Tedrian Pondwater

Oct 19, 2014 16:56:15 GMT -6 Oracle Bone Diviner said:

Thanks for bringing up Ponder. We love us some more Ponder threads. We really haven't had enough of those, no siree.

Nobody was even calling Ponder a Ponder after 3 games. There is no point in making any kind of comparisons to anyone good or bad after one, two, three, four, 6, 9 games. We need to give him a season or two and see if he can become a Bridgewater and see if that's a good thing or not.

Oh come on.  Some folks were predicting failure for Ponder the day after he was drafted, others waited until the Vikings lost 45-7 to Green Bay, some may have even lasted until he was benched vs. Detroit before calling for Joe Webb to be given the job. The next season it was Webb again, or McLeod Bethel-Thompson or whoever. The point isn't that those people were wrong, obviously hindsight has justified that. The point is, that Christian Ponder was never given the benefit of the doubt that a lot of people have given Teddy Bridgewater, nor was Tarvaris Jackson.  Why?  They were supposed to be the future, but it became apparent sooner rather than later that they weren't capable of that.  Bridgewater has thrown one td pass over 3 and a half games, he's led this team to 66 points in 14 plus quarters...41 in one game against the NFL's worst defense.  Otherwise, one td and six field goals...one of those was even after a turnover and three handoffs.  He's had one legitimately solid drive in the games against New Orleans, Detroit and Buffalo.  This isn't the preseason anymore.  He's playing against real, honest-to-goodness NFLers, and he's showing a whole lot of not much.  That's not a good sign.  It's one we've seen before.

As for my post bringing up Ponder?  Because other folks mention Christian Ponder, I can't?  Can I also not speak of Adrian Peterson, I'm sure that topic's been done to death.  Is reminiscing of Br-tt F-vr- and the 2009 season off limits?  I will speak of what I wish, when I wish, so long as I adhere to this board's rules.  Not one of those says I can't speak of Christian Ponder, I choose to. 

Oct 19, 2014 16:56:15 GMT -6 Oracle Bone Diviner said:

Thanks for bringing up Ponder. We love us some more Ponder threads. We really haven't had enough of those, no siree.

Nobody was even calling Ponder a Ponder after 3 games. There is no point in making any kind of comparisons to anyone good or bad after one, two, three, four, 6, 9 games. We need to give him a season or two and see if he can become a Bridgewater and see if that's a good thing or not.

I agree. It's just too soon.

Not making excuses, stating facts.

Why do Vikings' fans always jump to compare a new guy to an old sucky one? I think that's a little bit harsh and unfair. Coping mechanism, maybe? I mean, it's funny in a jokingly sort of way, but not if you're serious. o.O 

Bridgewater has been thrown into a mess here, and at the end of the day, he's still a rookie. We've been playing some of the better defensive fronts in the league, and our guys aren't getting open. I'm not sure how much more we can really expect out of the guy until everyone around him plays better. Jennings stepped up today a few times, and that was nice. However, we need to see more of that from other receivers. McKinnon seems to be decent, too, but he's no Peterson. And we still need a lot more from everyone. Basically, we need better effort all around on offense. I'm not "proud" of anything with them.

I don't think the play calling helps much either. I mean, I just don't even know what to say about that, but I think there are things we can do to help Bridgewater and the o-line out, but we aren't. I'm not one to blame the o-line for everything, because I'm a firm believer that a team with good coaching should be able to game plan around some of its shortcomings. I mean, we have a LOT of shortcomings, so I get that it's freaking hard, but this is the NFL, and I expect better. Yes, some of this does come back on Bridgewater, but I blame play calling the most. The short passing game works for everyone else, why not us? I know it's annoying, but we need to get in a rhythm and move the freakin' ball. It doesn't HAVE to be pretty all of the time, just do it!

Bridgewater definitely has some things to work on, but he's no Christian Ponder. I supported Ponder for a couple of years, and I finally lost hope when I saw him getting WORSE. Time will tell on Teddy, but until I give him enough time to sink or swim, I won't be hating on him too hard. This whole season has been a mess with drama, injuries, growing pains, etc. It is what it is. It's NOT what I had planned going into the season, but when your YOUNG team is faced with this much adversity, what do you really expect?

Oct 19, 2014 20:28:25 GMT -6 VikingsBoss said:

The point is, that Christian Ponder was never given the benefit of the doubt that a lot of people have given Teddy Bridgewater, nor was Tarvaris Jackson.

Do you really believe that? And I thought you said Jackson was given plenty of opportunities? Which is it? 

I know what you are saying here, but Ponder has been given plenty of chances. As far as the fans go, some people did doubt him from the beginning, but I know a lot supported him, as well. After that McNabb failed experiment, people were really behind Ponder. Then, it slowly faded after that. I was definitely really late to the party, because I finally gave up on him during that Packers game, but those fans were definitely right about Ponder.

Regardless, I think it's far too early to say Bridgewater is being given the benefit of the doubt more so than any other player. It's only been a few weeks! Plus, the offensive side of the ball is a total mess. Can you really blame people for being a little more patient? Don't you wish they were that way with Ponder? What exactly are you searching for here? Do you want people to hate on Teddy more to make it seem more "fair"? Teddy has already shown us some things in a few starts that Ponder has never shown us in a few years. There's plenty of upside here with Teddy. Ponder? No.

This is no time to feel sorry for Ponder. Really. He's had a fair amount of chances to prove people wrong. Hopefully Teddy proves you wrong in time.

Oct 20, 2014 1:26:16 GMT -6 Funkytown said:

Oct 19, 2014 20:28:25 GMT -6 VikingsBoss said:

The point is, that Christian Ponder was never given the benefit of the doubt that a lot of people have given Teddy Bridgewater, nor was Tarvaris Jackson.

Do you really believe that? And I thought you said Jackson was given plenty of opportunities? Which is it? 

.

Jackson was given plenty of opportunities by Brad Childress.  Many fans, myself included, gave up on him long before Childress did.  I would say my last moment of believing Tarvaris Jackson could be this team's future was the second-to-last game of 2007 at home vs. Washington with the playoffs on the line, with confirmation I was justified coming on opening night 2008 when we got crushed by Green Bay on Monday Night.  But, I never stopped hoping that Jackson could turn it around if he was going to play.  For Ponder, I think the straw that broke this particular camel's back was the Seattle game last year when he threw interceptions on back-to-back possessions taking us completely out of a game we were in against the best team in the league.  But, I will never stop hoping Christian Ponder can turn it around if he is forced to play again.  I hope Bridgewater turns it around, but I am just seeing so many of the same things we saw with Jackson and with Ponder.  Bridgewater has to be mentally tougher than both of those guys if he's going to turn it around.  Did Bridgewater play better after the second interception yesterday?  Yeah, but he pretty much had to didn't he?  After all, he was 3-10 for 21 yards and two picks.  We still were far from moving up and down the field...we had a solid TD drive, a 22 yard drive that netted a 55 yard field goal, and a drive saved by Jarius Wright making one heck of a catch on 3rd and 18...and that was 95% Wright,  5% Bridgewater, that netted another field goal.  13 points in two and a half quarters.  But, the second pick also led directly to Buffalo's first TD, so...

I, for one, just haven't seen the "It factor" that folks like Ben Leber say they've seen.  I saw "it" with Andrew Luck, I saw "it" with Cam Newton, I saw "it" with Peyton Manning way back in the day, I thought I saw "it" in Tom Brady at Michigan even when nobody else did.  Other guys developed "it", I never saw "it" in Brees or Rodgers until
"it" was just there, so I think you can harness "it".  There's no denying Bridgewater has talent, but will he develop or stagnate?  Right now, he's stagnating, and four games isn't too small a sample to BEGIN to judge, it is simple too small a sample size to FINALIZE judgment. 

Like I said, I hope I am wrong.