When playing in the NFL, you have to have a short memory, but a long recall. That is to say, you need to learn from your mistakes, but you must also forget about them in order to move on. That applies to every position in the game, but it’s perhaps most crucial for the quarterback position, something both of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ young quarterbacks had to come to terms with last night when each of their first passes were intercepted for scores.
Joshua Dobbs opened up the second half for the Steelers. After a running play, he took to the air, only to see his pass intercepted and returned in an area and a manner not dissimilar to what rookie Mason Rudolph faced. But both of them were able to respond from those rough starts to have a more balanced showing.
“Definitely”, Dobbs said when asked if he felt as though he responded well from the interception. “You go down there and score two touchdowns and move the ball up and down the field, I think we had 28 second-half points, so I do”.
It was actually 21 second-half points, but who’s counting? It’s the preseason, after all. And the second-year quarterback connected twice in the end zone with rookie wide receiver James Washington, even if the latter did 90 percent of the work on those plays. Jaylen Samuels also recorded a one-yard touchdown run.
“Obviously I wish that didn’t happen on the first play, the guy made a heck of a play, but we were able to respond as a unit”, Dobbs said of the interception. “Guys didn’t get flustered and we were able to move the ball throughout the second half”.
The Steelers did actually outscore the Packers in the second half, 21-17, even though they lost the game by a score of 51-34. Without the pair of pick sixes, the score would have been 37-34. But you can’t focus on the turnovers. That is the key to moving on.
“The other team doesn’t care”, Dobbs said. “They want you to throw another one, so yeah. The team is looking to you at the quarterback position because the ball runs through you, so you have to be able to respond, whether it’s a good or bad play. The last play never has an effect on the next play. As long as you have the right mindset, then you can move on and take advantage of the opportunity, and that’s what I was able to do”.
While the Tennessee product still have a lot of work to do on the field in order to resemble something like a finished product, he has never been questioned with respect to his intelligence or his leadership qualities. His comments here clearly reflect the reality that his head is in the right place, which is a good starting point for any sort of improvement.
