Super Bowl-winning quarterback Kurt Warner has taken to social media to defend Vikings quarterback Josh Dobbs after Minnesota announced Tuesday that he would be benched for Nick Mullens, who replaced him in a 3-0 win at Las Vegas on Sunday.
“Just watched (Vikings) tape & I feel for (Dobbs) being benched… so important to watch each play & not just see the results… I feel he played well, dropped passes all over, some things didn’t work & of (course) missed some, but far from a “benching” performance IMO!” Warner posted on Wednesday to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
According to Pro Football Focus, Vikings receivers dropped six passes during Sunday’s game; K.J. Osborn dropped two, and Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor and Alexander Mattison each dropped one apiece.
As the Vikings offense struggled to move the ball throughout Sunday’s game, coach Kevin O’Connell eventually turned to Mullens for a spark, and he provided enough of one to lead Minnesota on its only scoring drive of the contest.
Dobbs completed just 10 of his 23 passes (43.5%) for 63 yards, but was pressured on 15 of his 33 drop backs, according to Pro Football Focus, and sacked five times.
Dobbs even received higher overall and passing grades from Pro Football Focus — 68.5 and 69.5, respectively, to Mullens’ 59.3 and 62.7.
But Mullens completed 9-of-13 passes (69.2%) for 83 yards after entering the game for Dobbs, averaging 6.4 yards per attempt to Dobbs’ 2.7 and led the game-winning drive. He was pressured on three of his 13 drop backs and didn’t take a sack.
His biggest advantage over Dobbs was his average time to throw; Mullens released the ball in 2.67 seconds while Dobbs on average held the ball for 3.40 seconds.
Responding to a comment under his post on X that disagreed with his assessment, Warner said that Mullens didn’t play any better than Dobbs, who “made good decisions & throws for the most part!”
Regardless of what Warner thinks, O’Connell evidently disagrees and decided to run with Mullens under center for Saturday’s game against the Bengals in Cincinnati.
Time will tell if it’s the right decision.
