Rookie quarterback Joshua Dobbs struggled in his NFL debut against the New York Giants, but will get another chance to impress coaches and fans when he starts against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Dobbs settled down toward the end of the first half and threw his first career touchdown pass to Cobi Hamilton just before halftime. He’ll look to improve on his debut in his second consecutive start against the Falcons.
Joshua Dobbs Looks to Improve in Second Career Start
ESPN reported that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would be sitting out against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday and backup quarterback Landry Jones is still nursing an abdominal injury. This means that Dobbs will once against start and be relieved by Bart Houston.
Roethlisberger told 93.7 The Fan, that during the game against the Giants, he reminded Dobbs of his own interceptions early in his career. Roethlisberger said he was impressed with how Dobbs bounced back though.
“He’ll continue to grow,” Roethlisberger said.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette interviewed head coach Mike Tomlin about the performances of his rookie players.
“I liked their demeanor,” Tomlin said of Dobbs and fellow rookie T.J. Watt. “They didn’t feel like it was too big for them.”
Looking Back
Dobbs looked rattled early against the Giants and was rushing his throws. He showed his running ability by extending plays though and ran for a first down on a crucial 3rd and five. Dobbs showed that he has a pretty nice deep ball. That is, except for his first interception, where he seemed to under-throw his receiver by a substantial margin. The play may have been misread by Dobbs or perhaps a result of miscommunication between Dobbs and the receiver, but it looked ugly.
Dobbs looked his best when using play-action and had a nice connection with Hamilton on a 2nd and 16 that went for a first down. His touchdown pass to Hamilton at the end of the first half was also the result of using play-action. Dobbs will surely benefit from a solid running game being able to set up the play-action for him.
Dobbs tended to throw a lot of high passes, preventing his receivers from gaining yards after the catch. Several of his completions could’ve went for more yards but the receivers had to focus on catching a high throw before being able to advance up the field. Dobbs played a lot better later on, but that was mostly against third string defenders.
Moving Forward
Dobbs needs to be more patient and not rush his throws. Early on against the Giants, it was obvious that Dobbs was rushing things and trying to get the ball out as quickly as possible. Whenever he took his time and read the field, he was much more effective as a passer.
Dobbs should continue to use play-action effectively. His most successful plays came off of play-action fakes and he seemed to be in more of a groove when he was faking to a running back. Perhaps the play-action is more familiar to Dobbs because of playing in a spread offense in college at Tennessee, but whatever the reason, it seems to work for him.
He’ll need to bring his passes down because high throws will lead to interceptions and punishing hits on defenseless receivers. The main thing for Dobbs to focus on though, is to not try to do too much. He needs to realize that it’s still just preseason and he’s still growing as an NFL quarterback. Dobbs will look to show why he was taken in the fourth round by the Steelers when he takes Heinz Field to challenge the Super Bowl runner-up Atlanta Falcons.
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