Good Luck Ponder!

[schmitty3]

13 for 32 against the worst pass defense in the nfl. what exactly about that performance looked good?

i'll give him a shot and hope he learns. but, i'm not sure what everyone is so excited about?

btw, tebow's stat line yesterday is better than ponder's. yet he is getting mocked by the experts and people are drooling over ponder.

Are you joking? What isn't there to be excited about. For his first NFL start he did great. Look at how other of the top NFL qb's did in there first start. He kept his team in the game all 4 quarters against a team that has a good shot of going 16-0. You can't just look at a stat line and determine how a guy played. How about all the 3rd and long conversions he made? Mcnabb hasn't done anything like that all year. The thing im most excited about is how he opened up the defense a little. The couldn't stack the box with 9 guys every play. Ponder gives them some threat down the feild which opens it up for Peterson who had his best game of the year.

[FISHINGURU]

That a boy Ponder, exactly what I was hoping to see. The kid has talent, motivation, he's smart, and stayed pretty cool under pressure. He was making some real nice throws in big time moments, he almost led us to a come back off a defense that was giving us all sorts of looks.

Yeah he made some poor throws too but thats to be expected, he's a rookie, hasn't had much practice with the 1st team, has no WR's and no line.

That was at home, lets see how he responds coming off a loss and going on the road with the crowd noise.

Man I hope we have our new franchise QB we can build around, LETS GO PONDER!!

[B. Amish]

not joking, not smoking anything, and i am serious.

40% completion percentage. lots of overthrows. take away the big pass to start the game and he throws for about 150 yards total. no completions during the third quarter. two bonehead interceptions.

but if we don't look at any of that negative stuff, i agree, he looked awesome.

if he gets better, i'll be ready to be optimistic. but, not after one game. sheesh.

[Antero]

He looked like he knew what he was doing and has lots of potential. He will have some good moments and some bad. But the bottom line is the Vikes now have some hope with a young, mobile QB and they need him to play. The team and the fans will need to take the good with the bad as there will be some of each.

[james_walleye]

not joking, not smoking anything, and i am serious.

40% completion percentage. lots of overthrows. take away the big pass to start the game and he throws for about 150 yards total. no completions during the third quarter. two bonehead interceptions.

but if we don't look at any of that negative stuff, i agree, he looked awesome.

if he gets better, i'll be ready to be optimistic. but, not after one game. sheesh.

You and you alone must be right. Everyone, from us to experts are certainly wrong.

[B. Amish]

james, did you watch the game yet?

[B. Amish]

and what am i so wrong about? that i want to see more from him before i'm gushing with accolades?

[SkunkedAgain]

That's not wrong. Everyone is with you on wanting to see more, but I think most people have read your posts as saying that Ponder wasn't good when most people here are saying that was pretty good for a first start and pretty good based on the other QBs that have been starting for the Vikings lately. Surely everyone else wants to see more before proclaiming Ponder the savior.

[james_walleye]

james, did you watch the game yet?

Ya I did. No one is ignoring the negatives. When a qb makes his first start you know there will be bad. What you are hoping for is that its not all bad and this sure as heck wasn't. What did u expect to see? What did u need to see to call it a nice performance? An Aaron Rodgers line? Please. In just the parts I saw as the game was being played you could tell he has the right presence on the field. He didn't look like a deer in the headlights. He looked comfortable and looked like an NFL qb. It was a nice starting point to build off of.

[Jarrid Houston]

I gotta say, and I have said before, I am not a stat guy... Its better to look at the game sitiuations. Ponder worked well with what he had to work with. Would of helped to have Harvin in there. I can honestly say that you throw ponder in place of Rogers, and I see a better performance because of better recievers etc. For his 1st start, I am defin impressed. But I will not base his future off this one game. there is hope, but lets evaluate after some more games. I am just down hoping that this is our future QB for seasons to come! We out of all teams need it pretty badly! Go Ponder and Go Vikes!!!!!!!!!

[FISHINGURU]

Harvin would of been real nice to have playing, a play maker like that would only help Ponder.

We need a franchise QB something fierce, everyone in our division has one except us. We got the franchise RB though, but we need the QB.

[Dave S]

There is some good to come out of the "bad" stats from Ponder's performance. Above all IMO is he's willing to take chances that his receivers are going to go after the ball so he puts it out there for them (kind of Favre-like ). Yes some are poorly thrown but the kid is learning.

Compared to the guy he replaced....well it's tough to intercept a ball after it hits the ground.

[Jarrid Houston]

I like chance takers, and I hope he does go down the path of playing a little Favre like....except bringing us to where we all want to be would be better!!!

[FutbolGuru]

Ponder looked good. Accurate in the pocket, accurate on the move, fast, good pocket awarness, and made good decisions for the most part.

Only downside was the picks. The 1st pick was more of HOF'r chuck woodson making a play than it was a bad decision. The 2nd throw was an underestimation of chucks closing speed. He didn't miss his throw, he just threw it to the wrong location. Next time he won't drill that pass and instead will put more air under it. Side Note: as soon as percy was out the Packers started playing man coverage and we were screwed. All of our WRs are slower than all of their dbacks, aside from Percy. This is the #1 reason Ponder had a rough going at the beginning of the 2nd half. Good thing we have Shainco or it would have been worse.

At first glance, this kid has everything you want in an NFL QB other than the big arm. The big arm is far from a necessity though... instead of going after small fast WR's (desean jackson, mike wallace) we just need to go after the 6' 5" WR (plaxico buress, hakeem nicks)who will go up and get Ponder's deep ball.

Very excited after his debut and am excited to watch Cam v Ponder on Sunday!

[SkunkedAgain]

Well, Favre had two problems IMO in 2010:

1) He accomplished what he wanted to do in 2009...beat the Packers TWICE. He already won a Super Bowl in 1996 so when the Vikings boarded a plane and begged him to come back, he didn't have the same desire to play.

2) The Viking's O-line allow Favre to get pummeled repeatedly, and I don't care if you're a young David Carr or an old Brett Favre, but that takes its toll and sends you down a bad path.

There were other factors that contributed as well, such as not having Sidney Rice, but those were the two main reasons in my book. If the Vikings O-line comes together then Ponder should have a much better shot than Favre did.

[FISHINGURU]

I like the fact that Ponder showed he has a pair and went at Woodson a few times, even after throwing a couple int's to him he came right back and went at him again for a TD. Most rookie QB's would of tucked their tail the rest of the game and go for the check down.

[SkunkedAgain]

True, although Woodson had his hands on three other potential interceptions. I bet that most folks would have been a little more critical had Ponder thrown 5 INTs, all to the same dude!

[FISHINGURU]

Sounds like Woodson needs to learn how to catch better lol

[RiverFish]

Ponder looked good. Accurate in the pocket, accurate on the move, fast, good pocket awarness, and made good decisions for the most part.

He was 13 for 32 (40%) with 2 picks. Thats not accurate. I agree he did have good pocket awareness and coolness, but he was not accurate.

He has a lot of work to do.

[Steve Foss]

[He was 13 for 32 (40%) with 2 picks. Thats not accurate. I agree he did have good pocket awareness and coolness, but he was not accurate.

Completion percentage is not necessarily a direct reflection of accuracy. Quarterbacks can put the ball exactly where they want it time and time again, and receivers can drop it, dbacks can intercept it, etc. If he put the ball where he wanted it and a dback intercepted it, the QB used poor judgment but was accurate in his pass. If he put it where he wanted it right into the breadbasket of the receiver and the receiver dropped it, that was bad performance by the receiver, but it was still an accurate pass.

Likewise, a high completion rate isn't necessarily a testament to a QB's accuracy. If the receivers are all out studs, many an errant pass gets gathered in and caught. So a QB who isn't particularly accurate but has a great receiving corps would look much more accurate if all you consider is his completion percentage.

Stats don't always tell the whole story. Often, stats even tell the WRONG story.

[zepman]

I agree with that asessment Steve...Ponder also threw about 5 balls "away"

[Steve Foss]

Ponder also threw about 5 balls "away"

Good point!

Zep, your accuracy is astounding!

[LMITOUT]

If throwing balls away skews a QB's accuracy stats, then McNabb might be the most accurate passer of all time!

[Steve Foss]

If throwing balls away skews a QB's accuracy stats, then McNabb might be the most accurate passer of all time!

You mean he MEANT to throw it into the ground three yards short of the receiver? If so, he is indeed one helluvanaccurate passer! And he's got a great smile, too. I'd be smiling as well if I was cashing his checks for being incompetent.

[zepman]

Looking for a good "follow-up" game from the kid today...especially on the road. Hope we all see it. AP should have a great game which will help.

Watched USC V Stanford tonight...great game. Kallil(sp)...USC's left tackle, would look very nice in Purple next year. The guy is lean, mean, and aggressive. That has to be their pick if they finish the way they should.

One step at a time...