Peterson Not Enough to Propel Ponder

After a 3-13 2011 season in which Christian Ponder started 10 games, finishing with 1800 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions, the Vikings' front office and coaching staff put us on notice--wait until 2012!

Why the optimism?  Those not buying the usual sales pitch of a general manager reaching to defend a reach were admonished that Ponder would improve and improve exponentially in 2012 as the result of a full off-season and training camp, a starting role from day one, greater familiarity with the coaching staff, and greater understanding of the game.

When things began to go south in 2012, the Vikings' General Manager told us that quarterbacks need 25 games before they properly can be judged.

As things went further south in 2012, the Vikings' General Manager told us that three years are required to make a proper assessment of a quarterback.

Eyes and statistics tell us, however, what Rick Spielman currently is unwilling to admit--that Ponder is, at best, a caretaker quarterback.  Sunday's performance only further cements that impression.

Through eleven games in 2012, Ponder is minus 399 yards passing against the opposition versus the mean.  That means that the rest of the league averages nearly 400 yards more passing against the Vikings' opposition to date than does Ponder.

That statistic, alone, is not nearly telling enough, however.  Far better is a comparison of that figure to one offered by another quarterback that virtually no team in the league, save his own, currently considers anything other than a sub-par quarterback--Ryan Tannehill of the Miami Dolphins.

On the season, Tannehill has passed for plus 114 yards against the opposition versus the mean.  For the average quarterback, the difference between Tannehill and Ponder is nearly two full games of passing.  For Ponder, it is at least double that figure.

Even in the one game for which Ponder received accolades this year as a meaningful force on the field--the San Francisco game--Ponder passed for but one more yard than the league average.

Passing yards are but one statistic--one measure of a quarterback's value to a team.  But passing yards are particularly meaningful for evaluating a quarterback's value because the current NFL is a passing league with rules intended to promote passing, every 100 yards of passing tends to equate to seven points, and teams that pass well tend to win.

Passing statistics are also particularly relevant for assessing Ponder's career, because Ponder has had the luxury of playing with Adrian Peterson--a luxury that should make Ponder appear even better than he is.  Fear greatly how Ponder would look were he blessed with merely a Toby Gerhart in the backfield.

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Governor Dayton's Curious Letter to Vikings Subjugates Weightier Revenue Issues

Yesterday, Minnesota Governor cum military attache, Mark Dayton, penned a letter to the Minnesota Vikings in which he expressed dismay and dissatisfaction with the team's apparent plans to incorporate personal seat licenses (PSLs) into their ticket-pricing plans and the team's commitment to play one or more home games in London.  On the former, the Governor is either obtuse or a fraud.  On the latter, he has a case he needs to continue to push.

If Governor Dayton is serious about his dismay over the Vikings' pursuit of a PSL, that dismay does nothing but suggest that the Governor is woefully out of touch with one of his primary policy "achievements"--the Vikings' stadium bill.  The final language of the agreement to construct a new Vikings' stadium specifically confers upon the stadium management authority the role of coordinating with the Vikings the sale of PSLs.  The language of the agreement makes clear that, though not a fait accompli, PSLs are both permissible and, seemingly, expected.

Assuming Governor Dayton is not simply suffering an episode of dementia, it is impossible to believe that he did not understand the language of the stadium agreement--language requiring only rudimentary reading skills to comprehend.

That leaves only the more troubling possibility that Governor Dayton's outrage is not sincere.  That would be unfortunate, as it would undermine the second source of his outrage--the one not addressed by the Vikings in their otherwise germane response to the Governor's letter--the Vikings' decision to play at least one home game in London.  It would also quite unfortunately suggest that Governor Dayton does not understand that there remains a considerable degree of negotiation over the new stadium left to be had, should his minions on the stadium authority council be so directed.

The Vikings' decision to play a home game in London is disgraceful on every level.  It comes only after passage of legislation providing substantial public funding for the team's new stadium and undercuts the team's purported commitment to those who made the stadium possible and whose livelihoods depend on the home games.  The Vikings' rationale for the decision is that the NLF has guaranteed the team a lot of money and that the team will be able to "grow its brand."  If you did not before understand where the Vikings stood regarding the loyalty relationship between fans and team--the one that the team called on in support of a new stadium and now betrays--you should now.

The London issue is one that Dayton ought to continue to press and one that he ought to instruct his stadium authority friends to hold over the head of the Vikings in negotiations on a lease for a new stadium.

That latter element is something that Dayton appears not be fully versed on either.  For, as of this moment, the Vikings have not yet inked the terms of their lease agreement in the new stadium.  Under the new stadium agreement, the stadium authority is vested with the power to grant the Vikings all revenue streams--or none.  That spectrum is something that will determine whether Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and Minnesota struck a good deal on the stadium.  And that is the issue that should be consuming Governor Dayton's sports facility-occupied time.

Conversely, Dayton should care whether the Vikings employ PSLs only to the extent that the Vikings' ability to impose PSLs may be used as leverage by the stadium authority to obtain similar revenue benefits for the public that is footing the bill for the stadium.  Otherwise, Dayton should be content with  the knowledge that the Vikings can only impose PSLs if fans are willing to pay for them--and that almost assuredly will depend both on how much the team charges and for which seats.  Objections to such licenses logically would need to carry over to objections to higher ticket prices.  For, if the team does not impose PSLs, it almost assuredly will charge more for tickets (above the increase that fans already will realize in the new stadium).  That's simple economics.

In short, if Governor Dayton truly is sincere in his disgust with the Vikings' latest money grab, he should save his public venom for the Vikings' commitment to playing in London and pursue recoupment for that commitment and the near-certain imposition of PSLs through negotiation of a more public-friendly lease agreement that confers upon the public more of the benefits from the stadium's various revenue streams.

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