Rocket Scientist Moonlights as Professional Quarterback Written 7 November 2023
In This Section
Forbes reports that Joshua Dobbs started a game at quarterback for a new team the same week he arrived. For his new team, he had to learn cadences including numbers, colors, and other codes all quarterbacks call out to communicate with his offensive teammates in order to effectively combat the defensive tactics and succeed in moving the ball down the field. His team, the Minnesota Vikings, “use five cadences to run hundreds of offensive plays, which takes days, weeks and even months for quarterbacks to learn cold.” A quarterback usually has months to learn this information specific to his team, but Dobbs was just traded to the Vikings on Tuesday, and the starter ahead of him was injured with a torn Achilles, forcing him into his first game for the team on Sunday. If one of his teammates or coaches yelled out to him, “Hey Josh, don’t worry, it’s not rocket science!” then that would have been appropriate, “because Dobbs studied aerospace engineering at the University of Tennessee and competed on the Engineers team at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design/Build/Fly competition while playing football.” Dobbs entered the game in the first quarter following his predecessor’s injury “and went 20-for-30 with 158 yards and two touchdowns, while scrambling for 66 yards on seven carries.” The Vikings won 31-28.
Full Story (Forbes)
Video
Josh Dobbs receives congratulations from coaches and teammates following his comeback win, days after being traded to the Minnesota Vikings
(Bleacher Report; YouTube)