Joshua Dobbs Shows NFL Isn’t Rocket Science

Playing football isn’t exactly rocket science. Or at least it isn’t to Joshua Dobbs.

Dobbs, who graduated from the University of Tennessee with a 4.0 grade-point average and an aerospace engineering degree, led the Minnesota Vikings to a 31-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday only days after joining the team. The 28-year-old quarterback hadn’t had much time to learn his teammates’ names, let alone the playbook, after being acquired from the Arizona Cardinals ahead of last week’s trade deadline.

But that didn’t seem to matter. When rookie QB Jaren Hall, starting in the absence of the injured Kirk Cousins, went down with a concussion in the first quarter, Dobbs was forced into action.

Dobbs rallied after taking a safety and losing two fumbles early in the game, finishing with 158 passing yards, 66 rushing yards, and three total touchdowns—including a game-winning six-yard toss to Brandon Powell with 22 seconds left.

“What he was able to do in really five days’ time was as impressive as I’ve seen a quarterback be able to do,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said of Dobbs.

And O’Connell wasn’t alone in praising the former fourth-round pick. Dobbs, who used to intern at NASA, received a shout-out from the agency on X, formerly Twitter. And the message came with a new nickname: the “Passtronaut.”

Dobbs undoubtedly had one of the standout performances from the league’s Week 9 slate. Here are some of the other winners and losers from around the NFL on Sunday.

NFL Winners From Week 9

Raiders Thriving After Firings: What a week for the Las Vegas Raiders. Only days after Head Coach Josh McDaniels, General Manager Dave Ziegler, and Offensive Coordinator Mick Lombardi were fired—and with a rookie QB taking over for starter Jimmy Garoppolo—the Raiders defeated the New York Giants, 30-6. Granted the Giants were without starting QB Daniel Jones for most of the game, but Las Vegas will take what it can get.

By halftime, the Raiders had already set a season-high in points. Las Vegas also surpassed the 100-yard rushing milestone for the first time this season and didn’t turn the ball over for the first time this year.

Stroud Having Elite Rookie Season: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback Baker Mayfield connected with Tight End Cade Otton for a go-ahead score with 46 seconds remaining against the Houston Texans on Sunday. But that was too much time to leave C.J. Stroud. The rookie out of Ohio State quickly led his team down the field and hit Tank Dell for a 15-yard touchdown, clinching a 39-37 Houston win.

Stroud’s last touchdown was his fifth of the day to go along with an NFL rookie-record 470 passing yards. This year’s No. 2 overall pick now has 14 passing touchdowns compared to only one interception across the first eight games of his rookie season.

“C.J. Stroud doesn’t look like a rookie to me,” Mayfield said after the game. “He’s so impressive, looks like a polished NFL quarterback. So, hats off to him. He played extremely, extremely well today.”

Entire AFC North: By the time NFL action ended on Sunday night, all four AFC North teams were in playoff position. The division-leading Baltimore Ravens dismantled the Seattle Seahawks in a 37-3 win. The Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and Cincinnati Bengals all also won and currently hold the three Wild Card spots in the conference.

Pittsburgh, oddly enough, has been outscored by 30 points this season despite being in the playoff picture. For comparison, Baltimore has outscored teams by 115 points.

NFL Losers From Week 9

Dolphins Fall Flat Again: The Miami Dolphins fell to 6-3 on the season with a 21-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Frankfurt, Germany. And a familiar trend showed up yet again. Miami is now 0-3, averaging 17 points per game, this season against teams with a winning record, as highlighted by NFL Media’s Cameron Wolfe. For comparison, the Dolphins are a perfect 6-0 and averaging 39 points against teams under .500.

So, are the Dolphins pretenders? Well, if they aren’t, the franchise has something to figure out before ending the regular season with a three-game stretch against the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, and Buffalo Bills.

Bonus tough look for the Dolphins: Tyreek Hill losing a fumble against his former team and seeing the Chiefs return it for a touchdown.

Patriots Reaching Old Lows: New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones threw a game-sealing interception with 30 seconds remaining in a 20-17 loss to the Washington Commanders. The Patriots (2-7) are now five games under .500 for the first time since Bill Belichick’s first season leading the franchise in 2000.

New England is now 0-5 in non-division games this season, the only team in the NFL without a win outside their division, per the Associated Press.

Dallas’ Disastrous Final Drive: One of the most anticipated matchups of Week 9 went down to the very last play. The Cowboys got the ball back with less than a minute to go and trailing by five points against the Philadelphia Eagles. But after three plays and three Philly penalties, Dallas was set up with first and goal on the Eagles’ six-yard line with 27 seconds remaining.

Nothing good happened for “America’s Team” after that. Coach Mike McCarthy isn’t exactly known for his game management, and the final sequence for Dallas made that clear. After reaching the six-yard line, Dallas: Was called for a false start, took a sack, threw an incompletion, took a delay of game, and threw a pass short of the end zone on the final play of the game. The Eagles won, 28-23, to improve to 8-1, while Dallas is now down to 5-3.

“We feel great about our team,” McCarthy said postgame. “We need to learn from these mistakes. That’s what these games come down to. You get into these types of games and even more so if you get into playoff football.”