S197 wrote:Anyone who is drafted early and is successful is due to talent, anyone drafted later and is successful is due to the situation. I guess you have all your bases covered there.
I'm simply saying those things matter and shouldn't be ignored. Why is anybody comparing Ponder to Luck, RG3 or Newton as if there's a reasonable expectation that he should be as good as players drafted #1 or #2 in the draft? Was there a controversy in 2011 about whether Ponder or Newton should have been the top pick in the draft?
I'm not "covering my bases" here, I'm just talking about reasonable expectations and fair comparisons. Luck was superb in college and was touted as a once-in-a decade QB talent. He
should look better than Ponder out of the gate because he
is better. Ditto for the other 2. They aren't reasonable measuring sticks for what should be expected from Ponder at this point and if he is going to be better than those players, it will take time and it will have to be because he develops into a smarter, more skilled player because he simply doesn't have the raw talent they possess.
I didn't provide you with only #1 picks, I also included players drafted in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.
Yes, and I'd argue that they landed in better situations. Kaepernick certainly did. He had a year to learn the position on a championship caliber team.
The point here is that in aggregate, we have seen a lot of young QB's be highly successful much quicker in recent years even compared historically to similarly drafted positions and situations.
Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck are a good example.
Yes, we have and I agree with that point. I'm just looking at why we've seen that and trying to expand on your point by reinforcing that not all young QBs are equal. I think rules changes have helped this trend you're talking about and (sorry for repeating myself) quite a few of these QBs have landed in good situations that have helped them thrive quickly. What shouldn't get lost is that Ponder, despite all the criticism and the fact that questions remain about him, has had his share of success too. His critics want to focus on the negatives but in year 2 as an NFL starter, he was the QB of a playoff team and his performance helped them get there. In some games it was a key to their success. I think the problem is many Vikes fans want him to be Luck. They want the next Peyton Manning and since Ponder's not that guy, he sucks and they'll keep complaining until the team takes a shot at another QB (who will then be blasted relentlessly if he's not an immediate success with a rocket arm and physical abilities off the charts. So it goes.).
Comparing Ponder to young player X or Y and lamenting that he's not as good as they are seems relatively pointless to me because those players aren't available. They're on other teams, in their own set of circumstances. I'd much rather look at what he has to offer, how he performed as a rookie, where he made strides in 2012, what he's shown that suggests he can be a a solution for the Vikes, etc. I care a lot less about Ponder becoming a top 5 QB or zipping a TD into the end zone than than I do about his ability to be the QB of a championship Vikings team and throw TD passes. If those passes aren't zipped, that's fine. They're still TDs. If Ponder's stats are mediocre but his performance isn't and the team is winning, I'll be happy.
... and just to be clear, I know you weren't necessarily comparing those young QBs you mentioned directly to Ponder but those comparisons have been made many times in the past year or two and that's what I'm trying to address above.
As long as I'm ranting away, I'll finish with this: I defend Ponder a lot around here because I think some of the criticism directed at him is inaccurate, unfair or even just plain silly. However, I'm not sold on him as the Vikings future at QB either. I have doubts about him and I was frustrated with his lapses last year just like everybody else. I find some of his performances encouraging and some discouraging but I see enough there to still have hope that he can be the QB the Vikes need him to become.
Rant over!
