Time to Ponder, Ponder

I'm a huge Viking's fan as I am sure you have noticed from some of my post. This year I had very low expectations. The team was going with a 2nd year quarterback and rebuilding a their defense, so when the team started out 4 and 1 I was like ok, maybe they can make the playoffs.

The key to the run was the mistake free play of Christian Ponder. He was not taking any real chances down field and not afraid to throw it away if needed. He was not lighting up the stat sheet but he was forcing teams to go the length of the field when they punted away. That was alway's been head coach Fraizer's plan. Strong running game, strong defense and protect the ball. Well around week 5 teams figured out Ponder, they took the simple slants away forcing him to make bad decisions.

Now young qb's are going to struggle, it happens and is part of the game. Drew Brees was the reason the Chargers drafted Rivers, then it started clicking for Brees, but not till his 3rd year in the league. My concern with Ponder is the repeat mistakes he continues to make. The most alarming is turning it over in the redzone. Ponder has at least 3 interceptions in the endzone or inside the 5 yardline. That can't happen, not with a team like the Vikings who can not play from behind.

We have heard all season these mistakes are easily correctable and all mental, well in my opinion those are some of the toughest to correct. Ponder still tries to throw across his body, has issues in the pocket and very rarely sets his feet to throw. We know he has the talent cause we have seen him make the the throws, but something is not clicking and the team is wasting what could be Adrian Peterson's best season.

The back-up qb is a position of mystery for me, because I am not sure of the Vikings angle here. They let Sage Rosenfels walk away to keep Bethel Thompson and Joe Webb. Neither who is starter material, Thompson is raw as they come, but with a big arm. Webb while exciting because he can make plays with his leg's struggles with reads and is even quicker than Ponder to his check downs. Having not kept a veteran qb on the roster leads me to think the Vikes planned to ride out the Ponder roller coaster no matter what. Which is why Webb never got a chance yesterday, the Vikes either don't have any faith in him or are afraid to hurt Ponder's confidence.

Depending how the final couple weeks playoff assuming the Vikes don't make the playoffs, Rick Spielman will have some interesting choices to make. Does he keep Frazier, does he still believe in Ponder? I like Frazier and I think he has done a good job this year, I think the last couple years he was in offer his head. This season with an actual g.m running the team Frazier has been able to focus on the football. He says the right things and players respect him which is what you want. Ponder is not so simple, he was the 12th overall pick and at times has played well, but even when he plays well is it enough to out weigh the mistakes or even get this team to the Super Bowl?  Probably not, he was not grown and again simple repeat mistakes are very alarming. That said he was Spielman's draft and I am sure will get the full 3 years that Spielman believes are needed to develop a qb... Tighten your belts Vikings fans time to get back on the roller coaster...

Straight Cash Homie....

Now that the Saints have received their due punishment, every former and some current players are chiming in on the subject. It seems that paying "bounties" happens on every team just not to the degree of injuring a player. It's more a long the lines of first guy on defense to get a pick gets $1000 or first tackle on special teams gets $500.  If nobody meets the goal which I hope on special teams that doesn't happen, the money rolls over to the following week. Each guy on the team chips and it is sort of a goal...

Now these figures are pretty small even in my eyes, but some players pointed out that some goals could get as high as 10 to 20K. This is where I get upset, every year some player whines and holds out cause he can't feed his 5 kids and keep gas in his 6 cars..Maybe if NFL players were more responsible with their money they wouldn't have these issues. If NFL players want to throw money in weekly bounty pots each week, don't expect the public to feel sorry for them come contract time or when they lose everything..Worry not soon to be broke EX-NFL player, I am sure SI will write a great story about what you once were...

Bobba Fett and rest of the Bounty Hunter Saints....

Yes, I know this goes on with every team in some shape or form..What team would not want the opposing teams best players to be out of the game? Nobody wants to endanger someone's career, but hey if he gets a stinger and needs to miss a couple plays no harm done...

But the reports out there are painting a much darker picture of the New Orleans Saints. It stems from the GM all the way down to the players. What's even more interesting is that after the owner told the GM to cut the bounty program it continued. The Saints had developed a reputation in 2009 as dirty players and then I read  reports out of Minnesota about the Saints targerting Farve and Peterson complaining they were trying to twist his ankle the following year...Even though I am a Vikes fan I wrote it off to sour grapes, cause they lost a game they should have won.

Now the reports are flying that Jonathan Vilma threw 10K on the table and said "This goes to whoever knocks Favre out of the game", that the Saints targeted Kurt Warner the week before playing the Vikings and Greg Williams preached players giving "remember me shots to qbs" and told his players to deliver them to Peyton in the Super Bowl.

Greg Williams comes from the Buddy Ryan tree of coaching and yesterday Damian Woody who played for the Jets under Rex Ryan claims this is nothing new in football... Now you have to wonder how deep the shit gets..Possible Rob Ryan in Dallas could use the same "motivational" tool? The league has done nothing but push player safety for the last couple seasons so they need to bring the hammer down on the Saints and make an example out of them, regardless if everyone is doing it or not...

Atleast now we know why Greg William's defenses are usually near the bottom of the league in tackling..Too busy going for the kill shot...

Lin Vs Tebow

From one mania to the next, Timmy vs Linsanity...Maybe because I don't follow much basketball that the coverage Jeremy Lin is getting on every channel doesn't bother me as much as Tebow does. Or maybe the fact that Lin is a feel good story and he continues to impress when people think he will fail. Yes the Heat shut him down and yes he struggles with turnovers, but what he has done thus far from no where is remarkable.

I'm tough on Tebow, because he has  so much hype surrounding him for accomplishing zero in the NFL. Tools like Skip Bayless like to give him way more credit than he deserves and not enough to the Denver defense who got the turnovers and made up for Tebows typical 5 for 15 weekly completion ratio. I get that he's a polarizing figure and with the attention from every angle. I just don't see what the hype is for a qb who's team covered up his lack of NFL skill.

Now on the flip side Jeremy Lin deserves it because the kid came out of no where turned the Knicks around and is hitting game winning shots. He has proven he can play but does not seek out the attention Tebow has. Tebow appears humble, but he seeks out the media any chance he gets and uses that to preach. Lin has taking the NBA by storm and now has his share of "haters" from Mayweather playing the race card..Shocking really.. Or Steven A Smith writing Lin off because he had one bad game against one of the best if not the best defense in the league. I love people saying he is getting the attention because he is asian, maybe he is getting the attention because he was a bench warmer and breaking records that the best players in NBA history set.... Grab a seat and enjoy the rest of the show

Year of the QB and other football thoughts

So this was the year of the qb, to be an elite team you needed a high power offense and a qb to throw all over the place...No so fast, 4 of the top passers in the league started the playoffs and only one remains.. Brees,Stafford and Rodgers all made early exits from the playoffs and it came down to 2 reasons.. Lousy defense and lousy ball protection, the Saints and Packers both had suspect defenses but were bailed out by their quarterbacks.

Rodgers looked flat and while his receivers did drop quite a few balls he missed wide open passes and looked slow going through his reads. Rodgers extended plays with his feet, but to many times missed the open man. His defense did him no favors getting zero pressure on Manning and horrible tacking. Green Bay had one of the worst defenses in the league but close to the top in takeaways.. The Giants protected the ball and Eli avoided turnovers...

Brees was his typical Brees self, the guy puts up amazing numbers but every game will throw at least 3 no look deep passes. If you look back to the game against Detroit, he had 3 int's dropped and came back to win the game. This week that did not happen, the Niners took advantage of every chance they got. On defense Greg Williams chose to blitz Alex Smith and I'm not sure why... Smith is one of the best quarterbacks in the league against the blitz. Smith is not flashy and will not put up huge numbers but he plays it safe and the Niner play to his strengths.

What separates Brady from the others (besides still being in the playoffs) he doesn't force the ball down field. That's why he is able to control the game better and limit his turnovers. Using his two tight ends he is allowed to work the middle of the field and his receivers pick up huge chunks of yards after the catch. Yes the Patriots defense is suspect and they did play Tim Tebow, but if they can get the same type of pressure on Flacco this week, I think the results will be the same. The Broncos had one of the best defenses in the league and Brady picked them apart...Which leads me to McDaniels..

People are upset over the Patriots bringing McDaniels back a week before the game. Yes I understand your point, but if he was a ball boy it wouldn't be an issue. McDaniels was let go in St.Louis thus voiding his contract making him available to hire. It's within the rules so move on..

Giants fans it's the morning after and you are still crying over the terrible calls.. Let it go, you won the game..This stuff has been going on all season long with blown calls, it's part of the game and will continue to be part of the game. The NFL needs to hire a full time review crew instead of having the field crew review it.  Put it directly on the NFL and not the judges on the field who are basically part time employees..

Next week...I like the Pat's over Ravens 28-14 and Niners over Giants 21-7