In Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, the Minnesota Vikings scored a season-high 31 points. No, starting quarterback Kirk Cousins wasn’t playing. Neither was star receiver Justin Jefferson or stalwart left tackle Christian Darrisaw. That’s right, without three of their best players, the Vikings enjoyed what might have been the best performance of their 2023 season,
Why? We can attribute much of their success thanks to likable journeyman Josh Dobbs. Oh, right. Sorry. Let me correct that.
The Vikings enjoyed an impressive win with Dobbs, who, after a trade last Tuesday, hadn’t even been with the organization for a complete week. Phew. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this bizarre reality. Let’s unpack a few bonkers facts about Dobbs helping the Vikings to a win with almost no preparation in advance.
1
Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell gave live translations of play calls
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Because Dobbs had almost no time to really learn the Vikings’ playbook in less than a week, Kevin O’Connell resorted to drastic measures. He translated play calls to Dobbs over the Minnesota headset in the middle of the huddle. It’s incredible this even worked with roughly less than 60 seconds at a time:
Unbelievable. Josh Dobbs said that Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell was essentially translating calls and mapping out plays mid-huddle, as the play clock was ticking down. KOC called Dobbs’ ability to handle it all one of the most impressive things he’d seen in his career.
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) November 5, 2023
Dobbs himself had a wonderful high school analogy for the strategy:
Josh Dobbs on KOC helping him today:
"It's like if you were taking AP Spanish all year and you showed up on Wednesday and someone told you you have an AP French exam on Sunday. And you gotta go execute. Someone's gonna talk to you in Spanish and translate it to the French."
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) November 5, 2023
2
Dobbs took no reps with the Vikings' offense in practice and didn't even know some people's names
It’s one thing to jump into a live NFL game cold. It’s an entirely different challenge to do it when you haven’t even practiced and when you don’t even your teammates’ names. According to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, this happened to be the case for Dobbs against the Falcons:
Incredible stories from the Vikings' locker room today. Josh Dobbs didn't take a single rep with the offense in practice. No snaps from Garrett Bradbury. Had never thrown passes to anyone, and didn't know most of their full names. "That's for next week," he said.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) November 5, 2023
3
Dobbs hadn't learned the Vikings' offensive cadences until right before he entered the game
An offense’s main cadences are the foundation of their attacking strategy. Per Seifert again, after Jaren Hall got injured, Dobbs learned what the Vikings like to use on the sideline … for the first time ever. And right before he went into the game!
Good lord:
When it was time for Josh Dobbs to come into the game, the Vikings' offense huddled on the sideline and went through the team's 5 primary cadences, said RT Brian O'Neill. That was the first time he had gone through it with the rest of the offense.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) November 5, 2023
Here’s a video of what appears to be that sequence:
This is video of said event on the sideline, going through the cadence with the line, before Dobbs goes into the game. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/Ke3HDRKnSu
— Reggie Wilson (@ReggieWilsonTV) November 5, 2023
