Under a week ago, former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Josh Dobbs was traded from the Arizona Cardinals to the Minnesota Vikings. He started eight games this season for the Cardinals and threw eight touchdowns passes for them, but Arizona struggled with a record of 1-7 during his starting tenure.
He was traded to the Vikings in the wake of QB Kirk Cousins’ season ending achilles injury. He was initially the backup with rookie QB Jaren Hall getting the starting nod on Sunday, but Hall suffered a concussion in the first quarter of the game.
So five days after joining the Vikings, in came Dobbs to lead their offense. The score was 3-3 when he took over and the Vikings went on to win the game 31-28. Dobbs led a game-winning drive and found WR Brandon Powell in the endzone for the touchdown to come from behind and win.
Dobbs threw the ball 30 times and completed 20 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns. He didn’t turn the ball over through the air, but did fumble three times, losing two of them. He ended the game with a passer rating of 101.8. He was a dual-threat in this game, rushing for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Dobbs also defeated all odds and beat the Dallas Cowboys earlier in the season in a period where the Cowboys looked unbeatable and the Cardinals were clearly struggling. Dobbs rarely found the opportunity to play as a member of the Steelers attempting just 17 total passes in Pittsburgh, but has had an action-packed 2023 season so far. With his performance today, and Hall’s status in question with a concussion, he just might get his ninth start of the season in Week Ten against the New Orleans Saints.
Dobbs was initially drafted in the fourth round of the 2017 draft out of the University of Tennessee by the Steelers and spent two different stints with the team from 2017 to 2018 and 2020 to 2021. He was respected by QB Ben Roethlisberger who leaned on him as a second pair of eyes on the sideline. It is easy to see why fans of the Steelers still root for Dobbs from afar.
In his postgame press conference, Dobbs credited Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin for his mentality coming in off the bench per Kevin Seifert of ESPN.
