More and more, NFL teams appear comfortable turning their offenses over to rookie quarterbacks. It’s not ideal. The fact that a coach has a promising young quarterback on hand means either the previous season didn’t go so well or that the position is relatively unstable. Minnesota became the latest team to employ its 2011 draft pick when Christian Ponder made his first NFL start Sunday against the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Florida State product has taken over for veteran Donovan McNabb, whose tenure with the Vikings has gone no better than his time with the Redskins last fall.
Ponder was 13-for-32 against Green Bay on Sunday with two touchdown passes. Considering his club was 1-5 and taking on the undefeated Packers, it didn’t seem like a fair matchup. But Ponder got Minnesota back into the game with a fourth-quarter rally. He helped cut a 33-17 deficit to 33-27, and the Vikings got the ball back for a potential game-winning drive that eventually fizzled.
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But Ponder impressed with 219 passing yards. He even adjusted after Packers star cornerback Charles Woodson jumped two separate routes to intercept Ponder throws. In the fourth quarter, Ponder put a touch more air on a ball, and Woodson just missed his third of the day. That pass led to a long Minnesota gain and helped fuel the comeback.
“The thing that really impressed me was that Green Bay came out and they challenged this guy,” NBC football analyst Rodney Harrison said. “They blitzed him up the middle, they blitzed him on the edge and he stood in the pocket and he made some plays. But the biggest thing that impressed me was he got outside the pocket and he really showed that he is a terrific athlete.”
Ponder, the 12th overall pick in last spring’s draft, isn’t the only one. Cincinnati has rolled with second-round pick Andy Dalton all season, and he has helped them to a 4-2 record. And Cam Newton’s exploits in Carolina grow every week. The Panthers are just 2-5, but Newton is terrorizing opposing defenses already — as the Redskins found out in Sunday’s loss.
– Brian McNally
