and I would’ve tried to minimize the riding of the wave. That’s not the case in Pittsburgh.”

Tomlin said in March, after the Steelers signed Wilson that he was in “pole position” to be the team’s starting quarterback.

So, Orlovsky does sort of have a point here.

And whether or not the Steelers’ quarterback competition was truly a sham, Wilson seems likely to be under center in Week 1 at the Atlanta Falcons.

[Get Up]

The post Dan Orlovsky: Steelers ‘bamboozled’ media with QB competition farce appeared first on Awful Announcing.

2024-08-26T23:11:41Z dg43tfdfdgfd