Christian Ponder mid-season approval ratings

[Arma]

I agree. I wouldn't give him next season, he needs to show it this season or we move on. We are not an old team, but if we give next year to Ponder and conclude he's not the guy, then we start over and by the time that guy's ready to go, Adrian is very old by RB standards, Jared Allen and Kevin Williams are super old, Winfield is gone, etc. Our team is rising at a rapid to steady pace all across the board and the key is to get your team to peak at the same time as your QB.

Look at the Chargers. They had this loaded team just on the verge of blowing up and they dump a 25-27 year old Drew Brees for a young Phillip Rivers. While people waited 3-4 years for Rivers to really come into his own, the Chargers peak years were during that time. And when Rivers finally hit his peak Tomlinson was already washed up, Merrimen's steroids wore off, and now the Chargers are in free fall and Rivers looks like the old man, while Brees is still putting up monster numbers in New Orleans. My point is, you need your QB to peak at the same time as your team and it seems like our team is ready to hit their stride in the next year, and if we decide Ponder isn't the guy, if they replace him in 2013, our peaks should still line up. But waiting until 2014 is too risky in my eyes.

That's because the Chargers had some of the worst drafts ever coupled with terrible coaching/GM. If the Vikings keep up the solid drafts we really have no worries. Just because we lose KW, JA, AP doesn't mean we won't replace them with a Harrison Smith, Matt Kalil and Josh Robinson...

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Anyway I voted: He has issues and is learning but am confident he is still our guy for the future

I'm glad the 11 of you who voted "I've seen enough" aren't GMs, because you'd be terrible at it. Ponder is coming along like normal young QBs do. Great games and terrible games. If you are going to hyperbole his bad games, do the same to his games where he did great (see: Jags and 49ers). If that didn't give you hope for the future with this limited supporting cast...well....

Now if he performs like the past 3 games for the rest of the year; have at it.

[LA Viking]

For all the people who aint sold on Ponder this draft class at QB isn't that promising.

Barkley pulled a Jake Locker. He might still be #1 but he's not playing as good as last year. He'll be a Chief or Jaguar anyway most likely.
Geno Smith has came back to earth after his hot start.
Tyler Wilson's stock has dropped a lot from last year.
And the two guys draft experts hyped at the beginning of the year, Logan Thomas and Tyler Bray, have had bad years and would be stupid not to return to school in 2013.
Then you have EJ Manuel and Landry Jones, but they're 2nd-3rd round prospects.

Not saying none of these guys can't or won't be good but most, if not all are projects. There's no Luck, Griffin or Ryan in this class.


BTW, this is not a pro nor anti Ponder post.

Yeah, I have never been impressed with Barkley, and I watch the Pac-12 (Cal fan), and from the little I've seen of Geno Smith, I would not pick him in the top 15. But, we wouldn't draft a QB next yr unless something drastic happened to Ponder.

[PsyDanny]

For all the people who aint sold on Ponder this draft class at QB isn't that promising.

Barkley pulled a Jake Locker. He might still be #1 but he's not playing as good as last year. He'll be a Chief or Jaguar anyway most likely.
Geno Smith has came back to earth after his hot start.
Tyler Wilson's stock has dropped a lot from last year.
And the two guys draft experts hyped at the beginning of the year, Logan Thomas and Tyler Bray, have had bad years and would be stupid not to return to school in 2013.
Then you have EJ Manuel and Landry Jones, but they're 2nd-3rd round prospects.

Not saying none of these guys can't or won't be good but most, if not all are projects. There's no Luck, Griffin or Ryan in this class.


BTW, this is not a pro nor anti Ponder post.

Nope. But it is a reality check.

And, while we are at it, whom else would we have as QB, given our draft or free agency opportunities (including the draft where we obtained Ponder)?

To me, Ponder seems like the best shot we had at the time of his draft, and since that time, and perhaps through this upcoming draft and free agency. Again, reality, given that even our dismal 3-win season last year put us out of the "Suck for Luck" (or RGIII) game.

So, for now, we need to make the best of it, and hope that he pulls it together because it seems like it will be some time until we have any attractive options. It is what it is, and it looks like it will be what it will be. At least for the next year or so.

[Mothman]

Great read about Ponder:

Vikings' Christian Ponder can be fixed: The 70% Solution

Bob Sansevere asked Trent Dilfer, Brian Billick, Rich Gannon and former scout/current analyst Daniel Jeremiah to provide their take on Ponder and their comments are very interesting.

[Just Me]

Great read about Ponder:

Vikings' Christian Ponder can be fixed: The 70% Solution

Bob Sansevere asked Trent Dilfer, Brian Billick, Rich Gannon and former scout/current analyst Daniel Jeremiah to provide their take on Ponder and their comments are very interesting.

Great read. Thanks for posting. I think collectively, all the comentators have hit on the main items of discussion here on the board regarding his performance.

[Mothman]

Great read. Thanks for posting. I think collectively, all the comentators have hit on the main items of discussion here on the board regarding his performance.

I agree and although their opinions varied a little, they hit on quite a few of the same themes. I thought Dilfer's comments were very interesting and I was glad that Rich Gannon pointed out the need for a receiver other than Harvin to step up.

I think all of them mentioned situational football in one way or another. Ponder's not at his best against the blitz. Few QBs at his level of experience are and it's the most obvious area in which he and the players around him need to improve. The Vikes coaches obviously recognize this as well since they reportedly spent extra time on dealing with the blitz this week. Hopefully that will pay off today.

Overall, I found the article encouraging.

[LA Viking]

Great read about Ponder:

Vikings' Christian Ponder can be fixed: The 70% Solution

Bob Sansevere asked Trent Dilfer, Brian Billick, Rich Gannon and former scout/current analyst Daniel Jeremiah to provide their take on Ponder and their comments are very interesting.

Thanks, good read.

I think this is Ponder in a nutshell:

"His mistakes come when they take things away from the system, when they force

him to make a play. Blitzing, cluttered pockets, tight coverage throws, those are kind of the graduate-level things he has not done very well to this point.
"You can evolve if you're given the freedom to evolve and if you can change your mind-set. And Christian always has been a rather safe player. He's a very smart kid -- very, very smart. He sees the picture unfolding in front of him and he typically chooses the safe route because he's smart enough to get to the safe route. And I don't mean the passing route. It's the route to success.