Greg Jennings: Christian Ponder Needed Help
By Mike Dyce
It’s no secret that the Minnesota Vikings were a mostly one dimensional team last year. Adrian Peterson almost rushed for as many yards as Christian Ponder threw for. Only roughly 840 yards separated the two.
But Greg Jennings thinks it is simply because quarterback Christian Ponder needed a little help.
“Every quarterback, you’ve got to give him time (to develop),” Jennings said Tuesday on ESPN, via the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “Tell me this, right now: Brett Favre, receivers around him. Aaron Rodgers, receivers around him. Christian Ponder … receivers around him.”
Christian Ponder’s biggest target was Percy Harvin, who only played in 9 games last season. He was also traded this offseason clearing the way for Greg Jennings to sign with the Minnesota Vikings. They also drafted wide receiver Cordarelle Patterson from Tennessee.
“He (Ponder) has always been in a position where the stress and the pressure was on him, and he really didn’t have the help around him to take that load off, outside of ‘All Day’ (Adrian Peterson). That’s it,” Jennings said.
“At some point, you’ve got to do something for yourself, so that whole, ‘Man, he’s always had great quarterbacks,’ throw that out the window now,” Jennings said.
He’s seeming to embrace the new role and is eager to prove himself.
“I expect nothing but greatness (with the Vikings this year). When you see what they were able to do last year, with the guys they had on that team, great guys, but it goes beyond that. It goes to the coaching, and guys actually believing in one another. You saw a team that believed in one another, that felt like they could get it done, that was disappointed when they lost to us (the Packers) in that playoff game. So when I’m there now, I look at an organization, a group of guys that had that hunger, that had that desire. Now again, you can say whatever you want to say, but I was in that locker room with my guys in Green Bay. That same hunger — I’m not saying we weren’t hungry (after 2010), but the year we won (the Super Bowl), you couldn’t walk in that locker room and feel like these guys weren’t going to do something special.”
“I’ll put it like this: You should have questions about the quarterback (Ponder).”
Either way it’s great to see a veteran receiver publicly praising and supporting a young quarterback who has come under fire for his performance.