Vikings QB Joshua Dobbs to start vs. Saints after remarkable debut win days after trade
Joshua Dobbs was traded to the Vikings last week after Kirk Cousins’ Achilles injury
Not that this is much of a surprise considering how he performed in his debut with the franchise on Sunday, but the Minnesota Vikings are sticking with Joshua Dobbs.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell confirmed on Monday that Dobbs — who the Vikings traded for last week in the wake of Kirk Cousins’ Achilles injury — will start on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.
Dobbs entered the game Sunday after rookie Jaren Hall went down with a concussion in the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. He then threw for two touchdowns and ran in a third before leading the Vikings on a game-winning drive in the final two minutes to give them the 31-28 win.
So Dobbs will get the start on Sunday against the Saints and get to work with the first team throughout the week to prepare — something he had to do almost on the fly last week. Sean Mannion will likely serve as his backup with Hall in concussion protocol.
“I thought what he did was remarkable, but there's a lot of things that we’ll coach him through and get him a little bit more comfortable in what we do,” O’Connell said, via ESPN.
Dobbs landed in Minneapolis on Tuesday last week to join what is his fifth team in the last calendar year. He started the season with the Cardinals, who acquired him in a trade from the Cleveland Browns in late August. He started in place of the injured Kyler Murray, but was benched just before the trade deadline.
Dobbs also has brief stints as a backup for both the Lions and Titans late last season.
On Sunday, it took Dobbs a while to get going in Atlanta. He took a sack that resulted in a safety in just his third play and he fumbled the ball away twice. But Dobbs got the Vikings back within a single point before halftime after a 2-yard touchdown toss to Alexander Mattison, and then he tied the game up on a wild 18-yard run and subsequent two-point conversion.
To end the day, Dobbs mounted an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to give the Vikings the win. He finished throwing 20-of-30 for 158 yards, and had a team-high 66 rushing yards on seven carries. He did all of that without having taken a single snap with the first-team offense earlier in the week or even knowing the names of all his teammates.
"It's like if you were taking Spanish all year," Dobbs said of his quick adjustment in Minneapolis, via the Star Tribune. "You showed up on Wednesday and someone told you you're taking AP Spanish, and someone told you you have an AP French exam on Sunday. Someone's going to speak to you in Spanish and you're going to have to translate it into French."
Thankfully, Dobbs will now have a full week to prepare for his next AP French exam.
The Vikings have now won four straight and five of their last six games, which has them in second in the NFC North. They’ll host the Saints, who snuck out a win over the Chicago Bears last week, on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.
