vikings/nfl
Dan Wiederer began covering the Vikings in 2011, enthusiastically delivering insight on the team across the Star Tribune's print and digital products. Prior to joining the Access Vikings team, he spent seven seasons covering ACC basketball at The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. He also covered the Chicago Bears in 2003 and 2004. Follow him on Twitter @StribDW.
Mark Craig has covered football and the NFL the past 20 years, including the Browns from 1991-95 and the Vikings and the NFL since 2003. Since 2008, Craig has served as one of the 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. He can be followed on Twitter at @markcraignfl.
Vikings personnel review: Quarterbacks
Posted by: Dan Wiederer under Quarterbacks, Vikings, Bears, Lions, NFC, Packers, Leslie Frazier, Leslie Frazier Updated: January 9, 2012 - 2:33 PM
Meetings are taking place at Winter Park this week with the Vikings planning a detailed player-by-player evaluation of their current roster. As they perform their in-house review, we’re following suit and delivering our own snapshot evaluation of each position group.
QUARTERBACKS
Get excited: Hey, if Christian Ponder’s inability to stay on the field in the final four weeks was good for anything, it showed that Joe Webb is a pretty nice insurance policy. Plus, with the Vikings coaching staff vowing to give Webb a chance to battle for the starting job at training camp next summer, Ponder should be fueled by the heightened competition. It may not seem like a huge victory to have what is widely considered as OK depth at quarterback, but ask the Bears how perilous it can be to be without a reliable back-up. After all, Chicago was 7-3 when Jay Cutler broke his thumb the week before Thanksgiving and didn’t win again until New Year’s Day. So Webb’s fantastic play in relief of Ponder in losses at Detroit and Washington has head coach Leslie Frazier and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave exploring ways to make him a bigger part of the offense in 2012.
Keep an eye on: Christian Ponder’s development. Ponder’s rookie season was all over the map, his flashes of brilliance often offset by a bevy of head-scratching mistakes. But newly anointed general manager Rick Spielman is pushing all his chips to the middle of the felt on Ponder, certain that the quarterback's intelligence and mental make-up will allow for a huge jump in production and consistency in 2012 and beyond. Since landing in the GM’s role last week, Spielman has been persistent with his comparisons, constantly referencing Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Matthew Stafford and Jay Cutler as now-established quarterbacks whose struggles were similar to Ponder’s when they were younger. Spielman has said over and over again that with the metrics he’s run from the aforementioned quarterbacks’ rookie seasons, Ponder’s erratic play wasn’t out of the ordinary. We decided to double-check Spielman’s conclusion by comparing the numbers from Ponder’s 10 starts this season with the stats those other quarterbacks put up in their first 10 NFL starts.
Here goes:
Completion percentage
Rodgers 63.2
Cutler 61.9
Brees 61.5
Ponder 54.4
Stafford 53.3
Manning 50.4
Yards per game
Rodgers 235.6
Stafford 226.7
Cutler 215.9
Brees 199.9
Ponder 175.4
Manning 166.6
Yards per attempt
Cutler 7.5
Rodgers 7.3
Brees 6.5
Ponder 6.4
Manning 6.0
Stafford 6.0
Touchdowns
Rodgers 15
Stafford 13
Cutler 13
Ponder 13
Brees 12
Manning 11
Interceptions
Rodgers 6
Brees 11
Manning 11
Cutler 11
Ponder 13
Stafford 20
Rushing yards
Ponder 211
Rodgers 126
Stafford 108
Brees 97
Cutler 51
Manning 48
Win-loss record
Brees 7-3
Rodgers 5-5
Cutler 4-6
Manning 3-7
Ponder 2-8
Stafford 2-8
Reason for worry: The Vikings understand the daunting task of competing in the NFC North, looking up at the Packers, Lions and Bears, all teams who seem to be set at quarterback for the foreseeable future. The Vikings hope Ponder will offer similar stability long-term. But if he can’t mature into the player Spielman Leslie Frazier envision him becoming, it will be back to the drawing board once again. Inside the offices ar Winter Park, there is great optimism that Ponder will be able to break through. But in this league, at that position, until it happens, you just never know. And considering the Vikings used the No. 12 overall pick in 2011 on Ponder, the pressure for him to become a standout quickly is huge. Translation: if his struggles and inconsistency last too long into next season, patience may dry up quickly.
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| NY Mets - LP: J. Hefner | 2 | FINAL |
| Chicago Cubs - WP: S. Feldman | 8 |
| Seattle - LP: O. Perez | 4 | FINAL |
| Cleveland - WP: C. Perez | 5 |
| Toronto - LP: B. Morrow | 2 | FINAL |
| NY Yankees - WP: D. Phelps | 7 |
| Cincinnati - WP: B. Arroyo | 10 | FINAL |
| Philadelphia - LP: K. Kendrick | 0 |
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| LA Angels - WP: R. Coello | 12 |
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| Atlanta - WP: C. Gearrin | 3 |
| Boston - WP: C. Breslow | 12 | FINAL |
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| Arizona - WP: B. McCarthy | 1 | FINAL |
| Miami - LP: T. Koehler | 0 |
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| St. Louis - LP: J. Kelly | 4 |
| Detroit - LP: A. Sanchez | 2 | FINAL |
| Texas - WP: J. Grimm | 7 |
| San Francisco - LP: T. Lincecum | 2 | FINAL |
| Colorado - WP: T. Chatwood | 10 |
| Washington - LP: J. Zimmermann | 1 | FINAL |
| San Diego - WP: E. Stults | 2 |
| Kansas City - LP: E. Santana | 1 | FINAL |
| Oakland - WP: T. Milone | 2 |
| New York | 99 | FINAL |
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| Date/Opponent | Time | W | L | Score |
| 2013 preseason | ||||
| Aug 9 - vs. Houston | 7 pm | |||
| Aug 16 - at Buffalo | 6 pm | |||
| Aug 25 - at San Francisco | 7 pm | |||
| Aug 29 - vs. Tennessee | 7 pm | |||
| 2013 regular season | ||||
| Sep 8 - at Detroit | Noon | |||
| Sep 15 - at Chicago | Noon | |||
| Sep 22 - vs. Cleveland | Noon | |||
| Sep 29 - vs. Pittsburgh (in London) | Noon | |||
| Oct 6 - Bye | ||||
| Oct 13 - vs. Carolina | Noon | |||
| Oct 21 - at. NY Giants | 7:40 pm | |||
| Oct 27 - vs. Green Bay | 7:30 pm | |||
| Nov 3 - at Dallas | Noon | |||
| Nov 7 - vs. Washington | 7:25 pm | |||
| Nov 17 - at Seattle | 3:25 pm | |||
| Nov. 24 - at Green Bay | Noon | |||
| Dec 1 - vs. Chicago | Noon | |||
| Dec 8 - at Baltimore | Noon | |||
| Dec 15 - vs. Philadelphia | Noon | |||
| Dec 22 - at Cincinnati | Noon | |||
| Dec 29 - vs. Detroit | Noon |
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