There have been so many tweets on Twitter demanding Christian Ponder’s head on a platter that I just could not take it anymore. He is a second year quarterback, playing behind a sub par offensive line, with very few quality receivers. Percy Harvin cannot be the entire passing offense, folks. If the offensive line cannot give Ponder some time, we are screwed. I, for one, am not ready to write him off. Is he going to be the next Peyton Manning? Maybe not. Can he be a legitimate quarterback in a run-dominated offense? Yes, I think he can. So many teams are quick to give up on a struggling, inexperienced quarterback. Especially in Minnesota. True, we have had our fair share of terrible starting quarterbacks. However, if you take a look back at some of the best quarterbacks to ever play, they didn’t start out that way. Peyton Manning? Brett Favre? Tom Brady? Take a look at these stats:
|
QB: |
G: |
TD: |
INT: |
YD: |
PR: |
|
Ponder |
9 |
10 |
8 |
1806 |
82.0 |
|
Favre |
15 |
18 |
13 |
3227 |
85.3 |
|
Manning |
16 |
26 |
28 |
3739 |
71.2 |
|
Brady |
15 |
18 |
12 |
2843 |
86.5 |
* Stats courtesy of espn.com
These stats were based on each quarterback’s second season in the league. If you look closely, none of them exactly covered themselves in glory early in their careers. Throwing more interceptions than touchdowns is frowned upon in the NFL. A perfect quarterback passer rating (PR) in the NFL is 158.3, so you can see that none of these quarterbacks came anywhere close to attaining that. While throwing for thousands of yards is necessary for success as a quarterback, it isn’t the most important statistic. If you project Ponder’s stats for the remainder of the season, it’s highly likely that he will have very similar statistics to these elite players. Therefore, maybe we all need to be a little more patient with him.
I didn’t even factor in what type of offensive weapons all these quarterbacks have had. While Ponder has Adrian Peterson, arguably the best running back in the league, he has little else outside of Percy Harvin. Harvin is an excellent slot receiver, but the Vikings do not have a legitimate deep threat to pair him up with. He doesn’t have a stud tight end, nor does he have an offensive line that is reliably giving him the time and protection he needs.
Am I saying that Ponder is blameless in all of this? No, I am not. He has made some very poor decisions and he often looks very tentative in the pocket. I believe his confidence is sorely lacking at this point and am not sure what Frazier and company can do to help remedy that. I do know that the Vikings front office has not done enough to surround Ponder with the offensive weapons he needs to be able to fully develop his potential as an NFL top quarterback.
I am not writing the guy off. I can understand how and why some fans are frustrated. I am frustrated, too. I am just trying to be a little more objective and to look at the offense as a whole. In doing so, I can hardly pin most of the disastrous offensive displays on Ponder alone. Keep your chin up, Christian. Some of the greatest quarterbacks to come before you have struggled, and struggled mightily.
I know the NFL has become a pass-first league, I think the Vikings should continue with a strong running game. AP has been a beast this season, especially with how he came back from a blown out ACL. If the Vikes can continue to ram it down opponent’s throats with the ground game, that will put less pressure on Ponder to try to win every game himself.
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Solid argument backed up with stats. What else are they going to do anyway? Joe Webb? Really? If QB was the only position keeping them from a legitimate Super Bowl run, that would be one thing. But that is not the case this season so people need to enjoy whatever this team gives them in terms of wins and allow Ponder to continue his progression. A year from now the panic might be legitimate but, realistically, only with the right offseason moves by the front office.
Great article…Except for the Vikings part