When joining a new team, a player doesn’t need to know the whole playbook. He just needs to know the plays that will be used in the game to be played.
That’s what new Vikings quarterback Josh Dobbs knew on Sunday.
“Anything that was installed this week, I knew,” Dobbs told PFT by phone after Sunday’s 31-28 win. “Like I knew they have reps in it, but I knew it. I knew the concepts, the plays and everything. So anything on the call sheet. I told the coaches I’m good with everything and then from there like on the sideline it was learning situational calls and stuff like that. It could be called like two-minute like the last drive, there’s some calls that were on the call sheet but we talked about on the sidelines I was ready to go if they came up during the game.”
Part of the process included constant advice and direction via the headset from coach Kevin O’Connell.
“I was like, ‘Hey, if you call anything on the sheet, I have a pretty good grasp with it,’” Dobbs said. “And so obviously there’s communication from there about it, just in case, like, there’s a lot of plays on the call sheet. So just in case there was something that might have slipped my mind, but we were able to communicate it. My goal always no matter the circumstances like I don’t want to [mess] up the team if I’m out there, you know? I want to go out there and get the team a chance to win. I prepare like that. I put a lot of time and focus into it so that no matter what the circumstance is I’m ready to go and can give the team a chance to operate and win a game.”
When it came to getting familiar with the plays to be used in the game, Dobbs said he got help from the other quarterbacks on the roster — Sean Mannion and Nick Mullens. Dobbs also was assisted by quarterback coach Chris O’Hara, but getting Dobbs ready was a secondary concern. They had a rookie who would be starting his first NFL game.
“Obviously, they’re getting Jaren [Hall] ready to play, but Grant [Udinski], another coach in the QB room, I spent a lot of time with him,” Dobbs said. “I think we spent two and a half hours after practice on Friday going through the entire game plan talking about, you know, the plays, the calls, what I knew what was a little fuzzy in my mind, what for him not to call. Going through that with him definitely really helped.”
The time spent getting Dobbs ready was for emergency purposes only. There was no package of plays for Dobbs, in the event Hall was able to finish the game.
“I was only playing if something happened to Jaren,” Dobbs said.
Something happened on the first drive. That’s when Dobbs’s limited preparation sprang into action. And he ultimately did enough to get Minnesota its most unlikely win of the 2023 season.