Why Christian Ponder thinks he didn't pan out

Yeah, lots going on in the minds of these young millionaire stars. Mental fortitude is a big component in success and injuries can certainly affect that.

Spielmman knew about the injury in 2011.... Not only was Ponder a reach @ #11 but he had injury history

I clearly remember the day Ponder was drafted, and reading the posts on PT about the draft and I couldn't shake the unmistakable feeling that Ponder was gonna be a BUST and that the Vikings were drawing dead the net 3 years

Then the nexxt 3 years I had to be optimistic that he might be decent but I never ewer felt like he was gonna improve or be the guy.

Perhaps he was distracted…!?  :cool: :angel:

Mattyman wrote:
Spielmman knew about the injury in 2011.... Not only was Ponder a reach @ #11 but he had injury history

I clearly remember the day Ponder was drafted, and reading the posts on PT about the draft and I couldn't shake the unmistakable  feeling  that  Ponder was gonna be a BUST and that the Vikings were drawing dead the net 3 years

Then the nexxt 3 years I had to be optimistic that he might be decent but I never ewer felt like he was gonna improve or be the guy.

Yeah, I had the same vibes.  Bridgewater, I felt pretty confident in, that he was going to get better and improve.  Didn’t turn out that way.  Ponder just felt like “a guy” who happened to be out there.  Could be why the Vikings are out there with the JJM “It factor” media campaign.  Help get that confidence boosted.

McNair and Ponder...*Shakes head and sighs*. Spielman tried to pull a couple of rabbits out of his ass.

When you drop back to pass, with a clean pocket, and you take off running after 1 second, not even considering your second progression, then I don't even need to watch your second game.

Didn't have an NFL arm or brain. Ponder that.

I just remember the happy feet when the 1st read wasn't there...

Still makes me quesy.

He actually was the best-rated red zone QB for a good chunk of 2012, but then Percy got hurt...and, later, traded.

He also marked the beginnings of our fatal o-line flaws, when some replays on NFL shows had him sacked in less than 2 seconds. Between it all, no wonder he got happy feet.

When the defense knows that they can blitz faster than you can find a receiver it's going to be a long day.

Kentis wrote:

Perhaps he was distracted…!?  :cool: :angel:

Sam kinda fell off the face of the earth.

StickierBuns wrote:
They didn't do enough due diligence on Ponder....just like with Troy Williamson. Horrible picks. Need picks gone wrong, forced. Christian played like a deer in headlights every play.

Williamson, John Ross, Ruggs, Fuller, Coleman, DHB. Who remembers Matt Jones? The NFL falls hook, line and sinker for these speed-only guys. Every. Damn. Time. I don't remember even looking at Troy Williamson before the draft that year. We had a second 1st rounder that year. Erasmus James. We got nobody from that draft.

purplefaithful wrote:
I just remember the happy feet when the 1st read wasn't there...

Still makes me quesy.

Yep, that was his bugaboo. He can blame the shoulder all he wants, but his arm, or even accuracy, weren't bad. He just had no poise in the pocket. You could almost see the terror and chaos in his head.

MaroonBells wrote:

Williamson, John Ross, Ruggs, Fuller, Coleman, DHB. Who remembers Matt Jones? The NFL falls hook, line and sinker for these speed-only guys. Every. Damn. Time. I don't remember even looking at Troy Williamson before the draft that year. We had a second 1st rounder that year. Erasmus James. We got nobody from that draft.

Yep, that was his bugaboo. He can blame the shoulder all he wants, but his arm, or even accuracy, weren't bad. He just had no poise in the pocket. You could almost see the terror and chaos in his head.

In fairness, his "pocket" is a really kind way of saying "his 1.7-2.1 seconds before mauling" on far too many occasions. The absolute crap that was our line (and would basically remain, for the next decade) was a subject of many sports bobblehead recap.

College injury or not, he seemed pretty animated and determined when he still had Percy available for improvisation.

I think the primary reason that Ponder didn't pan out...is that he wasn't very good.....

Plain and simple...Vikings panicked. They felt their biggest need was QB in a weak QB class and they reached for Ponder because even some of that mediocrity had been selected (Locker, Gabbert). Trying to remember what we had in the QB cupboard at the time...think it might have been Sage and Joe Webb. Too bad they didn't "reach" for Andy Dalton instead who went very early in the 2nd.

badgervike wrote:
I think the primary reason that Ponder didn't pan out...is that he wasn't very good.....

Plain and simple...Vikings panicked.  They felt their biggest need was QB in a weak QB class and they reached for Ponder because even some of that mediocrity had been selected (Locker, Gabbert).  Trying to remember what we had in the QB cupboard at the time...think it might have been Sage and Joe Webb.  Too bad they didn't "reach" for Andy Dalton instead who went very early in the 2nd.

Time will tell - as of now this 2024 QB class harkens me back to the class of 2011.

JustInTime wrote:

Sam kinda fell off the face of the earth.

Well when you go from an ESPN regular to being fired (budget cuts along with RGIII), unless you catch on with someone else with another national face, you are going to probably focus on being a Mom to three kids.

That entire quarterback class that year was pure crap, but we really needed a quarterback and out of the options available I really liked Ponder. Smart, athletic, arm was live enough, and looked the part Senior Bowl week where he might have been the best player on the field. I think where things started to go wrong was the coaching staff that was in place at the time, especially Bill Musgrave who was so anal about not turning the ball over that it made Ponder gun shy and we did not have the best personnel on offense. You look at the Vikings coaching staff and roster that year and it was textbook 101 on "how to fail a young QB"

badgervike wrote:
I think the primary reason that Ponder didn't pan out...is that he wasn't very good.....

Plain and simple...Vikings panicked.  They felt their biggest need was QB in a weak QB class and they reached for Ponder because even some of that mediocrity had been selected (Locker, Gabbert).  Trying to remember what we had in the QB cupboard at the time...think it might have been Sage and Joe Webb.  Too bad they didn't "reach" for Andy Dalton instead who went very early in the 2nd.

In retrospect, Dalton could have been a better choice...but, as our current HC says: systems fail quarterbacks. Neither the Frazier "check the tape" or the Zimmer "don't tell the offense where my office is" approaches were likely to raise a QB well.

supafreak84 wrote:
That entire quarterback class that year was pure crap, but we really needed a quarterback and out of the options available I really liked Ponder. Smart, athletic, arm was live enough, and looked the part Senior Bowl week where he might have been the best player on the field. I think where things started to go wrong was the coaching staff that was in place at the time, especially Bill Musgrave who was so anal about not turning the ball over that it made Ponder gun shy and we did not have the best personnel on offense. You look at the Vikings coaching staff and roster that year and it was textbook 101 on "how to fail a young QB"

I absolutely hated the Ponder pick before, during, and after.  He was never a winner at Florida State and he was a false leader and laughed at by his teammates.  For context, I was positive but worried about Culpepper, and middle of the road on Teddy.  Culpepper also had a lot of tools and time to build up.  I was definitely more confident with Bridgewater than Ponder, but I was worried about his arm.  I felt confident in his decision making capabilities.  With McCarthy I was and am very confident.  It's probably the fact that he's a winner and has an awesome guy to coach him up.  He just looks like a guy who's going to be quite good in this league for a long time.  Let's hope I'm right.

I spammed the old Purple Thoughts board deriding that Ponder pick, and I think I hate it as much or more than any pick we ever made.   That's all I have to say about that.  That pick brings back nightmares.

Reading that, I can see why Ponder kept all of that to himself for the past decade.

I also remember lots of Vikings fans predicting he'd have a long career in the league as a backup after his time in Minnesota was over. Turns out he just couldn't play. As was said earlier- Spielman was still pretty green as a GM and he panicked.