Shanahan expects Dobbs’ preparation to pay off in 49ers’ season finale originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan believes quarterback Joshua Dobbs will shine against his former Arizona Cardinals to end the 2024 NFL regular season.

Dobbs, of course, is San Francisco’s starter in place of Brock Purdy, who is recovering from a right elbow contusion with nerve inflammation suffered in the 49ers’ Week 17 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Shanahan outlined his trust in and expectations of Dobbs with Greg Papa on the latest edition of NBC Sports Bay Area’s “49ers Game Plan.”

“To be just how he always been when he comes in,” Shanahan told Papa of his expectations for Dobbs. “Josh prepares as well as any quarterback I’ve been around.

“I mean, [Week 17 vs. Detroit Lions] showed it right there; just to come in in that situation at the end of the game, I mean, no hesitation, he’s firing right away, knows exactly when to rip the ball, goes to the right spots and when something wasn’t there, he broke and got us a touchdown scrambling.”

Dobbs has had limited opportunities behind Purdy and 49ers backup quarterback Brandon Allen.

But Dobbs looked good against Detroit at the end of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” at Levi’s Stadium. He helped San Francisco’s 40-34 loss look neater, completing three of four passes for 35 yards with a seven-yard rushing touchdown after Purdy went down.

The “Passtronaut,” as Dobbs is called for his astronomical sidequests outside of football, should entertain the Faithful to end what’s been a long season for San Francisco. And that’s all Shanahan or anyone can ask for at this point.

“He’s been great all week running the show, getting used to some of the guys, the cadence and things like that,” Shanahan told Papa. “But that’s why we brought him here. When Josh has gotten into games, he gives his team a chance to win, and he did that for us on Monday when he got in, and I plan on him doing the same thing this Sunday.”

Dobbs hasn’t been able to show out too much for the 49ers — but he did flourish against them during the 2023 season with the same Cardinals he’ll face on Sunday at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium.

In Week 4 of the last campaign, against a San Francisco defense that reached Super Bowl LVIII, Dobbs completed 28 of 41 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns with 12 carries for 48 yards. That game — a 35-16 49ers victory — alone helped earn Dobbs a San Francisco contract this past offseason.

“Yeah it was [convincing],” Shanahan told Papa about Dobbs’ performance vs the 49ers. “We studied him that week and thought he was playing their offense very well, and he had only been there for like two weeks at the time; so, I thought that was really impressive.

“And then he carried that right over to our game. We were on that day on offense … but the way he was playing made me nervous [because] at any time if we wouldn’t have scored, we knew they were creeping on us.”

Dobbs’ 2023 season was quite impressive.

He started 12 games and appeared in 13 for two teams: the Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings. Dobbs finished with 2,464 yards, 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, all fair figures considering his mid-season change of scenery and on-the-fly prowess.

“He played at such a high level in that game and continued that throughout that year and did it for a couple of other teams too,” Shanahan reiterated to Papa. “So, when we had the chance to get him this summer, we were pumped to get him.”

Shanahan and the 49ers brought Dobbs to the Bay to have a reliable option in an emergency scenario. With Purdy out, the backup’s time has come.

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