Confidence in Christian Part II

[Mercy Percy]

His point was a rookie QB in his first game in the NFL showed more poise than Ponder did. Who had a good game, made throws when he needed to. But spent quite a bit of the time jumping at shadows. Even when there wasn't any pressure. I know you love the man and want to bare his children, so you're clearly pretty ecstatic about his overtime win against a front runner for worst team in the league, but he had issues. Issues a second year guy who all we heard about was his confidence and poise and leadership leading up to the game, was it first game jitters? Is he going to improve? There were a number of third downs that were completely on him.

Did he look improved? At times. At other times he looked just like he did last year. Making terrible throws, happy feet, running with no pressure. And you've already deemed him "the man". And you're going to talk about my "prove it" stance? And his "game winning performance" had a little help from the defense, his all pro running back, the Jags choking away the ball more than once. There were plenty of things that contributed to that game, Ponder being one of them. He also contributed to the team being in the spot they were after his terrible first half when he was booed by the teams own fans. (most of which I doubt "want to see him fail" or "hate him")

Speaking of happy feet, Peyton Manning has the happiest feet ever yet maybe one of the best quarterbacks to ever play. So now instead of our excuses why Ponder played bad we have excuses why Ponder had a good game. I love it

[dead_poet]

Speaking of happy feet, Peyton Manning has the happiest feet ever yet maybe one of the best quarterbacks to ever play.

Those aren't "Omygod I'm going to die!" happy feat. He's constantly shifting in the pocket and almost always sets his feet and drives the ball, often after happy-feeting/sliding by a would-be defender.

[Mothman]

i actually really like the new rule. you score a td it's over. however, you win the toss and have a big return kicking a chipshot no longer promises a win. we could all go back and forth forever about it but i simply like the idea it makes a coin toss just a little less important.

I never felt like the coin toss was that important anyway. It's all about how the two teams execute. It still is, of course, but the new rule just feels like a concession to the idea that it's only fair if both offenses get to see the field, as if offense is all that really matters.

Anyway, the rule has been changed and this board has seen enough of the great OT debate over the years so I won't belabor the point.

[J. Kapp 11]

Four rookies started Sunday. One played well. Three stunk up the house. So what the hell does comparing RGIII to Christian Ponder serve?

And while RGIII played well, it wasn't like he just went wild.

• Pressure: Griffin felt pressure on only eight of 31 pass drops, in part because of his quick release. On his drops when he didn't scramble, he averaged 2.1 seconds between the time he got the snap and the time he released the pass. Good game-planning by the Shanahans, obviously, to make sure the suspect Washington line could protect Griffin long enough for him to find an open man.

• Rushing: Griffin ran 10 times for 42 yards (an 11th run was negated by penalty). Cam Newton averaged eight rushes for 44 yards last season. Of the 10 runs -- as I suspected after seeing a Redskins training camp practice -- eight were by design. He scrambled once when the pocket broke down and his receivers were covered. That resulted in a 12-yard gain, but also in a couple of hard hits by Saints defenders on the play. His running is a concern. I can't see a 218-pound quarterback being exposed to 160 rushes in a season and surviving.

• Passing: He told me after the game he felt calm, like he had ice water in his veins. But on his first drive, he dropped one snap and threw two passes off-target. He hit Pierre Garcon on a cross 16 yards downfield, and Garcon turned it into an 88-yard touchdowns. For the day, the Redskins designed almost all quick-release throws. Of his 26 passes, none was a go pattern or a deep throw downfield, and he threw one post -- an excellent throw under pressure on 2nd-and-13 for a first down to tight end Logan Paulson when Washington was trying to bleed the clock.

• In summation: The best thing Griffin did was not make mistakes, and he had only three or four poor throws. He showed confidence, played well within the system, and evaded the really big hit that eventually dooms mobile quarterbacks. It was an opening game in which Griffin played well beyond his 22 years.

Read the full article.

King's comments are right on the money. Nobody's arguing that RGIII was anything less than excellent Sunday. He didn't come out throwing downfield bombs, but he was great. However, RGIII's performance has nothing to do with Christian Ponder's performance. Absolutely nothing. It's more than a logically faulty argument. It's an idiotic comparison.

By the way, anybody who thinks Christian Ponder had happy feet after the last two minutes of the first half needs a new TV cuz yours ain't workin'. Ponder was 3-for-7 for 32 yards up until that point ... 17-for-20 for 238 yards thereafter. I watched the game, too, and I didn't see any happy feet. I only saw accurate throws made on time. Is that an improvement from last year? Damn right it was.

[vikeinmontana]

god i love your posts kapp!

[Demi]

By the way, anybody who thinks Christian Ponder had happy feet after the last two minutes of the first half needs a new TV cuz yours ain't workin'.

No, my DVR records entire games. It doesn't edit out the happy feet for all of the first half but two minutes so all I see is duckies and bunnies. A game is 60 minutes. He was terrible for almost half of it. Against a terrible team. Without their starting middle linebacker, and a starting cornerback.

He looked much better the second half. Which also included some pretty amazing play by AD and Harvin. Especially on those 1 yard passes that go for 10+.

He's showed flashes in the past. Let's see if he can keep it up...against another bad team. On the road, which should give us a better idea where he's at. And week three he'll get a real test. If he can look halfway decent against the 49ers then maybe we can tap the purple keg. Even if we don't win the game, it'll be a great gauge especially coming off of these two games when his confidence should be sky high, and a game at home.

[saint33]

Lets wait til he faces the best defense in football which, mind you, just made the reigning MVP look ordinary before we make our judgements..... right

[Demi]

Lets wait til he faces the best defense in football which, mind you, just made the reigning MVP look ordinary before we make our judgements..... right

I guess playing a good defense at home is asking too much, let's just look at these first two games against bottom 5 teams and that'll give us a great indication of where he's at.

[mosscarter]

all this rg3 crap is comical. he's played 1 game, and mind you, is on a total loser franchise with no real team around him. so what, he looked good in his first game, is he the only one to ever do that? nobody wants to talk about how bad the saint's secondary is as a contributing factor. cam newton, vick, rg3, randall cunningham (one of my favorites) warren moon, were all from the same mold, and yet doug williams was the only one to win a championship. chew on that immutable fact.

[Just Me]

I guess playing a good defense at home is asking too much, let's just look at these first two games against bottom 5 teams and that'll give us a great indication of where he's at.

They may be a bottom 5 TEAM, but by all accounts they (the Jaguars), were a good defense (or at the very least: "average"), so the way you portrayed it was a bit disingenuous.

[Mothman]

They may be a bottom 5 TEAM, but by all accounts they (the Jaguars), were a good defense (or at the very least: "average"), so the way you portrayed it was a bit disingenuous.

Yes it was but the goal posts seem to keep moving, don't they? IF Ponder actually has a good game against the 49ers I have no doubt there will be someone who decides to diminish that by write it off as a fluke, focusing on any mistakes made, etc.

Frankly, while performances against one team or another can be encouraging or discouraging, when developing a young QB I think what matters most is his body of work. That's how the Vikes will have to evaluate Ponder. If he takes a step back against San Francisco and then takes a step forward a week later (or vice versa) those individual performances will be less important than his performance over the course of the entire season and how that compares to last season. Put simply: the Vikes are trying to develop Ponder into a long term starter so ultimately, what they need to see is development... enough of it to encourage them to stick with Ponder as their starter next year.

[saint33]

I guess playing a good defense at home is asking too much, let's just look at these first two games against bottom 5 teams and that'll give us a great indication of where he's at.

you mean like the 6th best defense in the league from last year? Or the 8th ranked pass defense from last year (despite only have one of it's starting CBs for 6 games, and the other for 9)? Oh right, that just happened this weekend.

There's a difference between a good defense and the best. It's comical that you discredit last weeks performance, and are preemptively discrediting this coming week's performance against "bottom feeders", and instead set the bar for Ponder's progression for the game against the best defense in football. You're bias in the matter is very clear.

[saint33]

Yes it was but the goal posts seem to keep moving, don't they? IF Ponder actually has a good game against the 49ers I have no doubt there will be someone who decides to diminish that by write it off as a fluke, focusing on any mistakes made, etc.

Frankly, while performances against one team or another can be encouraging or discouraging, when developing a young QB I think what matters most is his body of work. That's how the Vikes will have to evaluate Ponder. If he takes a step back against San Francisco and then takes a step forward a week later (or vice versa) those individual performances will be less important than his performance over the course of the entire season and how that compares to last season. Put simply: the Vikes are trying to develop Ponder into a long term starter so ultimately, what they need to see is development... enough of it to encourage them to stick with Ponder as their starter next year.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Now this is funny. Ponder had a halfway decent game, and 1 excellent drive, and now people like Saint want to place a crown on his head. 1 game. And we just barely won, and wouldnt have if we didnt actually go out and get a real kicker.

Lets wait til he plays a road game and division rival before ya get too excited.

[Mothman]

Now this is funny. Ponder had a halfway decent game, and 1 excellent drive, and now people like Saint want to place a crown on his head.

Where did Saint post anything remotely close to that kind of statement after the Vikes/Jaguars game?