“What’s up, everybody? My name is Josh Dobbs. I’m the quarterback for Minnesota. I wanted to introduce myself to everyone.”
That’s how new Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Dobbs started his post-game press conference after his team beat the Atlanta Falcons, 31-28 on Sunday. Not the way you expect any quarterback to start a presser, but in Dobbs’ case, he may have felt that an introduction was necessary. After Kirk Cousins suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in Week 8 against the Green Bay Packers, head coach Kevin O’Connell’s plan was to start fifth-round rookie Jalen Hall against Atlanta. But Hall was concussed early in the game, and Dobbs — who the Vikings traded for on Tuesday from the Arizona Cardinals — had to come in and try to get something done.
Dobbs isn’t the first quarterback to have to paly with a new team with very little ramp-up time, but what he was able to do against a generally game Falcons defense was truly exceptional. With less than a week to acclimate to his new offense, Dobbs didn’t have time to learn the Vikings’ cadences and protections. And it wasn’t as if the Vikings had any other options — running back Cam Akers, who was Minnesota’s emergency quarterback, suffered his own Achilles injury against the Falcons. O’Connell, who played for the 2008 New England Patriots and had six passing attempts, may have had to suit up if anything happened to Dobbs.
No practice? No problem 🚀@Vikings | @josh_dobbs1 pic.twitter.com/dVXv1PvJV7
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) November 6, 2023
And it wasn’t just Akers who was out. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw was inactive with a groin injury. Receiver Justin Jefferson was still out with his hamstring injury, and receiver K.J. Osborn suffered a concussion in the Falcons game, and tight end T.J. Hockenson was playing through a rib injury.
Dobbs could and would have been excused for a disastrous performance under the circumstances, and there were early moments in which it looked as if things would fall apart. But Dobbs did an amazing job of getting it together, assisted by O’Connell and his staff, and a 31-28 Vikings win was the result.
“To Josh’s credit, it wasn’t as much as you would probably imagine, but we did condense down and create some things that we knew he would be comfortable with,” O’Connell said, when asked how much he had to water down his playbook for the new guy. “And his dialogue with [quarterbacks coach] Chris [O’Hara] and [assistant to the head coach/special projects] Grant [Udinski] that maybe wasn’t up on his initial game plan, but we can trust our guys to go execute.
“The no-huddle allowed us to settle everybody down and let me talk to him and give him some coaching points on the fly. That’s why you have those things on your offense. Once again, none of that is possible if he can’t come in here and – snap counts and formations and knowing where guys go and where guys are going to be when the ball hits his hands. Not to mention we’re playing against what I believe to be one of the better defenses we’ve played all season at home in the noise. I hope people understand that what Josh Dobbs was able to accomplish was very, very special, and I’m really proud of him.”
Dobbs completed 20 of 30 passes for 158 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 101.8. But the stats aren’t the story here — let’s get to the tape, and how the Vikings pulled off this