Christian Ponder, Antoine Winfield Questionable For Minnesota Vikings Wild Card Match Up

The Minnesota Vikings have listed two key players questionable ahead of Sunday’s NFC Wild Card game against the rival Green Bay Packers, as quarterback Christian Ponder (elbow) and star cornerback Antoine Winfield (hand) both make the injury report as questionable.

Both players are expected to play in the all-important game, and Vikings fans are least concerned about Ponder’s injury. He suffered the elbow injury after being hit by blitzing Packers safety Morgan Burnett in last weeks win for the Vikings over Green Bay, and Ponder didn’t miss the game. In fact, the injury didn’t seem to affect him much, as he was still lights-out from the second quarter onward. Ponder threw for three touchdowns and just clipped the 120 QB Rating mark.

Antoine Winfield’s injury is more serious, but there is almost no way the tough Vikings CB will be missing this game. He is playing through a broken hand that is still healing, and the Vikings have made a new soft cast for him to use in this battle against the all-too-familiar NFC North rivals.

The injury has impacted Winfield’s ability to tackle, but, as one of the best tackling corners in the NFL, that isn’t as big of a blow as it would be for other corners. Winfield is one of the best in the game, and the hand injury only slightly hurts his ability to cover (press coverage off the line).

Again, I can’t see either of these guys not suiting up on Sunday, but Winfield’s injury is definitely one to watch for closely.

The only player who has been ruled out for this game is backup linebacker Tyrone McKenzie, who was not expected to play in the first place. Nobody other than those three will be missing Sunday’s game, barring any unforeseen, last-minute circumstances.

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