QB Josh Dobbs came off the bench for the Minnesota Vikings in Week Nine in the first quarter after QB Jaren Hall exited the game with a concussion. He passed for two touchdowns and rushed for another, including the game winning touchdown pass with 22 seconds remaining on the clock. He finished 20-for-30 passing for 158 yards and another 66 yards on the ground rushing.
Dobbs was drafted in the fourth round in 2017 by the Pittsburgh Steelers and spent two separate stints with the team from 2017-2019 and 2020-2021. He started the 2023 season as a member of the Arizona Cardinals and led them to a 1-7 record before being traded to the Vikings on October 31st. So just five days after joining the team, he led a game winning drive to move the Vikings to 5-4 on the season.
In his postgame press conference, Dobbs was asked about his mindset when he saw Hall go down.
“First it was, Jaren [Hall], get up. I hope he is okay,” Dobbs said. “But then it was…hey, if you are playing you gotta go out there and play. The team still expects you to go out and win and play good football. In this league, there’s never an excuse for your circumstance. I learned that from Coach T.”
So while its easy to write off some of the cliches and some of the “Tomlinisms” that get thrown around by Tomlin himself or parroted by his players, these things can really resonate with players. Dobbs credited Tomlin for giving him the mindset that he needed to go out and get the job done.
“I’ve been in similar situations backing up Ben (Roethlisberger) where he goes down, but he gets up and you’re okay. Your heart drops for a second, you’re warming up, but he comes back out there. But when they said it was your ball, my job was just go out there and… play good football. The same football I know how to do. I’ve been playing all year.”
