Gardner Minshew pulls a Dan Orlovsky in embarrassing safety, leads Colts to OT win over Ravens

Gardner Minshew made the one mistake that no quarterback wants to make.

He pulled a Dan Orlovsky.

Minshew, in the fourth quarter of the Indianapolis Colts’ 22-19 overtime win against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon, stepped out of the back of the end zone while dropping back to pass.

That resulted in a safety for the Ravens, and put Baltimore up 19-16.

The “Orlovsky,” of course, stems from the former Detroit Lions quarterback’s error during their 0-16 season in 2008. Orlovsky took a snap and rolled out to the right before taking several steps out of the back of the end zone, something he didn’t realize. The blooper, like Mark Sanchez’s butt fumble and several others, is an NFL classic.

Even though it’s happened since then — former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo fell victim to it last season — and it’s sure to happen again in the future, the mistake always gets tied back to Orlovsky.

But Orlovsky is embracing it fully. In his eyes, he’s now “off the hook!”

Minshew’s blunder didn’t end up costing the Colts the loss directly as it seemed it would. They mounted a six-play drive on their next possession to set up a 53-yard field goal from Matt Gay, which tied the game up with less than a minute to go and forced overtime.

Then, after much of nothing in the extra period, Gay hit another 53-yard field goal with just more than a minute left in overtime to seal the win for the Colts.

Minshew was starting in place of rookie starter Anthony Richardson. Richardson went down last week with a concussion, and has been in protocols all week. Minshew went 27-of-44 for 227 yards and a touchdown pass in the win, which he threw to Zach Moss in the second quarter. Moss finished with 122 rushing yards on 30 carries, and had two catches for 23 receiving yards.

The win marked the second straight for the Colts, who beat the Houston Texans 31-20 last week.

Lamar Jackson went 22-of-31 for 202 yards in the loss for the Ravens. He was the team's leading rusher, too, with 101 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Gus Edwards had another 51 rushing yards on 11 carries. The loss was Baltimore's first this season.