Eleven plays. 75 yards. One minute, 46 seconds.
The brilliance of Josh Dobbs on the game-winning drive Sunday in Atlanta was worthy of each and every headline he’s captured, but the drive was a collective performance that, without one elite play, the next wouldn’t have been possible.
It started with a run play to Alexander Mattison. Three yards and a cloud of dust later the clock ticked from 2:04 to the two-minute warning. The clock stopped and the Vikings were facing 2nd-and-7 – nothing new to an offense that struggled to inch the ball forward on nearly every first down of their 13 drives.
Second down: Dobbs hit star rookie receiver Jordan Addison for six yards. Dobbs hurried everyone and set up in shotgun, taking the snap with 1:38 to go before he threw to tight end T.J. Hockenson for five yards and a first down.
Nineteen seconds evaporated from the clock as Dobbs analyzed the defense while receiving instruction from head coach Kevin O’Connell in his headset. He took the shotgun snap with 1:19 to play and hurled the football near the right sideline where Addison leaped for the ball and got both feet down in bounds despite taking a big shot to the middle of his back.
Jordan Addison skies for the catch, gets both feet down inbounds, and holds on through contact. What a play in a huge moment. pic.twitter.com/UoRmPSqc9v
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) November 5, 2023
Those four plays moved the ball from the 25 to the Atlanta 37-yard line, with the play to Addison accounting for 24 of the 38 yards.
Officials reviewed the play to make sure Addison made the catch, giving everyone a chance to catch their breath with 72 seconds left on the clock.
First down. Dobbs threw a dime deep to Hockenson but Richie Grant made a tremendous play by punching the ball out of the tight end’s hands. Incomplete pass. Six seconds ticked off the clock, leaving the Vikings at 2nd-and-10 with 66 seconds to go.
Second down from the 37. Dobbs was pressured and was able to scramble out of bounds after a three-yard gain. It took ten seconds off the clock and set up 3rd-and-7 with 56 seconds remaining.
Dobbs’ third-down pass to Brandon Powell fell to the turf and that set the stage for a do-or-die play. Fourth-and-7 with 51 seconds to go and the Vikings were staring defeat in the face.
That’s when Dobbs took matters into his own hands – and feet – by slipping a sack and racing and bullying his way 22 yards before getting out of bounds at the 12-yard line. Dobbs evaded five defenders on the play.
.@josh_dobbs1 keeping it alive!
đź“ş: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/miSvn22meI
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) November 5, 2023
First down Vikings. More work to be done and time waning at 39 seconds.
First-and-10 from the 12. Dobbs passed incomplete to Trishton Jackson.
Thirty-three seconds to play. Second-and-10 from the 12. Dobbs fires a bullet over the middle that Hockenson hauls in despite taking a violent hit to his torso. It was arguably the toughest show of strength in the game because Hockenson took the forceful hit despite being banged up by a similar strike that had him holding his ribs in pain earlier in the game.
The Vikings stopped the clock at 27 seconds with a timeout and that allowed O’Connell and Dobbs to get on the same page for the game-winning play design – a play that Dobbs had never run in a practice much less a game.
After showing off his athleticism all day, the 28-year-old career backup stood tall in the pocket and delivered a strike to Powell in the front-left of the end zone for the winning score.
WHAT A MOMENT
đź“ş: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/2UNQtqRDd0
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) November 5, 2023
