Delaqure wrote:Well, I have been a Ponder supporter all year, but he is starting to lose my support after last night. Mothman is right about the o-line and pressure though. For the last two weeks Ponder has been under pressure a lot and quickly. There were a lot of times last night he dropped back and there was pressure in his face before he even got set. That said he did make some terrible reads. There were guys open and he either didn't see them or didn't throw to them trying to make a bigger play. That's poor decision making.
It is and he's pressing. Everyone has been saying the Vikes need to make more plays down the field and last night, Ponder was clearly trying to do that. The guy gets ripped for checking down too often but when he doesn't check down, we get what happened yesterday. He gets ripped for throwing INTs but people get upset at the number of incompletions when he throws it away. We hear about how he should throw it to Rudolph even if Rudolph has no separation because Rudolph has great hands and a wide catch radius. That's great but asking a young, struggling QB to avoid INTs but throw it to the guy who's covered is asking quite a bit.
I think all of that and more is probably getting into his head now and Ponder is obviously struggling. He's regressed and his confidence has suffered but this is the time when his teammates to pick him up and help him out. Musgrave needs to call a better game and
keep Peterson involved. Receivers (and by that I mean eligible receivers) need to create separation and get open. The o-line needs to protect him, give him the time to step up in the pocket and deliver throws and they need to help him feel confident in doing it by creating and maintaining a pocket. All of that needs to happen and if/when it does, Ponder needs to reward his teammates by playing better and coming through for them too.
Ponder's bad play impacts his teammates and their bad play impacts him. If the Vikes are going to get back on the winning track, it ALL needs to change and fast.
