clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Vikings OTAs: Christian Ponder Struggles, But Not Cause For Concern

Only two days into Organized Team Activity and the spotlight already shines bright on Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder. Entering his first full offseason at the helm of the Vikings offense, the organization and their fans are looking for some growth on the part of Ponder. According to Kevin Seiffert of ESPN.com, you won't be seeing that growth in the earlier days of OTAs:

You would be disappointed if you were hoping to see fundamental and significant improvement. As always, Ponder carried himself like an NFL quarterback. But his hit-and-miss results were indicative of a player who is still gaining confidence within his scheme.

Of course, Seiffert prefaced that statement with the fact that OTAs are merely OTAs and in the long scheme of things, they don't mean anything. More specifically, they don't mean anything to Ponder because he knows what he needs to work on and realizes he has plenty of time to work on it:

"Just [need to make] smarter decisions, I think," he said. "Not trying to force the ball down the field. I think if we have go routes called, if it's not open, have the patience to be able to check it down. It all comes down to patience and knowing your reads and finding the open guy. Football is not a hard game. You've just got to find the open guy and get the ball to him."

For more on the Minnesota Vikings during their organized team activities, head over to The Daily Norseman. More news and analysis on the NFL as the off-season continues can be found over at SB Nation's dedicated NFL hub.

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.