All throughout Christian Ponder's rookie year, offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave was asked in different ways what he could do to boost the young quarterback's confidence or at least keep it from plummeting. And Musgrave always clung to a simple refrain.
"Confidence," he'd say, "only comes from demonstrated performance."
So now, heading into Week 4, Ponder has three games of demonstrated performance to use as confidence fuel. He has a .701 completion percentage and a 104.9 rating. He led an incredible game-tying field goal drive in the closing seconds of regulation against Jacksonville, aiding an overtime win. He threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes in Indianapolis to rally the Vikings out of a 20-6 hole. And he turned in an impressive effort against San Francisco, throwing for 198 yards and two scores and adding 33 rushing yards and another TD.
"He has played better each and every week, both mentally and physically," Musgrave said. "It shows in our results, that's for sure."
Musgrave said Ponder's effort last week was probably the best of his young NFL career so far.
"He played well against Green Bay last year. He threw for 381 yards against the Denver defense last year," Musgrave said. "But there were those mistakes that made it tough for us to get the victory. The quickest way to lose in this league is to beat yourself. Last year, we did some good things. But he had some untimely mistakes that caused it to be really tough for us to get the outcome we want. We want to keep playing at a high level. But number one we don't want to beat ourselves."
Trained well
That 2-yard TD pass Ponder threw to Kyle Rudolph early in the fourth quarter last week? Musgrave was impressed that Ponder recognized the blitz and threw to Rudolph in a one-on-one mismatch situation, which eliminated any concern over the fact that Ponder didn't see Adrian Peterson uncovered and all alone in the end zone on the play.
