Josh Dobbs isn't one to shrink from a challenge or fade in the face of a pressure-filled situation.  After all, the former quarterback of the Tennessee Volunteers led some incredible comebacks, including erasing a 21-0 deficit to beat the Florida Gators for the first time in 12 years and clipping the Bulldogs on a Hail Mary in Athens.  

However, Sunday provided a challenge on a totally different level for the veteran quarterback.  And, once again, Dobbs answered the bell.  

Having been traded from Arizona to Minnesota on Tuesday, Dobbs had basically no time to work with his teammates on offense in order to get to know even the basics.  Play calls.  Snap cadences.  Even some of their full names, which Dobbs even admitted after the game. 

"If we had to pull up a roster and had to go names, I would be a bad teammate today," Dobbs said. "I knew Alex (Mattison), I knew a lot of first names — Alex, Brandon (Powell). I know a lot of nicknames, per se, but yeah, name names, that's for this week. That's an assignment for this week.

He didn't get any first team reps in practice or even work with center Garrett Bradbury, as QB Jaren Hall drew the start.  Again, given the situation of Dobbs being a brand new face, that's understandable. 

But when Hall went down in the first quarter with a concussion, Dobbs, head coach Kevin O'Connell, and the Vikings' offensive players had to figure out how to make everything work.  That included a cram session with his offensive linemen while the defense was on the field so they got familiar with his cadence. 

Josh Dobbs was teaching the linemen his cadence on the sideline moments before going into the game.

Wild. pic.twitter.com/DOFATYXqZU

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) November 6, 2023

With the game tied at 3 and the Vikings with the ball on their own 5-yard line, Dobbs was sacked for a safety.  The Falcons would continue to add to their lead, going ahead 11-3 while Dobbs and the offense worked to get in unison. 

However, according to The Athletic's Alec Lewis, O'Connell was translating plays to Dobbs while the team was mid-huddle and the play clock running.  

Unbelievable. Josh Dobbs said that Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell was essentially translating calls and mapping out plays mid-huddle, as the play clock was ticking down. KOC called Dobbs’ ability to handle it all one of the most impressive things he’d seen in his career.

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) November 5, 2023

"It's like if you were taking Spanish all year and you showed up Wednesday and someone told you – you're taking AP Spanish – and someone told you that you have an AP French exam on Sunday, and you've got to go execute.  Someone's going to talk to you in Spanish and translate it to the French. 

"So that's kind of like what was going on out there. It was a lot of communication, but I'm able to process a lot of information and be able to react on it and not let it handcuff myself and my play.  So it was good.  It was good to be able to hear what he was saying as I'm processing what the defense is giving me and then go out and still play good football."

Talk about learning on the fly. 

But if there's one thing Dobbs has unequivocally, it's smarts.  And it was evident as the game went along that he started to pick up on the play calls and get more comfortable with both them and the players around him.  Dobbs capped off a 75-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard touchdown to Alexander Mattison to make the halftime score 11-10.  

In the second half, Dobbs led the Vikings on four scoring drives in seven possessions.  They included a weaving, highlight-reel 18-yard touchdown run by Dobbs to tie the game at 21 in the fourth quarter and a 6-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Powell with 22 seconds left to secure an improbable 31-28 win. 

Perhaps the most insane stat of all?  The Vikings committed just one penalty for four yards.  For a team that's on the road in a loud environment with a quarterback and offense learning to play together for the first time?  That's absolutely wild. 

Not a bad day's work for a guy who literally had to learn while on the field.  But what else would you expect from the sharpest guy to ever play at the University of Tennessee? 

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