NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth was having a hard time containing himself Sunday night, just as the Broncos were having a hard time containing Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs.
Multiple times Collinsworth gushed about Dobbs' playmaking ability, even checking himself at one point because he was conscious of the danger of giving too much praise to Dobbs following an escape act and completion to T.J. Hockenson in the first half.
"I keep telling myself don't overhype Joshua Dobbs," Collinsworth said. "But he is just a rock in the pocket. He is not flinching at all. . . . (The Vikings) just look sharp, don't they?"
At that point, the Vikings led 7-3 and had outgained the Broncos 180-32. They seemed to be on the way to a 14-3 lead, but the drive stalled and they settled for a field goal.
Still, in the third quarter with the Vikings leading 10-9, Collinsworth couldn't quite check himself.
As he and play-by-play partner Mike Tirico talked about the first half, Collinsworth said of Dobbs' escape-and-throw TD pass in the first half, "When I first saw it, I almost screamed, 'Patrick Mahomes!' It was just like the one in Tampa a year ago. But then I said stop it, don't start comparing him to Patrick Mahomes. Don't do that. But you can't help yourself because there are flashes to those kinds of plays."
Later, after a series of first-half Dobbs highlights against pressure, Collinsworth alluded to the touchdown and comparison again.
"The escape, the strength and the flip for the touchdown pass," he said. "It looked like another quarterback from some other time in the past year."
