Christian Ponder excited to play again, didn’t know he was on short leash
By Mike Dyce
The Minnesota Vikings went out and signed Josh Freeman after he was released from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That sent Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel to the bench. Injuries have forced the Vikings to start Ponder after Freeman suffered a concussion.
“Apparently I was on a short leash before and I didn’t know it,” Ponder said, via ESPN.
“I want to be on the field, and this is my opportunity to get back out there again,” Ponder said, per the Minnesota Star Tribune. “I think it was good for me to kind of take a step back for a couple weeks and take a deep breath and learn from those first three games and get out there and play better. I’m excited for this opportunity. What a great way to come back out against the Packers at home. It’ll be fun.”
While Vikings fans might not share his enthusiasm or optimism, they can share his next sentiments. Of course, he was talking about being benched and the fans might be thinking about their season.
“It couldn’t get any worse than that,” Ponder said of being benched. “That’s probably fair to say. I think I was playing with a lot of pressure on myself before and never felt in sync. Now is the opportunity to take that deep breath and go out and have fun again. I already got benched, so it can’t get worse than that.”