Josh Dobbs Wins 2 Awards — One of Them Slimy
Dustin Baker
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Josh Dobbs has encountered the best week imaginable.
Josh Dobbs Wins 2 Awards — One of Them Slimy
On Halloween, the Minnesota Vikings traded a 6th-Round draft pick to the Arizona Cardinals for quarterback Josh Dobbs and a 7th-Rounder. Five days later, the man heroically led the Vikings to victory on the road at the Atlanta Falcons.
Dobbs led the Vikings to an improbable but crucial road win, accounting for 3 touchdowns and looking like a Pro Bowler in the 2nd Half. He won Vikings fans’ hearts — perhaps eternally — and is on deck to start in Week 10 with rookie passer Jaren Hall in the concussion protocol.
And for his troubles, the journeyman passer took home the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Year award — appropriate recognition for a man who had just four days to learn a playbook.
But the accolades didn’t stop there. Dobbs also earned the Nickelodeon Valuable Player, or NVP, complete with vintage Nick slime. Vikings.com described the honor, “Instead of the player getting slimed, the second-year coach allows the player to dump the signature green ooze on O’Connell and position coaches. Dobbs was able to pour jars of slime on O’Connell, quarterbacks coach Chris O’Hara and assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski as teammates cheered him on after Wednesday’s walk-through.”
Here’s the video:
Dobbs said about the NVP, “It’s an honor to win the Nickelodeon Player of the Week for Week 9. I promise by the end of the week, I will know everyone’s name on this team. Looking forward to going to battle with you guys this season.”
The joke about teammates’ names was a nod to newcomer status. On the field last weekend, Dobbs didn’t know many of the Vikings players’ identities and listened to head coach Kevin O’Connell describe plays on the fly in his helmet speaker. The man quite literally was learning as he went.
All told in Atlanta, Dobbs completed 20 of 30 passes for 158 passing yards, plus 66 rushing yards, 3 total touchdowns, a few of fumbles, and a safety. The outing wasn’t spotless, but how would it be with limited preparation?
Dobbs’ masterclass performance earned a starter’s job this weekend, too. As a 2.5-point home underdog, Dobbs will lead the Vikings versus the New Orleans Saints this Sunday. In fact, the game marks the Vikings first meaningful regular season home game without Kirk Cousins in the huddle as QB1 since The Minneapolis Miracle game in the 2017 postseason. Of course, that game was against the Saints as well.
The occasion will be NVP’s 11th career start, as Sunday’s game wasn’t technically a start.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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