Monday RE: action: Vikings Ponder Performance
By author
Where’ve you been all my life Christian Ponder?
I have maintained that some of the goal of playing Ponder was to see what we had in the young man. I liked the decision on many fronts. First, pitiful teams don’t put the booty in the beautiful blue seats. Backup QBs with promise, taken in the first round of the NFL draft, put Purple Nurples in the chairs. So from a business perspective…a win. Second, you had to see what you had. If Ponder looked like a deer in the headlights when the cameras were rolling and said first round QB is a distant relative of Ryan Leaf then that is a problem.
Because say, you stick with Purple #5 and your squad is in position to Suck for Luck. What do you do with that pick if you have an unknown commodity in Ponder sitting on your bench? It’s a dilemma for Speilman and Co. You had to play Ponder with the real bullets flying because if you’re going to be bad then you have to know what to do when the time comes to make a pick (on time I might add) in the NFL 2012 Draft. I think it’s clear we can go somewhere other than QB in 2012.
Thirdly, Donovan was awful. Quite frankly I’m disappointed in #5. I believed. I heard Donovan say that he was treated poorly in Washington. It was a raw deal. I heard him say he wanted to prove his haters wrong. Yeah! Prove ’em wrong right here in Minnesota! Throw that hook with the worm out there Donovan. I’ll bite. I did.
Now we hear the whispers that Donovan wasn’t putting in his time? He was doing in Minnesota what he did in Washington. Then the audacity to say he should “absolutely” still be the starter? What else can you say Donovan? You want to play next season too. #5 could’ve set up another couple years with large jack behind it (albeit in another city). But it’s over now. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Shame on you 5.
I digress. Ponder as a rook, a frosh, a noob gives you more of chance to do things offensively than Donovan. Even as the blocking breaks down CP7 presents the threat to run away from pressure and even get a few yards. Kind of reminds you of a Purple 7 from the late 90s. I’m not crowing him Mr. Cunningham’s twin but our boy Christian is faster then McNabb.
Seemingly after every press conference we heard Frazier talk about wanting to go deep. We had to pass it deep. McNabb, the career West Coast QB, could not bring himself to do it. My boy, Ponder likes to chuck that up. I’m not crowning him the second coming of Daunte but CP likes to look downfield.
Bottom line is CP7 makes you wonder what could’ve been. Sure he needed time to grasp the NFL game. Sure he needed time to grasp Musgrave’s offense. Sure he needed time to adjust to the speed of the NFL game. Sure he needed to know he’s not BMOC at Winter Park. But two weeks in it sure seems like there is something there. Has it been there since Week 1? We’ll never know. That said, the love is being poured out from the Viking Faithful unto Purple #7.
One tweet I read on Sunday said, “I love you cponder7.”
I think we all do.
Follow us on Twitter @thevikingage
Like us on Facebook!