Comments on: Christian Ponder: I have to be smarter

By: Frazier28/7

Frazier28/7 — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:07:35 +0000

Maybe having Sage Rosenfels to talk to on the sidelines instead of Joe Webb would help.

By: waltmink

waltmink — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:37:22 +0000

Ponder is the only thing keeping the Vikings from post season. What a waste for AP, Harvin, the upgraded secondary, etc.

By: thesmedman

thesmedman — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 00:22:35 +0000

Betcha Samantha Steele will help Christian ponder on how to be smarter…

By: filthymcnasty1

filthymcnasty1 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 23:10:35 +0000

At least the Viking have drafted some very good players recently, which should ease the burden of Ponder’s bust status.

By: thetokyosandblaster

thetokyosandblaster — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:59:09 +0000

thankheavenfornumberseven says:
Oct 22, 2012 11:43 AM
At least the Vikings can win a game when their quarterback doesn’t play well. If Aaron Rodgers has a passer rating below 140, the Packers have no chance. The Vikings are building a team rather than a one-man show.

—-

Yeah, take away adrian peterson and the vikings probably have same record.

Put the drugs away, jr.

By: th56

th56 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:26:20 +0000

They stacked the box all night daring Ponder to throw. A good QB makes a team pay dearly for doing that. Ponder does not have that timing throw down that all the good QBs are capable of. He waits till they are wide open before he throws, unless of course he’s under pressure, then he forces it and gets an interception.
Even so, it’s not all Ponder, our OL rarely gave him even a second to setup.

And of course Musgrave needs to go. Run run pass punt gets pretty pathetic after a while.

By: pillowporkers

pillowporkers — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 20:01:11 +0000

I’m not going to say Ponder played great because he obviously didn’t. His 1st pick was a bad throw and his 2nd was a bad decision. However, this game was coached the exact same way it was against the Lions a few weeks back. We got up by 14, and the Vikes coaching staff decided that was insurmountable for the Cardinals. They proved right. Ponder was seeing massive pressure in the second half because the cardinals knew the Vikings wouldn’t throw the ball past 10 yards with that lead (which they were also correct), so they sent ridiculous amounts of men knowing they wouldn’t get beat over the top. This is a gameplan issue as much as a QB issue, even though I agree with the gameplan. It’s just the gameplan was going to end up with bad stats for Ponder. People who don’t understand football and don’t watch the game trash Ponder then. The only thing I wish they did was if you are going to go uber conservative, at least run on 1st down after adrian was averaging 8 yards a pop! 3 straight drives I saw a drop back on 1st down which resulted in heavy pressure/incompletion. Run for 5 yards, and then heavy pressure/incompletion on 3rd down. Why not get that run on 1st to give yourself some options on second down?

By: dsonashville28

dsonashville28 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:57:39 +0000

Ponder is taking ownership of his bad play, and people are bashing him for it? C’mon man! At least now he can do something about it since he knows there’s a problem. Give a guy a chance.

By: joeyashwi

joeyashwi — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:52:08 +0000

Ponder is terrible but you’re right about Musgrave. Third and short and he consistently keeps Peterson and Harvin off the field. That’s bad coaching. Can’t expect the defense to be out there for 35 minutes and only give up 14 points very often.

By: Carl Gerbschmidt

Carl Gerbschmidt — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:47:18 +0000

thankheavenfornumberseven says:Oct 22, 2012 11:43 AM

At least the Vikings can win a game when their quarterback doesn’t play well. If Aaron Rodgers has a passer rating below 140, the Packers have no chance. The Vikings are building a team rather than a one-man show.

—–

Ha. That’s the dumbest thing you’ve said since you promised a repeat championship by the Lynx.

By: onlineinsite

onlineinsite — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:30:52 +0000

So goes Musgrave, so goes Ponder. Musgrave called a great game against SF, and Ponder played it perfectly. The beginning of the game yesterday, Ponder looked fine. But when a good defense such as AZ starts to make adjustments, Musgrave doesn’t always adapt. They had all sorts of pressure on Ponder in the 2nd qtr onward. Why on earth was Ponder put in the position to fail when with 30 seconds left before half he’s instructed to make passes under intense pressure?! Just take a knee! And while yes, Ponder needs to get better at taking the sack or chucking it when a play breaks down, he needs to be put in a position to succeed. And too often Musgrave is calling bad plays, or, as against the Redskins, removing Harvin and Peterson from the game! Simply, if Ponder has time and the play call is decent, he’s a pretty darn good QB.

By: claymatthewshairplugs

claymatthewshairplugs — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:26:16 +0000

Ponder is a joke. 58 yards, more incompletions than completions. 1 in 5 of your receptions was pick. Ponder is nothing more than a game manager. The vikings suck.

By: thegreatgabbert

thegreatgabbert — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:03:47 +0000

LOL on Ponder “getting smarter”. You’re 25 years old, dude, that ship has sailed I’m afraid.

By: gergie1957

gergie1957 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:59:18 +0000

Good Win Vikings. I just have one question at the end of the half on the 17 yard line, with 20 seconds left, why did the Vikings call time out first and then call a pass play?

Take a knee get into the locker room.

By: thankheavenfornumberseven

thankheavenfornumberseven — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:43:10 +0000

By: purpleguy

purpleguy — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:13:07 +0000

Haven’t seen the game yet, but it sounds like Ponder stunk. I wonder how much is defenses figuring out the short pass/check-down offense we’re running, which lessens Ponder’s options. Even so, on the good side, we did only attempt 17 passes, AP looks strong, and our defense is back. Oh, and 7 games into the season, they’re 5-2, have won as many games as most expected to them to win all season, and are in second place in a division over the sexy pre-season Super Bowl pick Packers.

By: paviking28

paviking28 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:11:57 +0000

You’s act as if ponder doesn’t have a chance to grow. All of his mistakes occurred while he was under pressure. It’s not that he lacks the awareness or sharp reflexes, it’s that he lacks time and experience. Witch he is gaining game by game. Give the guy a break he shows great potential and sure as hell has some good legs under him witch never hurts agains blitzing teams like the pack..

By: joetoronto

joetoronto — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:03:49 +0000

You’re still at least 10 times better than Gabbert though, Christian.

By: thankheavenfornumberseven

thankheavenfornumberseven — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:56:02 +0000

Each of Ponder’s six interceptions has been brutal; none of the bad luck type. He has to make better decisions and throw the ball better and I believe he will. The whole team is developing this year so we have to take the bad with the good. It was nice that even though our passing game and our run defense were as terrible as I’ve seen recently, at no point during the game did I think we were in danger of losing. That’s pretty good progress from last year.

By: fground

fground — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:50:11 +0000

to a hammer everything looks like a nail

Ponder’s issues aren’t his lack of being smart – they are accuracy and instinctive play. Ponder by all accounts is a very intelligent individual in the IQ sense of intelligence. But football intelligence is a different thing. Ponder keeps going back to what he knows…I’m smart so I just have to be smarter. But that will not solve a basic problem he has…he simply isn’t accurate enough to play the position. And, he lacks the pocket instincts that all great passers have.

It’s better to be IQ smart than not as a QB, but it’s only a small portion of what it takes to be a QB in the NFL. Dan Marion reportedly scored a 13 on the Wonderlic – which would mean he is clearly of below average IQ, but he sure had football smarts.

By: thetokyosandblaster

thetokyosandblaster — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:32:57 +0000

Ponder then added “I also have to learn how to throw the football. Apparently it’s important.”

By: 7ransponder

7ransponder — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:17:43 +0000

I was at the game yesterday so I don’t know if this came across on TV, but in the 2Q when he finally threw the ball away like he was supposed to instead of forcing things in to coverage, the crowd cheered very loudly. Hope those kinds of things wake him up, because we know he is smart, he just needs to stop playing scared when things break down a bit.

By: tjacks7

tjacks7 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:59:19 +0000

The two picks he threw yesterday were absolutely terrible. He had no business throwing either ball and should have chucked it out of bounds.

But, some blame lies with OC Musgrave calling inconsistent and terrible plays.

By: tenotnamedmiller

tenotnamedmiller — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:53:41 +0000

“I’m trying to do too many things”
Better stick to those behind LOS chucks to Harvin.

By: fwippel

fwippel — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:49:53 +0000

He’s right. I’ll give Ponder this: the OL reeked yesterday, and every time he want back to pass, he had a defender in his face inside of two seconds.

However, that is no excuse for being careless with the ball. The second INT he threw right before the half was the worst decision he’s made all year. The play-calling didn’t help, but Ponder needs to get smarter with the ball.

I like his abilities, and he has brought his team back when they’ve trailed this year. However, if not for AP yesterday, the Vikings are 4-3 this morning. If he plays like that again on Thursday, you’ re going to start seeing fans seriously question whether he’s the long term answer at QB.

By: filthymcnasty1

filthymcnasty1 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:49:53 +0000

Now throwing 17 passes is trying to do too many things?

Percy Harvin is single-handedly bailing the Vikings out of a horrible QB situation.

By: cwhat32

cwhat32 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:43:53 +0000

Everybody was all over Ponder because the Vikings are winning, but now ppl are realizing he’s not a good QB.

These are games being won by AP and their Defense. 8/17 w/ 2 INTs, are you kidding?

By: skeetys

skeetys — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:43:46 +0000

He will be fine. Just have to get rid of the OC Musgrave. The guy is a fool.

By: Carl Gerbschmidt

Carl Gerbschmidt — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:42:34 +0000

You’re about to see a 10-1 defense from the Bucs. Better get smarter fast, Christian.

By: rooski443

rooski443 — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:39:54 +0000

As a die hard VIKES fan, I hate what I’ve seen the last few weeks from cp. He only throws it when somebody’s wide open. he doesn’t trust himself to throw a receiver open. He threw it downfield only once yesterday, which ended up a pass interferance. Thank God for our defense, Percy, and AP.