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The Vikings and Joshua Dobbs took a big step against the Saints on Sunday. And it was a step that, unless you were on the Minnesota sideline (or had Connor Stalions on retainer the last two weeks), you couldn’t have possibly seen.
“Last week, when we were getting ready for the two-minute drill and different plays throughout the game, we were drawing them up on the sideline to make sure I knew them,” Dobbs told me late Sunday afternoon. “It was me asking questions. Literally, K.J. [Osborn] got hit, went down, and the QB coach, Chris [O’Hara], came on the field and he was drawing up a play they wanted to call, on the field, in an injury timeout, just to make sure I was good for it.
“This week, we were able to just play clean football. And not have any of the whiteboards on the sidelines.”
The Vikings, like Dobbs, took another big step in beating the Saints, 27–19. Now at 6–4 and with five straight wins under their belts, Kevin O’Connell’s tough, resilient and resourceful crew can finally, once and for all, let go of the idea that this was a throwaway year, even after the team shed the veterans it did in the offseason and even with the dead-money cap cleanout still taking place to set up the franchise’s future.
And maybe more than anything else, Dobbs’s story has become an illustration of how this group of Vikings is pulling every lever now to defend the NFC North title it won a year ago, in O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s first season. (They’re a game and a half back of the Lions as it stands.)
The reason that’s becoming more realistic? Well, the disappearance of that whiteboard symbolizes it, and the Vikings should continue to get better as the weather gets colder. Dobbs will get more comfortable. Justin Jefferson will, eventually, return. The younger guys in growing roles, such as Ty Chandler and Jordan Addison, should keep ascending.
And Sunday, with Dobbs in particular, you see these sorts of things happening in-game.
An electric second quarter that separated the Vikings from the Saints is proof of it: In those 15 minutes, Dobbs went 13-of-15 for 168 yards and a touchdown, and he rushed for another 32 yards and a score on four carries. As the offense started to coalesce around him, he went on touchdown drives of 75, 82 and 76 yards, while the defense held New Orleans to 26 yards and a single first down.
“Things definitely did click, man,” Dobbs says. “In the first quarter, first drive to go down, we start hot, we just don’t finish in the red zone. Which happens. Which was fine. Then, we go three-and-out. In the second quarter, my ability to be me but also guys around me to make plays really just showed up. The offense giving me time to be able to click through my progressions and then giving me opportunities and lanes to get out of the pocket was good. Guys were making plays down the field with big catches.
“Obviously, T.J. [Hockenson] had a huge day. Jordan Addison did a great job of being open all day. We have Jalen Nailor getting in there with his first start, gets his first catch. It’s just such a huge next-man-up mentality here where guys are just continuously making plays. And being the guy at the quarterback position, it’s great to have such a great cast around you.”
It showed up for Dobbs on Sunday. It was also there during the week.
