Film study: Dobbs' athleticism and arm on display in stunning win

Josh Dobbs' IQ is often mentioned but he flashed impressive physical skills in Vikings' victory over Falcons

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By Matthew Coller

Even after we have had a few days to process what happened on Sunday between the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons, it still seems unfathomable that a quarterback could show up in the middle of the week and lead a comeback road victory to give his team a shot at making a run to the postseason.

There has been much attention on the way that Kevin O’Connell was able to coach new QB Josh Dobbs through the plays but what was unusual for a former fourth-round pick with only a handful of career starts was the display of athleticism and arm talent that Dobbs put on against the Falcons. Let’s have a look at a few throws and scrambles (and sometimes both) that showed everything he is physically capable of doing…

We start out post-cataclysmic start when Dobbs begins to find his rhythm.

Before the half Dobbs was staring at third down on the edge of field goal range when O’Connell showed enough trust in him to dial up a play with a downfield element. To Dobbs’ left, TJ Hockenson and Jordan Addison run a concept that is often referred to as “smash” where one player runs a short route and the other goes over the top with a corner route. Hockenson runs an in-breaking route and the cornerback comes along with him and the nickel stays underneath, shifting Dobbs’ attention to the deep corner, which is only covered by the safety.

From the opposite hash, he delivers a strike to Addison that travels 30 yards in the air on a rope. He needed to get the ball to a location that would keep Addison’s momentum moving away from the safety without running him out of bounds and he did just that.

The location and velocity are notable along with the efficiency. Dobbs squared himself to the target, hitched and fired.

A few plays later Dobbs pulled off a run that may be the most memorable play of the game. The Falcons sent a blitz that nearly caught Dobbs in the backfield but instead he escaped the free rusher’s attempt to bring him down and then hopped over another Falcon and dove to get the first down. It isn’t just his speed but balance and instant reaction to turn on the jets as soon as he realized there was no time to get the ball out before the rush got there.

Take note of RB Cam Akers’ block on Atlanta’s defensive tackle as Dobbs is racing toward the marker. That is the type of physical play the Vikings will be missing without him for the rest of the year.

Following a fumble to start the second half, Dobbs needed something to get rolling again and he found Hockenson to do just that — and what a rumble it was. The veteran tight end ran an out-breaking route and Dobbs hit him on time, threading the ball over the linebacker who was in close coverage. Hockenson did the rest by breaking tackles and pushing forward for 29 yards.

Later in the drive Dobbs had the Vikings in the red zone and gave his receiver an opportunity to score a touchdown with a bullet that he delivered with anticipation.

Staring down a blitz that left one Falcon defender completely unblocked, Dobbs looked in the vacated area and saw only one receiver to that side. Trishton Jackson created just enough room from the cornerback for Dobbs to throw a seed into a place where only he could catch it. Unfortunately, Jackson felt the safety coming over and wasn’t able to bring the ball in but it was one of the QB’s best throws of the day.

As the game went on, Dobbs started to draw the attention of the defense with his speed. Against a three-man rush, he couldn’t find anywhere to go with the ball, so he pulled it down and pulled out as the defensive end was starting to win around the edge. As he was on the move, the Atlanta linebacker was put in a bind of whether to cover Hockenson or chase after the QB. When Dobbs saw that the LB left his tight end, he dropped the ball off for an easy completion and first down.

If you look closely at the bottom of the picture, receiver Brandon Powell’s man completely leaves him to respect Dobbs’ running ability and would have walked in for a touchdown had Dobbs spotted him (though he probably made the smarter play getting the first down to Hock).

After Dobbs ran for a touchdown the Vikings were in need of a two-point conversion and Dobbs again found himself unable to hit the first read because of Atlanta’s coverage so he made something out of nothing. He appeared to be looking to his left for the receiver coming across the back of the end zone but Atlanta had a defender in the middle of the field. With Calais Campbell coming around the edge Dobbs kept moving until he found enough space to fit the ball into Jackson.

On this play, Jackson did a good job reading Dobbs and moving with the quarterback to give him a place to put the ball.

On the final drive of the game, Dobbs needed an A+ throw and run in order to bring home the win.

There aren’t too many games where a backup quarterback enters and makes a deep sideline throw between the corner and safety playing cover-2. Dobbs read the safety playing more inside toward Hockenson and went for the shot to Addison. He took a big step up in the pocket and put everything behind the ball, which was a little higher than he might have intended but it turned out to be in a place where Addison could make a first-round-receiver type catch with the Cris Carter toe tap.