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.
Ponder reflects on dizzying rookie season
Posted by: Dan Wiederer under Vikings, Bears, NFC, Adrian Peterson Updated: January 4, 2012 - 2:01 PM
Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder took time out Wednesday morning to visit with Dan Patrick, providing an inside breakdown of an eye-opening rookie season. Ponder talked about a variety of topics -- from the big hits that left him dizzy this season to his endorsement of the Saints as the pick to win the NFC.
Ponder's season ended in the second quarter Sunday at Mall of America Field when a big hit from Bears defensive end Israel Idonije aggravated a hip pointer that Ponder originally suffered four weeks earlier against Denver.
The shot from Idonije came just eight days after Ponder left the Vikings' 33-26 win in Washington with a concussion. That injury came after a big hit from Redskins linebacker London Fletcher.
Battered throughout his 10-start run, Ponder said the hits added up and occassionally left him dizzy, even if Fletcher's shot was the only one that left him with a concussion.
"When you get up and you get your bell rung, if you don't have a concussion, you get up and you're dizzy for about 5 seconds," Ponder said on Patrick's radio show. "You've got maybe some stars floating in front of your face. And then they're gone and you feel fine. Then when you get a concussion that dizziness lasts a little longer."
Ponder would not take the bait when Patrick asked him to forecast the Vikings' plans with the No. 3 pick for April's draft but did say that newly appointed general manager Rick Spielman assured him that the team would not draft a quarterback.
Ponder also told Patrick he knew Adrian Peterson's knee injury was bad the instant it happened.
"I was standing like 10 yards away and I saw the whole thing happened," he said. "It was not pretty. As the guy was hitting him and wrapping around his leg, I knew it wasn't going to be good."
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