Josh Freeman won’t be on the field on Sunday night when the Vikings play the Packers because of a concussion, but he feels confident that things will be better the next time he takes the field with the Minnesota offense.
Freeman was making his first start with the Vikings on Monday night and went 20-of-53 through the air to become the second quarterback since 1960 to throw 50 or more passes without gaining 200 yards. Freeman didn’t have long to prepare for the game with the Vikings offense, but said Friday that he thought nerves were the main reason for his poor performance.
“Looking back, maybe I was a little too fired up at first,” Freeman said, via Ben Goessling of ESPN.com. “There’s definitely a lot of correctable things, things that going into the game I would’ve banked on me being able to complete or get done on the field, but at the same time we weren’t able to do so, so I’m moving forward and just got to find a way to be better prepared.”
The Vikings were planning to start Freeman again this week before he was diagnosed with the concussion, so he’ll likely get another chance to show that nerves got the best of him against the Giants. How soon that chance comes could rely on how well Christian Ponder performs in his return to the starting job against the Packers.