Dan Orlovsky opened a can of worms on Monday when he admitted that he had only just learned what "percent" actually means and how percentages work.
Considering Orlovsky has been one of ESPN's most visible football analysts since joining the network and appears across multiple shows daily, that admission on "The Pat McAfee Show" left the crew surprised and gave them a ton of ammunition to roast him.
Naturally, fans online felt Orlovsky probably should have kept that one to himself, and now legendary NFL defensive end J.J. Watt has chimed in as well.
It all started when Orlovsky recalled asking Paul Hembekides a question about percentages while preparing to discuss Joe Burrow's sack rate.
When Hembekides told Orlovsky that Burrow had a 4% sack rate, the former QB didn't know what that meant and said that no viewer would be able to understand it. Hembekides explained that Burrow was getting sacked four times for every 100 dropbacks, and Orlovsky was surprised to learn that this was how percentages worked.
"Okay, so Hembo this morning was like, 'Joe Burrow, his sack rate is 4%.' And I said, 'Dumb this down for me. No human's going to hear me say that and I'm going to make them smarter… What does that actually mean?' He goes, 'Well, out of every 100 dropbacks, he's getting sacked four times.' And I said, 'Is that really what it is? Like, it's always out of 100?'" Orlovsky recalled asking .
McAfee and Co. roasted Orlovsky in the moment, and later circled back to that moment during a conversation with Watt, who shared his own reaction.
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"I can't believe he said it. My favorite tweet was, 'Couldn't waterboard this information out of me.' I agree," Watt said.
McAfee agreed, saying he'd seen the same fan comment and that it "made me laugh pretty good."
McAfee then addressed the debate that had erupted online, with some people arguing that the show had talked over Orlovsky and that his point made sense in context.
"If you're in a position of authority and I have the answers and you don't, every once in a while, I don't think you should let out that you guys all know something that I don't know," McAfee said. "But there were people going to bat for Dan, saying, 'Hey, what he's saying makes sense if these [expletive] at 'The Pat McAfee Show' didn't really talk over him.' And then it was nice to see everybody kill that guy too," McAfee said.
McAfee also explained that the incident showed why numbers and percentages sometimes need a little context to make sense.
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"We appreciate Dan O, though. We appreciate Dan O being the guy he is. And this is probably going to be a part of his entire bit now that he understands, like, yes, with some math equations, you have to add context to it. Like percentages, you have to add a little context. This is just like a baseline for everybody to compare to," McAfee said.
"Now Dan knows that. And for that, we're happy for Dan," McAfee concluded, clapping for their co-host.
Orlovsky spent 12 seasons as an NFL quarterback before moving into broadcasting and joining ESPN in 2018. Since then, he has become a regular presence across the network's football coverage, appearing on "NFL Live," "Get Up," "First Take," and "SportsCenter."
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
