Making of a Myth: The Josh Dobbs Game

The stories coming out of the locker room after the Minnesota Vikings win over the Atlanta Falcons are the stories that create legends.

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

The Minnesota Vikings 31-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons was in every sense a team victory – the defense forced turnovers at critical moments to produce good field position and was remarkably successful in the red zone and in scoring position – two of Atlanta’s scoring drives were negative yardage, while another two were under 40 yards.

On special teams, Ryan Wright was consistently successful and kicked with enough distance and hang time that there were no punt returns or touchbacks. Greg Joseph was perfect on field goals and there were no kickoff returns. Brandon Powell also produced a 24-yard punt return.

But the story of the game was about Joshua Dobbs, who entered the game after the Vikings’ second drive – one that ended with backup quarterback and rookie Jaren Hall, who started the game, sustaining a concussion at the one-yard line.

Five days after arriving in Minnesota as a new team member, the fourth quarterback on the roster managed to lead a fourth-quarter comeback – and he did it without the Vikings’ star receiver or left tackle. He did it without the Vikings’ third receiver or their second choice at left tackle. And partway through the game, their most productive running back went down, too.

And none of those limitations seemed to be the most amazing part of what he did. The stories that leaked out of the locker room after the game sound like tall tales – creating a legend that will persist through Vikings lore for some time.

What Does It Mean to Be a Quarterback

Sometimes, we’re treated to stories about the obsessive attention to detail we see from the game’s best quarterbacks. From Tom Brady blowing up at a receiver for running a route at 12 yards instead of 14 to Peyton Manning cursing out a running back for missing his blocking assignment, we’ve constructed an understanding of high-level football play as one characterized both by intense physicality and exacting nuance.

This is a well-earned reputation. Receivers lose their spot on the depth chart because of these kinds of mistakes. Quarterbacks throw interceptions when these things go awry. There is a timing and precision to football that can often stun observers.

Even backyard-style plays, like option routes that break every which way at different route depths based on coverage and alignment, require attention to detail – like the quarterback knowing the tell for when a route is going to break based on receiver technique.

Mike Shanahan’s 42 different tight end routes, each with yardage landmarks

In addition to the precise playbook, every team installs opponent-specific gameplans every week and changes their cadence and audibles to prevent teams from stealing their calls. With the on-field meticulousness comes a remarkably dense playbook, cloaked in code-word terminology that effectively operates as another language.

It’s not immediately clear what “Bunch Right Tare Slash 37 Weak F Kill Q8 Solid Z Speed Smash” means or what might distinguish it from “Gun Flex Right Stack 394 Dragon Smoke Kill Turbo Sucker Right” unless you’re steeped in football terminology. On top of that, every team has a different language for many of the same concepts, making rapid on-boarding next to impossible.

One teams’ angle route is another team’s Texas route is another team’s scorpion concept. Scissors might be razor might be Gillette. Semantic drift is part of the process – Kevin O’Connell brought a play called Rampage, named after the Rams mascot, to Minnesota – where he named it something Vikings-related instead.

Mike Martz’s adjustments for leverage and coverage for slant routes

It is the case that a lot of successful quarterbacks and offenses rely on improvisational play or feel, including Kansas City’s very successful version. But the base of it always starts with an understanding of the precision and reasoning behind the plays in the playbook.

Travis Kelce breaks a lot of route-running rules, but that’s because he knows the rulebook and which rules to break. And he knows Patrick Mahomes.

How Joshua Dobbs Made It Work