Vikings Message Board.Com

The grade we gave Christian Ponder for his game vs SF was almost 3x higher than any previous single-game grade of Ponder's

Eli wrote:What's the deal with Walsh's kickoffs? Is his leg wearing out already? In camp and the preseason he was kicking them out of the back of the end zone. That kick to open the second half was fairly deep, but it was a line drive.

psjordan wrote:Wow. Not only wow for the Vikes performance but wow for the fan reactions.

Literally the ONLY fans who thought the Vikes would win this game are the fans that think the Vikes will win EVERY game. So poo-pooing any naysayers really just boils down to a matter of degree. EVERY rational fan was a naysayer before this game to some degree. Fans had a right to be more pessimistic than optimistic.

Now, as far as this game goes, I say get as deliriously giddy as your personality will allow. I like the unabashed "Ponder could be top 10" type talk. I also don't mind anyone claiming it was smoke and mirrors. Fans SHOULD be excited over this win, and I say have at it.

However, and you knew there was a however coming, some of the critical plays that allowed us to win this game fall in the category of "rarely repeatable" in my book. Ponder throwing across his body with both feet off the ground and hitting a perfect TD pass? Loved seeing him do it but if he can repeat it consistently you can forget top 10, he'd be the best of all time. His TD scamper? Fantastic! Not exactly the meat of anyone's playbook however. One handed TD pass receptions while another player is wide open? Alex Smith throwing an absolutely horrible ball for a critical INT? Getting away with three fumbles in the 4th qtr of a tight game? Hmmm.

I know this is how games are played and won, but there are plays that make you feel your team has a solid core built to win in any conditions and then there are plays where you say "holy guacamole, I need to see the replay on that one!". The latter are a blast to watch if they go in your favor but they don't do much for my faith in consistent wins.

All in all I was thrilled with the win. The game was a blast to watch. And for me the absolute best best best part of this game was that I could see the Vikings players truly felt they could win this game. That seems a HUGE step forward. And this game certainly made every Vikes fan yell at the TV at some point, I guarantee it, and that is what investing time and emotion into a team is all about.

For me the game was a great data point, which may or may not be succeeded by further great data points. Early line says we are a 7.5 dog to the Lions (don't know if that will hinge on Stafford's injury), so obviously the rest of the world has not caught Purple Fever just yet.

We have a LOT of things to work on to become consistently good play-to-play and drive-to-drive. Can we play like this again? I don't know – some of those magical plays typically do not work out in successive games. But I can sure hope.

So for now I am as giddy as the rest of you!

J. Kapp 11 wrote:Maybe Ponder throwing on the run backpedaling to his left isn't repeatable. But good decision making is repeatable, and he made a good choice on that play and almost every play during the course of this game. And he did it against what is supposed to be the NFC's best, a team that took out Green Bay at Lambeau. That's where my optimism comes from. Will those crazy plays ALWAYS work? Absolutely not. But if Ponder keeps making good decisions, he'll keep us in a lot of ballgames.

Mothman wrote: Agreed... and backpedaling and throwing on the run successfully is repeatable. It's fundamentally sound and it won't work every time but what Ponder did on that play involved skill and it was skill he showed at other points in the game too. He put great touch on that pass and he did the same thing on a pass to Gerhart that was thrown while Ponder was on the run.

Youngb wrote:I'm from over in Niner territory and made an account to just come by and say you guys played a great game.

Ponder played lights out. The stat sheet doesn't tell the whole story, but when it seemed like we got him... he would just sneak out and get away somehow and run for a first or pass it. I was getting so frustrated, not gonna lie lol.

Our D stacked up the line early to prevent the run and dared Ponder to beat us. Well he did, and then when adjustments were made to slow him down you guys started to run the ball more and were effective at it.

We came out passing a lot, which I didn't understand. We had success running the ball, but we didn't do it often which confused me.

Overall, great game. The Zebras were atrocious and honestly, I'm glad it didn't effect the outcome because you guys beat us in all facets of the game (minus kick returns).

GL on the Rest of the season.

-YB-

PurpleJarl wrote:Greetings! Long time lurker first time poster. I just wanted to say I've been a Vikings fan for a really long time and have always appreciated the good conversation and points that have come out of this site! I am excited about this year and see good things from ponder, mostly deriving from his intelligence, Looking forward to seeing some good back and forth.

Sláinte

S197 wrote:I have to say, the 49er fans have been by far the most cordial we've had over here in a long long time. Goodluck with the rest of your season.