Former NFL QB Apologizes After Criticism of Texans' C.J. Stroud

In the midst of the fallout from the Houston Texans' 16-28 divisional round loss to the New England Patriots, there was a considerable handful of criticism thrown in the direction of C.J. Stroud after a disastrous four-interception performance on his behalf, and one of the worst outings of his NFL career this far.

One of those voices in the mix of the heat coming Stroud's way was from former NFL quarterback-turned-analyst Dan Orlovsky, who was vocal of his belief that the Texans could've won their game against New England had they started 31 different quarterbacks; going as far as to make an entire list of guys he felt could've gotten the job done in a post on X.

However, in the days following his criticism of the Texans' quarterback, Orlovsky took a bit of a 180 in a recent appearance on ESPN's Get Up!, instead apologizing to Stroud for his banter after the playoff defeat.

“On Monday morning after the Patriots-Texans game, I went on and said, ‘Houston wins that game with 31 other quarterbacks.’ I want to publicly apologize to C.J. Stroud. I crossed the line. I don’t ever want to do that in this role,”Orlovsky said.

“When I started eight years ago, I made the commitment: Never go on TV and say they won because the quarterback played good or they lost because the quarterback played bad. I’ve been called out on it. Accountability, full stop. Shouldn’t have done it. There’s ways for me to say that in regards to ‘C.J. Stroud did the one thing he couldn’t do and that’s why they lose the game.’ I don’t want to take away from New England’s defense as well. So, full stop. That wasn’t cool of me. That was wrong of me. Different way for me to communicate that.”

I should’ve been better pic.twitter.com/zJ7ZkrOW9R
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 22, 2026

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Orlovsky Apologizes for C.J. Stroud Criticism

Of course, it was far from an ideal day for Stroud in Foxborough, posting one of the worst days of his career, and a dreary end to a resilient season he and the Texans had put together leading up to their matchup against New England.

But even while some buzz around that performance of Stroud's is likely warranted, Orlovsky felt as if he was a bit harsh in his evaluation––later continuing to post on X the day after his qualms about the Texans' quarterback, "This app will break ya, man."

Orlovsky was an over-a-decade-long veteran in the NFL with experience across four teams, including one season suiting up with the Texans back in 2010.

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