It's a breakdown of the plays in the Vikings/Cardinals game where Ponder was pressured and ended up scrambling, being sacked, throwing the ball away, etc. It's not an analysis of every pass play. Some of those went well, some resulted in incompletions due to poor throws or drops and the rest are listed below. I did this breakdown while working, stopping to review the plays and take notes as they came up. Unless I missed one, there were no serious pressures, sacks or scrambles in the first quarter.I've done my best to give an honest assessment of each play and I've included a little conclusion about each play after the descriptions. Please forgive any typos.
Second quarter:
First pass of quarter: 2nd and 13 (the first INT)
Ponder fakes a handoff, drops, turns and when he goes to set, pressure is coming from the outside. Kalil directs his man back and left and Peterson picks up the blitz. All good. However, Johnson releases his man so there is pressure coming up the middle from the left and Ponder can't step up to throw. He rolls right, escapes the pressure, throws back across his body on the run and overthrows Rudolph, leading to an INT.
Conclusion: genuine pressure. Good idea to roll out, bad idea to throw because the throw is difficult and the risk outweighs the reward. Johnson and Ponder both blew it on this play.
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9:46
1st and 10 (AZ 21)
AZ blitzes Washington into the gap between Sullivan and Johnson. Blitz goes unblocked, Ponder sacked. Never had a chance.
Conclusion: the OL has to adjust and pick that blitz up. Gerhart had no chance to get to Washington.
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3:18
2nd and 4 (MN 9)
Ponder fakes handoff to Peterson, turns and sets. Johnson loses control of Campbell, releasing him into the backfield. Ponder can't step up because Fusco has been pushed into the backfield and Campbell is coming at him from the left. He rolls right and hits Peterson for a short gain.
Conclusion: Ponder made the best of a bad situation. Terrible job by Johnson.
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:50
1st and 10 (MN 13)
Ponder drops back. Interior line collapses. Ponder scrambles up the middle (to the left) for 2 yards.
Conclusion: Ponder made something out of nothing and had little choice on this play.
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:14
3rd and 8 (MN 15)
Ponder drops back. Blitz comes up the middle, directly in front of him. Gerhart picks it up. Ponder rolls left, never looking right (as far as I can tell) where he has Rudolph wide open in the flat. His intent seems to be to throw downfield but I can't see what's happening there and coaches film isn't available on NFL.com yet. Ponder rolls left, hesitates, gets hit as he releases the ball and throws his second pick.
Conclusion: Ponder definitely appeared to panic on this one. He had Rudolph open on his right but didn't seem to look that way. In his defense, there was a DB who may have been in position to make a pick if Ponder had thrown that way but it looks to me like he could have lofted the ball over that guy to Rudolph. Anyway, presumably in response to the pressure coming up the middle, he didn't look right, he went left, held the ball too long and turned it over. Definitely a bad play.
Third Quarter:
5:59
1st and 10 (MN 40)
Ponder drops back, sets, doesn't see anything he likes downfield (nobody is open in the TV shot—I can't see downfield). Eventually, he rolls to his right and throws the ball away (to a hilarious Bronx cheer from the crowd).
Conclusion: It's impossible to tell without seeing the receivers. If there was nothing there, he made the right choice.
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5:50
2nd and 10 (MN 40)
Ponder fakes a handoff, drops, sets (he hops a little) and doesn't immediately see anybody open (or at least open enough to immediately throw the ball). As that's happening, Kalil and Johnson both fail to contain Campbell, who nearly sacks Ponder. Ponder escapes, steps left, throws incomplete down the field to Harvin and takes a big hit right after releasing the ball.
Conclusion: Based on what was visible, this looks like another protection breakdown. There's little-to-no-room to step up into a pocket. Ponder does a nice job of escaping the sack and just can't connect with Harvin.
4th quarter:
14:05
1st and 10 (MN 9)
Ponder drops back, sets, and immediately has to move because the interior line has been pushed deep into the backfield. He runs up the middle (left) and gets back to the line of scrimmage.
Conclusion: Another poor job by the o-line. Ponder never had a chance to throw. I'm not sure why Musgrave wanted him to throw in that situation anyway.
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10:39
1st and 10 (MN 13)
Ponder fakes handoff, turns as he drops and immediately sees an unblocked Cardinals defender in his face. He throws toward Rudolph while backpedaling (no chance to set) and the pass is incomplete. It's not a good throw. It's behind the intended receiver.
Conclusion: Once again, a protection breakdown leads to a poor throw by Ponder.
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10:00
3rd and 5 (MN 18)
Ponder in the shotgun. Cardinals get pressure up the middle again. Ponder has nowhere to go and he is sacked in about 3 seconds. Nick Eason (sp?) beats Sullivan's block easily.
Conclusion: another case of poor pass protection and a breakdown in the middle.
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My assessment of Ponder's overall performance in the game is that he didn't play well (shocking, I know). He made some nice throws and did a good job of escaping from pressure but his accuracy wasn't great even when he had time and he didn't throw well when under pressure. There were a few plays that were difficult to assess because I couldn't see what was happening downfield and if I have time, I'll try to take another look at them later in the week when coaches film is available on NFL Game Rewind.
Overall, after looking at the plays again, my initial feelings about what happened were confirmed. Pressure allowed by the offensive line played a substantial role in the Vikings' poor passing performance against the Cardinals. Frankly, on passing plays in the second half, the OL was dominated by the Cardinals defense.
With the exception of the play that ended in Ponder's second INT, I didn't think the idea that he panics and runs from phantom pressure held up under scrutiny in this game. The notion that he should be able to just step up in the pocket instead of rolling away from pressure didn't either, as there were frequent breakdowns in the middle of the line and on a lot of the plays above, Ponder had no pocket into which he could step up and make a throw.
Simply put: Ponder didn't throw the ball well and the o-line had a terrible game. I'll withhold judgment on the receivers until I can see what was happening down the field.
interior oline a receiver are on my draft lists.
