Josh Dobbs' Next Task: Do It Again, This Time With More Preparation
Josh Dobbs authored one of the best stories of the entire NFL season last Sunday. Thrust into action in Atlanta just five days after being acquired by the Vikings, he led his new team to an improbable comeback victory through sheer playmaking ability and bravado amid unique circumstances.
His next task is to do it again. Except this time, he'll be a little more prepared.
Coming off Minnesota's euphoric win over the Falcons, Dobbs has a full week to get ready for his first start in a Vikings uniform, which will come at U.S. Bank Stadium against a 5-4 Saints team on Sunday. He's spending this week diving further into Kevin O'Connell's playbook, mastering another game plan, and actually learning all of his teammates' names.
"My study habits have to stay the same," Dobbs said. "I’m taking a lot of information from things that are going into the game plan but also trying to build upon the things we did last week and give our offense as many opportunities to be able to spread it out and give the defense an ideal look. I’ve gotta be on my Ps and Qs for not only what I’m doing, but also the looks I’m going to get from a very experienced defense. I’ll be studying my butt off this week to get ready for Sunday."
Dobbs' performance last week was nothing short of heroic. Facing a solid Falcons defense, he racked up over 200 total yards and three touchdowns — including the game-winning pass to Brandon Powell — in basically three quarters of action. With O'Connell mapping things out for him in his headset before each snap, Dobbs bounced back from a slow start to make big-time plays with both his arm and his legs in a thrilling victory.
Josh Dobbs' performance against the Falcons was the stuff of movies.
Now he'll try to replicate that success in an even tougher matchup. The Saints' defense ranks in the top ten in the league in yards allowed, points allowed, opponent EPA per play, and DVOA. Dennis Allen's group is loaded with smart, talented veterans like Cameron Jordan, Demario Davis, Tyrann Mathieu, and Marshon Lattimore.
"Each week, there’s storylines made," Dobbs said. "If you don’t show up and play (well) next week, then no one cares about last week. I’m excited for the next opportunity to go out and compete."
Last week was a whirlwind for Dobbs. After the Cardinals' loss to the Ravens in Week 8, he was initially told he'd be starting Arizona's next game against the Browns. Then he was told that rookie Clayton Tune would be starting that game, but that he wasn't going to be traded. Then he was, in fact, traded to the Vikings. That all happened in roughly 36 hours.
After arriving in Minnesota, Dobbs took a crash course in his new offense, cramming to prepare for the game like he was studying for an aerospace engineering final in college. He spent several extra hours with assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski after practice on Friday, going through every play that had been installed that week — just in case something happened to Hall and he had to play. That work paid off when he was thrust into action and delivered a comeback that will be talked about for years to come.
This week has been a little bit more normal. Dobbs is still living out of his suitcase in the Viking Lakes hotel near TCO Performance Center, but at least his car arrived from Arizona this week. He's still trying to make up for lost time in the playbook, but at least he has a full week to prepare this time.
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"It’s still keeping that same mindset," Dobbs said. "Trying to uncover every single stone. Basically doing a research project every single week to try to get up to speed on the offense and generate maybe some extra reps I would have missed from camp and OTAs and get on the same page with everyone to get the offense rolling in the right direction."
What made last Sunday's performance so incredible was that Dobbs barely knew the offense and barely knew his teammates, who he hadn't taken any reps with in practice. This week provided an opportunity to learn names and bank valuable reps across three days of practice.
What excited O'Connell was the opportunity to build an entire game plan off of Dobbs' specific skillset.
"There were some things that came up in the game where (with) reactions to a situation or how I wanted to go fast in certain times, you know, I just needed him to say the words and then I could explain what they meant after that," O'Connell said on Monday. "He handled that with a ton of grace and execution. Now we’ll kind of go back in and fill in some of those gaps and try to help him out a little bit more. ... He can just progress from here and just continue to stack one day at a time and get more and more comfortable with everything we’re asking of him. We can shape a game plan around what he does best, which are a lot of really good things."
The Vikings obviously miss Kirk Cousins, who was playing at an incredibly high level before tearing his Achilles in Green Bay a couple weeks ago. He had mastered O'Connell's offense in year two and has always provided extremely high-level processing ability and accuracy.
But if there's one thing Dobbs brings to the table that Cousins doesn't, it's the athleticism to make plays with his legs. His combination of size, strength, and speed makes him one of the best scrambling quarterbacks in the NFL. Dobbs had four scrambles of at least 11 yards against the Falcons, including a touchdown run and two huge conversions on third or fourth down. It's something he's been doing well all year, going back to his time with the Cardinals, and it brings an entirely new element to the Vikings' attack.
"I think defenses are going to have to make a decision," O'Connell told Paul Allen this week. "If they want to try to continue to provide outlets and help on coverages for some of the matchups that we have, especially when Justin (Jefferson) does come back, Josh is going to have some opportunities to change the game with his legs. And in doing so, we'll probably force some people to make the alternative decision of making sure they account for that, which will mean single coverage for people and we can go to work there."
The key for Dobbs will be finding the right balance of when to scramble versus when to hang in the pocket for a tick longer and let things develop downfield. The tape shows a couple instances against the Falcons where he might've taken off as a runner because he didn't trust what he was seeing, which is understandable in the context of that game. On Dobbs' early fumble that was nearly returned for a touchdown, he had K.J. Osborn open on a dig route before he tried to escape the pocket. On his impressive rushing touchdown in the third quarter, he had T.J. Hockenson wide open for a score.
As Dobbs grows more comfortable in the Vikings' offense, they'll want him to make those reads and deliver those throws because that's a more sustainable form of success. If he struggles to do that and can't replicate the magic of his Vikings debut, the team could consider going back to Hall once he's healthy.
"You definitely don’t want to coach (scrambling) out of guys that have the ability to do that, but as he gets more comfortable, maybe exhaust a few more progressions," O'Connell said. "He would probably be the first one to tell you that there were some things out there where maybe he could've got the ball out of his hands. The beauty of it was he was able to gain the same amount of yards, if not more, on a couple of those plays. I think there's a good balance of it."
In sports or in anything else, it can be difficult to follow up a spectacular debut. That's been the task for Dobbs this week: Put the Falcons game behind him, get more and more comfortable with his new team, and prepare like crazy to get the job done again this weekend.
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