Vikings Message Board.Com

Crax wrote: Yep, but to be fair, GB defense looked awful. Rodgers still put up just over 300 yards on what is/was considered one of the better defenses in the league. Most likely better than Jacksonville for sure.

Fair enough. I was still impressed by how 'clutch' Ponder performed today. Even Peterson was singing his praises.

80 PurplePride 84 wrote:Ponder looked like trash on the few throws he had in the 1st half. But the entire offense was bad too.

In the 2nd half he looked a lot better and gave me some hope. The tying-FG drive was nice. I was bracing for an INT or something.

I agree - but overall on the day he was 20 for 27 (plus he it the passes with 20 seconds left in the game when he absolutely had to). Not too shabby....

Just Me wrote:Rodgers lost today, right?

I got to watch his little brother lose Saturday night too! (he's the QB for Vandy, lost to my Wildcats)

glg wrote: I got to watch his little brother lose Saturday night too! (he's the QB for Vandy, lost to my Wildcats)

I watched that too. It was a good football weekend.

There were some that questioned whether or not Ponder had/has "it." While one games doesn't make that determination, it's nice to see Ponder deliver in a crucial situation and prove he can come back and lead the team, getting them into position for Walsh. That throw to Rudolph was a thing of beauty and he threaded quite a few in there. If there's some way to harness Second Half Ponder, I'll be very pleased. He still has a tendency to stare down receivers and doesn't have near the pocket presence I'd like (i.e. tucking instead of shifting and keeping his eyes downfield). Hopefully he'll continue to improve that. But his second half showing has me encouraged and I think this was exactly what he needed to get a shot of confidence that he CAN do this and he does have the ability (it wasn't like it was against a scrub defense). If Carlson can get 100% and Simpson returns things should get easier with more intermediate to long attempts (which should help losen things for Harvin and AD). I also hope Ponder regains some of that red zone magic that made him the most efficient signal caller inside the 20 last season.

Hey, remember when Ponder said he wanted to improve his first-down passing efficiency? According to @markcraignfl, Ponder was 11-for-13 for 155 yards on first down today. Pretty solid.

That play to Rudolph made me hard. I think Ponder is the real deal.

FWIW, I was watching at BWW and the sound was not on the Vikes game. So you just watch the plays without any " analysis" from someone else. IMO the whole team was feeding off of AD. He started to get into a groove, and the whole team picked up. You could see it at the end of the second quarter. In the beginning they were searching for what they were going to do. but, as soon as AD started to rip off yardage, it seemed to open up the playbook. I think Simpson coming back really could open a few doors for the offense.

On another note, the defense would be on par with the 98 Vikes. I think they have a good mix at LB and Robison was a madman out there. The secondary STILL SUCKS. I thought we had a head coach that was a secondary coach???? WTF??? They better get it solved.
OH, the 98 reference was to a defense that could play well as long as it was ahead. That is my assessment of this defense.

OOps forgot to talk about Ponder. I think he can play in clutch situations. The offense just needs to find it's identity, which is troubling because it should have by now. It's obvious it still revolves around AD to a huge degree. troubling.

Mcnabb, vince young should be ashamed of themselves. Ponder, cam newton, dalton, r wilson, luck, look like veterans.

I thought we had a head coach that was a secondary coach???? WTF???

And we just brought in an DC who was a secondary coach.

Seems like rookie qbs are much more prepared nowadays. rg3, flacco, dalton, luck, r wilson, ponder, etc...must be the technology and coaching. Its a passing league now, more complicated offenses.

Hunter Morrow wrote:That play to Rudolph made me hard. I think Ponder is the real deal.

Didn't quite make me hard, but that was a beautifully placed ball. I really like the chemistry they've built so far.

Harvin commented that Ponder seemed to settle down after that series of shorter throws to Harvin that led to the TD at the end of the 1st half. He implied that they wanted to give Ponder some plays where he could build his confidence, and I think that was exactly what happened.

Harvin really lit it up and made a lot happen himself off those throws, but Ponder did seem to settle in after that and was a completely different guy in the 2nd half. I for one was completely impressed by that 14-second drive to get into field goal range (wow!) and then the drive to open the overtime period was also outstanding. Just really nice pocket presence and nice touch to make it happen in what could easily have been a meltdown.

Well, he'll get a nice matchup against the Colts next week before we get to see how he does against what could be the league's best defense in the 49ers. If Ponder can move the ball against San Fran, I will be very impressed.

I did see a couple of plays where Ponder threw off balance ...

for the most part I would say he did a good job overall. I also agree that he should focus on Rudolf and Harvin Early
to build his confidence.

I am not impressed with Carlson much at all .. he did not seem to able to get open ...


Not to mention Wright did not play or Simpson because of the suspension

Fun stat: in a division where Ponder is the worst quarterback he assembled the highest QBR in week 1. Sure, you have to take opponents into account. Still. It's happy.

Christian Ponder
Passer Rating: 105.5
QBR: 66.9

Jay Cutler
Passer Rating: 98.9
QBR: 62.0

Aaron Rodgers
Passer Rating: 93.3
QBR: 55.1

Matthew Stafford
Passer Rating: 69.4
QBR: 51.2