Souhan: Ownership got it right with coach and culture

[Mothman]

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikin ... 26712.html

In Frazier, they would employ a coach they respected as a person. A coach they trusted to represent their organization with class. A coach who commanded respect in the locker room. A coach who had worked with some of the best innovators in the game, from Andy Reid to Jim Johnson to Marvin Lewis to Tony Dungy.

What they didn't know about him is what no owner knows about any fledging head coach: whether he could handle scrutiny and survive intellectual duels with the best head coaches in the game.

A little more than two years after they elevated Frazier, and seven seasons after they acquired the franchise, the Wilfs have their coach, and the makings of the organization of their dreams.

They have one of the five youngest rosters in the league. In one season, they improved from 3-13 to 10-6 and made the playoffs. In the past season, they beat every team in the talented NFC North, as well as the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans.

Frazier and General Manager Rick Spielman have built a team that promises sustainable success, and an organization that is distancing itself from its sordid history and conducting itself with class.

He makes some good points in the column but he lost me with this one:

The cliché is wrong. It's not true that quarterbacks get too much credit when they win and too much blame when they lose. Quarterbacks get too little credit when they win and too little blame when they lose.

That's the same BS the media is constantly pushing and it's BS because it diminishes the circumstances that impact QB performance. Sure, bad decisions are bad decisions but defenses put a premium on players that can pressure QBs because pressure forces mistakes. Defensive tackles get drafted early not only because defenses want to stop the run but because a premium is placed on collapsing the pocket. Good offensive tackles receive big contracts and are drafted early because protecting the QB and preventing the kind of mistakes pressure creates is crucial to offensive success. WRs are drafted early and signed to huge deals because the QB relies on his targets to be successful. QBs definitely get too much credit when they win and too much blame when they lose and it's because writers like Souhan insist on inflating the importance of what is obviously an important position.

Does a team's QB dictate their ceiling? Sure, but so does a team's defense. So does a team's offensive line. So does a team's receiving corps.

Anyway, excuse the rant but Souhan hit upon one of my pet peeves with that comment. I hate the over-glorification of that one position in a team sport. Nevertheless, I agree that the Vikings appear to be on the right track with their current coach and management structure and I agree with Souhan's column-closing comment that "Frazier, Spielman and the Wilfs need Ponder to lead the way if their current plan is to work."

[sdranger]

Give the kid a WR that is a true number one. AR sat behind Favre for years, Favre was traded out of Atlanta. Brady drafted in the 6th round. If there is a position you need patience it is the QB position. Bottom line he was the QB for a 10-6 team.

[soflavike]

Give the kid a WR that is a true number one. AR sat behind Favre for years, Favre was traded out of Atlanta. Brady drafted in the 6th round. If there is a position you need patience it is the QB position. Bottom line he was the QB for a 10-6 team.

Favre and Brady never exhibited a weak arm and poor mechanics. Their fundamentals were solid, even when they were rookies. My biggest worry with Ponder is that he doesn't have the physical abilities to be an effective NFL passer. Let's assume we can develop his decision-making and ability to read defenses... It will take a LOT of work to make his mechanics improve... he's like Tarvaris Jackson with less arm strength. He can get away with this every now and then making good decisions and short passes, but we have to be able to throw the ball down the field, too. All the really great QB's demand respect downfield. Ponder is a safety's best friend.

[DCman11]

Favre and Brady never exhibited a weak arm and poor mechanics. Their fundamentals were solid, even when they were rookies. My biggest worry with Ponder is that he doesn't have the physical abilities to be an effective NFL passer. Let's assume we can develop his decision-making and ability to read defenses... It will take a LOT of work to make his mechanics improve... he's like Tarvaris Jackson with less arm strength. He can get away with this every now and then making good decisions and short passes, but we have to be able to throw the ball down the field, too. All the really great QB's demand respect downfield. Ponder is a safety's best friend.

May I ask you of which specific mechanics you speak?

[sdranger]

Favre is a gunslinger, gunslingers work on a proven veteran team but not a rebuilding one. It was on Mike and Mike last week they were talking to one of Brady's first OC's. They wouldn't let him throw a pass over 20 yards even in practice until his second year. Heck Drew Hensen beat him out at Michigan and that dude isn't even in the league. In reality this is Ponders first year with the lock out and all last year. Give him time, if he is more down than up next year time to move on but IMO he deserves another shot. That's not to say the Vikes don't need to find a veteran back up at all, but give Ponder another year with a real number one WR.

[Texas Vike]

Favre is a gunslinger, gunslingers work on a proven veteran team but not a rebuilding one. It was on Mike and Mike last week they were talking to one of Brady's first OC's. They wouldn't let him throw a pass over 20 yards even in practice until his second year. Heck Drew Hensen beat him out at Michigan and that dude isn't even in the league. In reality this is Ponders first year with the lock out and all last year. Give him time, if he is more down than up next year time to move on but IMO he deserves another shot. That's not to say the Vikes don't need to find a veteran back up at all, but give Ponder another year with a real number one WR.

I agree that we need to be patient with Ponder and that the QB position takes time, and as Mothman points out up thread, supplementary weapons (a good line, some WRs (PLEASE!)).

My hope is that they draft a QB somewhere in the 3rd-6th round this year and possibly bring in a veteran backup. We need to have a feasible plan b in case Ponder gets hurt again or simply doesn't develop into a solid QB.

Also important: we have to address the WR position. I'd say one via FA and one through the draft in the first 3 rounds.

[PurplePPLEater]

Thank you for this thread! I was unsure about Fraizer last season, but it's hard to blame him considering where the team was when he inherited it. It's a lot easier to like a coach when they're part of a playoff team, but I really started to like Fraizer this season. I love how he carries himself and where he's taking this team. Head coaches can be vital to teams long-term success!

I skimmed the qb conversation you started. Just want to throw this out there- I think Brady would be significantly worse if he never had Belicheat as a coach. Despite referring to him as that, I think he's one of the best coaches I've ever watched coach in the NFL. Just look at Matt Cassel's career. (*I'm not trying to take too much away from Brady here. I just think this is what allows me to rank Peyton Manning ahead of him in terms of who's the better qb).

[mansquatch]

I agree on the authors comments regarding ownership/GM/Coach seeming to be functioning well. I also agree with Jim's rant against the media Cult of the QB. That is a big reason why I never watch sports media any more, with the sole exception of Paul Allen’s local feel good radio show.

I’m kind of done with the whole Ponder debate. Unless something completely out of left field happens, he is starting next year. So whether anyone likes it or not, that is our direction. I’m more interested in the offseason stuff now. How do they address holes, etc. Very interesting in many ways.

[Demi]

Yes they did, now there's just one little problem on the team that goes against that culture. Let's hope they operate!!!

[DanAS]

Give the kid a WR that is a true number one. AR sat behind Favre for years, Favre was traded out of Atlanta. Brady drafted in the 6th round. If there is a position you need patience it is the QB position. Bottom line he was the QB for a 10-6 team.

We need to replace both the QB and the WRs in the next couple of years. And however we can substantially upgrade those positions would be just fine with me -- -- if we can somehow get a fine group of wide receivers, we could make the playoffs next year even with Ponder, and maybe with an upgrade at QB next year, we could contend for the title. (Just as Denver is doing now.)

But the above scenario is easier said then accomplished. Finding Super Bowl quality QBs isn't easy, and finding top WRs in free agency who are willing to play with Christian Ponder as their QB might not be so easy either. How many teams in recent decades have won the Super Bowl without a top QB? OK, the Ravens did it with Trent Dilfer (and an incredible defense). But who else? That position remains the most important hole on the team, bar none. But plenty of teams have filled it without top draft picks. So we can too.