Well, so much for my punless Ponder streak.
So as we've discussed, Christian Ponder's status for the upcoming game is in jeopardy (dear offensive line... oh wait, this is the front page, never mind), leaving one Mr. Joe Webb up for a possible return to the starting lineup.
We all know that Adrian Peterson is "80%"... whatever that really means. Quite frankly, like most of you, I'm perfectly OK with AP sitting out the rest of this lost campaign if that's what it takes. He's going to be a major part of our offense going forward- no sense risking him at all right now. Remember the old song- "the hip bone's connected to the... thigh bone!" and so on? Turns out its true... playing on a questionable ankle can potential risk the knee, etc. And again, there's no point. Hell, every win simply hurts our draft stock right now (not that I'm advocating ‘throwing games' or any of that nonsense).
With Ponder, however, things might be a little different. At first, I was of the mindset of ‘just get Ponder as many snaps as possible, if he's 70% or so, that's good enough'. But now that I've thought about it, I'm not so sure. After all, young as he is, there really is some risk in throwing him in before he's ready, not that the coaching staff sounds inclined to do any such thing.
But furthermore, I find myself more and more excited to see Joe Webb retake the field. It's not that I don't think Ponder is our QBOTF... I do. And it's not that I think Webb will beat him out for that... I don't (although I do love me some Webb).
But you know, if we're going to utilize Webb as our #2 QB (although many are clamoring once again for him to become a true WR), and if we're indeed going to also use him as a wildcat option (remember when I called that back in the offseason? Cuz I did!), then I think he needs to get a few more meaningful snaps, too.
Webb gave us quite the shock against Philly last year. And while that hurt our draft stock (which turned out OK), and a win against Detroit will do the same (which might turn out OK too- again, let's not tank any games here for draft stock or anything), let's not lie- it would be pretty cool. After all, Detroit did beat Webb in his final game last year. It would be nice for him to get a little vengeance.
What say you, Viking faithful? Should Ponder enter less than 100%, or should we just go ahead and let Webb get a little more NFL playing time under his belt?