Vikes/GB post-game thoughts

[Delaqure]

Bottom line is Ponder played awful and our receivers played awful. At this point there is no sign that Ponder will be another Drew Brees or Peyton Manning. However he doesn't have to be. I Just want him to be good not be a superstar. But in oder to be good he needs some decent receivers. Heck we could have Drew Brees and our passing game would improve from miserable to acceptable. But it still would not excel with this crew. If Ponder had guys he could count on to actually catch the balls in or out of traffic he may improve. He showed yesterday he doesn't have what it takes to make crap receivers better.

[allday1991]

I saw both Wright and Simpson open multiple times. But happy feet is moving if his first read is covered. Period. Nothing devolopes so we have no idea. Not even Troy, who I cant stand doing games. Hes a Cowboy homer who knows less about announcing football then Buck if thats possible. No, none of our receivers are going to be wide open all the time like AD was. But there is seperation for a QB to fit one in. Just cause we dont have elite WRs doesnt mean Ponder cant complete some passes to all of them. And do you really trust Spielman picking others? He knows less about it then we do. I saw Rg3 and Luck fit some passes into covered guys. Even Batch. This is not a WR problem. Its a QB and OC problem. We have AD for crying out loud. just because Troy says theres no seperation doesnt make it so.

i agree i seen atleast 7 open throws any other qb would rip. with that being said, all he had to do was not turn the ball over, and suprise he did.

[dead_poet]

John Carlson played eight snaps yesterday. I got nothing here.

Tom Pelissero on Twitter

[Mothman]

Tom Pelissero on Twitter

He's a bust. I'm surprised because prior to this season, he'd been a pretty good player. I won't be surprised if the Vikes just cut him (and their losses) in the offseason.

[dead_poet]

He's a bust. I'm surprised because prior to this season, he'd been a pretty good player. I won't be surprised if the Vikes just cut him (and their losses) in the offseason.

Agreed. Use that spot on someone that can contribute more than eight plays. For better or worse, this is going to be an interesting offseason to see what moves are made from the top down to the final 53.

[CalVike]

Calvike: "No one could have predicted the QB that led them to 5-2 would lose all confidence in a fast fade to 6-6."

This slide was actually extremely predictable -- so predictable, in fact, that dumb fans like me on the internet were even able to see it.

Then how do you explain the 5-2 start? He's played far worse in the 1-4 fade than he did in early season or last year. No offense, but I don't find your prediction particularly impressive. I am not happy with Ponder, but his recent stretch is many times worse than anything before it. I can't explain it.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

Tom Pelissero on Twitter

I was advocating us using Allen Reisner this year, but hey, what do I know?

Reisner can ball, and I guarantee that if he was playing right now he could be doing just as well as Carlson if not better.

[Infinity]

I was advocating us using Allen Reisner this year, but hey, what do I know?

Reisner can ball, and I guarantee that if he was playing right now he could be doing just as well as Carlson if not better.

My big toe could be doing better than Carlson at this point.

[Demi]

Then how do you explain the 5-2 start? He's played far worse in the 1-4 fade than he did in early season or last year. No offense, but I don't find your prediction particularly impressive. I am not happy with Ponder, but his recent stretch is many times worse than anything before it. I can't explain it.

He already explained it. We had the 32nd weakest schedule in the league to start off. Even someone who people claimed as negative as I am figured they'd win 6 games. The schedule was a cake walk. Between the pathetic schedule, and teams not having much to go on with our quarterback/offense, it's pretty easy to explain...

[VikingLord]

He already explained it. We had the 32nd weakest schedule in the league to start off. Even someone who people claimed as negative as I am figured they'd win 6 games. The schedule was a cake walk. Between the pathetic schedule, and teams not having much to go on with our quarterback/offense, it's pretty easy to explain...

The other thing that isn't mentioned is the out-sized contributions of Percy Harvin to Ponder's early-season performances. Harvin took a high percentage of those short, quick throws and turned them into big numbers that showed up on the stat sheet as passing yardage when in fact they were Percy yardage. Defenses let Ponder and the Vikings get away with that for a time, but eventually focused on it and shut it down much the same as they found ways to limit Rudolph's contributions after the first few games. So one does have to question how much of that 4-1 start belonged to a superlative performance by Ponder and how much belonged to superlative efforts by Harvin.

If one looks at stats like average yards per pass in the air, Ponder's been playing much the same game regardless of the timeframe looked at.

Yes, yes, I know - it's the crappy wide receivers and, I think at one point it was the offensive line that can't pass block, but boy, one sure does wonder what some of these stats would look like absent Percy and AD. I almost shudder to think it.

[PurpleMustReign]

I think the most maddening thing for me this week is how we should have won that game. Get even a FG after half time and it could make all the difference. At a minimum, it means we have the ball down six in the closing seconds.

I can't get over the fact that AD ran for 210 yards and we could only get 150 yards of passing offense. Disgusting.

[Mothman]

I finally saw the roughing the passer penalty that nullified Jared Allen's interception. What a load of crap that call was... Ed Hochuli should be ashamed of himself.

Defenders are barely allowed to play football anymore.

[Eli]

I finally saw the roughing the passer penalty that nullified Jared Allen's interception. What a load of crap that call was... Ed Hochuli should be ashamed of himself.

Defenders are barely allowed to play football anymore.

The only plausible explanation for that call that I can come up with is that he had a poor view of it and _thought_ that Griffen hit him in the head/neck area. It wouldn't be the first time a ref has made a penalty call on something that he thought he saw. People can say that the consequences of blowing that call were game changing, so he shouldn't throw the flag unless absolutely certain there was a foul, but a ref can't (or shouldn't) be worrying about the game consequences when making a call. He either sees a foul or he doesn't.

[Mothman]

The only plausible explanation for that call that I can come up with is that he had a poor view of it and _thought_ that Griffen hit him in the head/neck area.

He mistakenly called the penalty on Williams so the idea that he didn't have a good view of it makes sense.

[Eli]

I can't believe I just read that the NFL also fined Griffen for that hit. What the hell is going on in the NFL?