‘I gave him a hug’: Brian Daboll leads quotes overheard in the NFL

Anthony Gharib, ESPNNov 7, 2023, 11:10 AM ET

The Minnesota Vikings‘ wild 31-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons served as one of the top games in Week 9 of the NFL season.

Minnesota’s second drive of the game ended with starting quarterback Jaren Hall injured, prompting Joshua Dobbs to go under center the rest of the way. Dobbs had spent only five days as a Viking, but he won the game after throwing a 6-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Powell with 22 ticks remaining.

The Minnesota quarterback leads our top quotes from around the NFL in Week 9:

After Kirk Cousins‘ season-ending injury the previous week, the Vikings traded for Dobbs at the deadline. He knew the names of only a handful of teammates before being thrown into the game in the first quarter, an experience Dobbs summarized simply:

“[Like] you’re taking AP Spanish and someone told you you have an AP French exam on Sunday and you got to go execute. Someone’s going to talk to you in Spanish and translate it to the French.”

The Texans running back was pressed into kicking duty when Houston kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn was unable to play in the second half because of a hamstring injury. After hitting a 29-yard field goal to put Houston up 33-30, Ogunbowale became the first non-kicker to hit a field goal in a regular-season game since Wes Welker in 2004. Ogunbowale credited his father for putting him in soccer before he played football:

“I really didn’t have time to be nervous. I never expected to be doing that, but the guys were riding with me and had my back.”

The Giants’ season took another spin with starting quarterback Daniel Jones‘ season-ending torn ACL. New York hasn’t been able to replicate its success from last season, which ended with an NFC divisional-round loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Daboll had a simple reaction to seeing Jones before the coach’s availability on Monday:

“I gave him a hug.”

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After a 1-3 start to the season, the Bengals have won four straight, including a 24-18 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

After starting the season with a calf injury, quarterback Joe Burrow looked healthy Sunday, throwing for a season-high 348 yards. He had a simple response about what he can do now that he couldn’t earlier in the year:

“Run, run!”

The matchup in Frankfurt, Germany, between the Chiefs and Miami Dolphins came down to the final drive. With 1:03 remaining and a chance to tie the game, Tua Tagovailoa missed an off-target snap on fourth down to give Kansas City its seventh win in eight weeks.

The Chiefs now enter the bye week atop the AFC. Mahomes, who threw for 185 yards and two touchdowns, seemed to enjoy his first game in Germany.

“Heck of an experience. The fans were amazing. The atmosphere was awesome.”

Starting Clayton Tune at quarterback, the Cardinals managed just 58 total yards in a 27-0 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

Arizona had the same number of turnovers (three) as passing first downs in an offensive struggle. Coach Jonathan Gannon had a simple assessment of the team’s performance:

“We couldn’t run it, we couldn’t throw, we couldn’t protect. A lot of things to get cleaned up.”