Delaqure wrote:Well, I am wishy washy on Ponder. I was on the bandwagon before I was off it. I'm a little hesitant to jump back on. I fully acknowledge that he played well down the stretch and he seemed to get much better. It's that fall in the middle of the season that has me concerned. Now I do know (and have stated so many times) that poor receivers and poor protection has added to his difficulties. No doubt about it. However I really wish I had more of his work to judge him on.
As others have said it seems when he has the time to throw and gets his mechanics right he does a much better job. I am withholding complete judgement on him until next year. If we can address the receiver issues and keep improving his protection I think we will be better able to judge his abilities.
I think Fran is right on here.
I'm at the point where I just want to continue seeing improvement from Ponder and hopefully, see what he can do with more talent around him. I think the talent on offense this season contributed more to his slump than some people realize and one of the reasons he pulled out of it was because there were adjustments and improvements around him. He got a better handle on his decision-making too but I think he was pressing for a while mid-season, trying to force things to happen when positive plays just weren't coming often enough within the normal flow of the offense.
Most of his problems this year seemed to me like a normal part of the growth cycle (sorry if that sounds pretentious) of a young quarterback. They certainly weren't atypical. What Ponder needs to do now is work on his fundamentals until they become second nature, continue making smart decisions as he did during most of that final stretch of the season and work with his receivers to improve chemistry. Of course, that last bit will have to wait until he knows exactly who his receivers will be in 2013.
What the Vikings need to do is make sure they put Ponder in position to succeed. That means they can't have a 3 or 4 game stretch where they get dominated by blitzing defenses as they did this season. They must field a receiving corps that can effectively challenge defenses at all levels of the field and adapt the playcalling to make that happen. Then, of course, Ponder has to deliver. At times, he's shown he has the ability to throw the intermediate and deep ball effectively so if they provide him with the weapons to make that work, he needs to be mechanically sound and consistently make those throws the way he's capable of making them.
It sounds like a lot and it is but this is how good passing games are developed. It's about personnel first, then strategy and chemistry. One of the reasons GB has such a terrific passing game is because Rodgers and his receiving corps have been together for years. They're not only talented, they have fantastic chemistry together and that comes from familiarity and experience.
Hopefully, Ponder will come out next season and take another step forward in his development, a bigger step.
Watching the other playoff QB's this past weekend, you could clearly see what we are missing with Ponder. Without even mentioning Rodgers' cannon, look at Russell Wilson, RGIII, Schaub, Flacco, Luck... only Andy Dalton has a similarly suspect arm.
