If you missed my live Vikings chat on Tuesday afternoon, you can check in here and read the back and forth in full. In addition, each week I will attempt to go overtime, bringing good questions I didn't get around to answering on the chat here to the Access Vikings blog for discussion. Here are Tuesday's leftovers.
Question 1: Christian Ponder called his interceptions against Tennessee bad throws but not bad decisions. He was happy about that. What do you see as the difference? And what about the interceptions that should have been that were clearly dropped?
Question 2: Does Ponder have enough arm strength to consistently complete downfield passes in tight windows. Or is he going to be a game manager, dink and dunk passer? Like an Alex Smith, Jeff Garcia type?
Let's go throw by throw on the two Ponder interceptions and the two most notable near-picks.
2:00 to go in the first half. Vikings face third-and-6 from the Tennessee 18. From the shotgun, Ponder took the snap and zeroed in on tight end Kyle Rudolph, really never looking elsewhere. He tried to fire a bullet to Rudolph at the 9 along the right side of the field. Cornerback Ryan Mouton had the first opportunity to pick that pass off. Safety Jordan Babineaux had a shot at it as well. It was an ill-advised throw and almost cost the Vikings three points.
0:28 left in the first half. Vikings face second-and-11 from the Tennessee 24. Out of the shotgun again, Ponder gets a little bit of heat and looks at Michael Jenkins on an intermediate out route. But this throw is short and Mouton has it in his sights the whole way. If Mouton makes a clean break and catches the ball, this one could have very well been a pick six -- which would have produced a halftime score of 13-7. Once again, with the Vikings in field goal range, this was a bad pass that could have been costly.
0:24 left in the first half. Vikings face third-and-11 from the Tennessee 24. This time, the pocket collapses quickly on Ponder. He uses his agility to escape the initial pressure. But charging hard to his left, he throws across his body toward Rudolph down near the left sideline at the 5. The throw is high and behind Rudolph, who only gets the fingertips of his left hand on the ball, tipping it to Tennessee's Alterraun Verner who knocked it into the awaiting arms of Robert Johnson. Ponder said after the game that he didn't worry about that pick because, in his opinion, it wasn't a bad decision, just a bad throw. But with a likely three points on the board, the risk-reward of making that throw – a tough throw to make on a sprint to the left – isn't great. Furthermore, it looked as if Ponder might have room to run for five yards or so. At the very least, you throw that ball away and let Blair Walsh add the three points. In a close game, against a good opponent, that type of miscue could be deadly.
13:12 left in the third quarter. Vikings face third-and-12 from the Tennessee 48. Out of the shotgun, Ponder eyes Jerome Simpson, darting in toward the middle of the field 18 yards downfield. He tries to squeeze a throw in but Babineaux has it read the whole time and makes an easy pick. After the game, Ponder said again that he wasn't worried about the decision as much as he was the throw. His initial thought was that if he had just waited another half-second, allowing Simpson to clear Babineaux a the throwing lane would have opened. But even if he had waited it looked like Johnson, the back-end safety, might have had a play on the ball then.
In a nutshell, in the span of eight passing attempts, Ponder threw two interceptions and two other near-picks. Yes, he finished 12-for-13 for 100 yards after that. But the Vikings became a little gun shy in asking Ponder to throw down the field after the two turnovers.
For now, for most of 2012, the Vikings offense will try to thrive on a bunch of high percentage short passes that don't give Ponder too much rope with which to hang himself. Eventually, the young quarterback is going to have to find ways to make those down field throws more consistently, with better reads and better accuracy. So applaud his Year 2 growth because the turnovers haven't come in bunches through five games. But understand that there are still leaps to be made for him to become a passer who opposing defenses fear.
