Thread: Our Starting QB is Injury Prone

Originally Posted by kevoncox

I want badly to believe that we did the right thing on selecting this guy 12th overall I just have serious concerns on his ability to hold up. Look at his injuries in 3 consecutive years.

Junior year - Throwing Shoulder injury
Senior year - Elbow injuries
Rookie season - 3 different serious injuries including Hip, Concussion and Hip again.

I just don't know if this guy is capable of being the guy for 8 years or more.
Because of this I really want us to swallow our pride, take the media firestorm and draft Robert Griffin.
Capable of sub 4.4 speed, Rocket for an arm and compact throwing motion (except when deep), he is the best QB we will have a shot at for years. He is super intelligent, can read defenses and is very careful with the ball. Simply put he should be the #1 pick ahead of Luck but that bandwagon is out of control. Picture Vick, minus the off field drama, with the brain of an Oxford graduate, and the passing poise of Montana. This pick at #3 will define this franchise for another decade and we will be kicking ourselves if we mess this up. In a league driven by the passing game, why we seem to be ok with "good enough" as opposed to an excellent Qb, is beyond me. Other needs be damned, this kid was on team devoid of talent minus a 1st round WR and he lead them to a bowl game and bowl victory. Draft Griffin and trade Ponder for a 2nd or 3rd to the Bills, Skins, Cards, and or Browns.

I don't care what system you play in 4000+ yards throwing, 37tds and 6 ints, while completing 72% of his passes is obscene.

Baylor's Robert Griffin III: 2011 Heisman Trophy Winner & Most Exciting Player in the Country! - YouTube

said it before ponder throws a couple of blistering balls and the next few lack power.....reminds me of pennington......take griffin......but again we have so many holes.....trading down and getting more picks might be prudent......?.but. RGIII. puts fannys in the seats.......and the best qb the vikes will ever have a shot at in the next 5 yrs + in the draft.

Still don't see a convincing reason not to take RGIII in the draft. QB is a cornerstone piece, and Ponder hasn't proven anything yet. Not saying he can't, or that he won't, but forcing 2 capable players to fight it out has no real downside...unless we're wrong about both...

Caine

Originally Posted by Caine

Still don't see a convincing reason not to take RGIII in the draft. QB is a cornerstone piece, and Ponder hasn't proven anything yet. Not saying he can't, or that he won't, but forcing 2 capable players to fight it out has no real downside...unless we're wrong about both...

Caine

I am firmly on the RGIII train if he falls to us. I see no reason to pass him up.

You would pass on an elite LT to take RGIII?. If you do how do we protect him form getting killed any better than we failed to protect Ponder?

Agreed on the premise that Ponder has some injury concerns. I think the kid has moxie in a big way. He got killed behind our crappy line in an offseason where he first thought he would be the guy and then got thrown in when McRibb turned out to be worse than expected. I think an offseason with the team as the guy, but still having to prove it will do wonders. I would love to take another QB and RG3 looks like a damn good one, but with the holes we have I would rather see is build from the lines and secondary first. No matter what we do it will need to be under the guise of competing to win our division, even RG3 alone with the line issues we have is not enough....

Originally Posted by Mark_The_Viking

You would pass on an elite LT to take RGIII?. If you do how do we protect him form getting killed any better than we failed to protect Ponder?

Yes ... you always take an elite QB over and elite LT. You take an ELITE QB over any other elite position. If we don't think that RGIII is elite ... that is fine. But you can have all the elite LTs in the world (look at the Browns and Dolphins) but they don't matter with bad QB play.

On the other hand you can have elite QBs like Manning and they even make Charlie Johnson look like a capable LT.

Originally Posted by midgensa

Yes ... you always take an elite QB over and elite LT. You take an ELITE QB over any other elite position. If we don't think that RGIII is elite ... that is fine. But you can have all the elite LTs in the world (look at the Browns and Dolphins) but they don't matter with bad QB play.

On the other hand you can have elite QBs like Manning and they even make Charlie Johnson look like a capable LT.

and going by draft positions Manning would be considered an elite QB against Tom Brady - so how many SB rings and appearances does he have in comparison.
Problem with trying to concentrate on the elite QB to the detriment of other positions on the team... when said superstar is out or gone then the team's season tends to go tits up - ala Colts last season

Originally Posted by AngloVike

and going by draft positions Manning would be considered an elite QB against Tom Brady - so how many SB rings and appearances does he have in comparison.
Problem with trying to concentrate on the elite QB to the detriment of other positions on the team... when said superstar is out or gone then the team's season tends to go tits up - ala Colts last season

So you don't take a chance on getting an elite QB because you THINK you MIGHT have an elite LT?

I don't see what Tom Brady or Peyton Manning have to do with the argument at all.

If you have a chance at an ELITE QB and don't think you have one (which I think most here would agree that we don't think we have one) then you take him. And ELITE QB is more important to any team than ANY other position.

If RGIII is truly elite (which he could bust of course ... and so could Matt Kalil) then RG III and No Name Tackle is better than Average QB and Matt Kalil EVERY time.

Originally Posted by i_bleed_purple

But quick question, when the D blitzes 6 guys (happens fairly frequently), and we don't max-protect, but Ponder still gets hit by 2 guys, how is that not the OL's fault?

Blitz 6???????? How do you blitz 6?

Saw alot of 4 man fronts providing pressure with 2 and 3 men blitzing, but never 6 men. Sounds like a new scheme that you should send to our new D - Coord.

Besides, In our scheme, the way to defeat the blitz is to get rid of the ball quickly to your hot read based on the sight adjustment made by the QB and the WR's. Our problem this year was we usually only had one WR on the field and that makes it pretty hard to make a sigth adjustment.


What we were don this year, was to put the responsibility of the RB/FB or one of the 2 or 3 TE's, not a OLmen to pick up the blitzer. They, not our OL, for the most part, were the reason, along with the inability to take advantage of the blitz via the hot read adjustment (see above) were the reason Ponder was on his ass alot my friend.

Originally Posted by Caine

Still don't see a convincing reason not to take RGIII in the draft. QB is a cornerstone piece, and Ponder hasn't proven anything yet. Not saying he can't, or that he won't, but forcing 2 capable players to fight it out has no real downside...unless we're wrong about both...

Caine

I can see your point, to an extent, but only because we are talking the QB position. The other side of that point, at least for me, is taking a QB high 2 years in a row is about as dumb as the Lions taking WR's high 3 years in a row.

Either you have to trust your scouts and front office pukes to get it right and provide the staff the right guy, that matches the scheme, and most importantly, you have to rely on your coaching staff to get the kid(s) ready.

I think the FO pukes got it right with Ponder. I'm just not sure about the coaching staff right now.

Lets hope we can fix our WR corps, get AD and Toby back and get our OL back to 1 or 2 blocking schemes vice 4 so young Ponder has a group around him that he can work with.