Christian Ponder downplays injury as cause for inaccuracy

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder has struggled with his accuracy during Minnesota's last three games -- two of which were Vikings losses. Ponder has been listed on Minnesota's injury report for weeks with a knee injury, though the second-year quarterback has yet to miss time because of the injury.

Ponder, though, isn't blaming his recent poor performance on his injured knee, and dismissed the notion that the knee is causing Ponder's inaccuracy.

"Not at all," said Ponder, who has completed fewer than 55 percent of his passes in each of the past three games. "My knee has been fine. Even when it was injured, it didn't really hurt. It was just swelling and no real pain."

Ponder completed just 47.1% of his passes while throwing for 58 yards in Minnesota's Week 7 win over the Arizona Cardinals, but did improve to 54.3% during the Vikings' Week 8 loss to the Buccaneers -- while throwing for 251 yards. Ponder regressed in Week 9, completing just 50% of his passes while throwing for just 63 yards against the Seattle Seahawks.

Prior to Week 7, Ponder's lowest completion percentage of the season was 60% -- when the Vikings upset the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3.

Minnesota will need Ponder to improve dramatically in the second half of the season, as the Vikings look to make a playoff push.