"Christian Ponder didn't need a boxscore Sunday to realize he had spent most of his afternoon spreading the ball around to whoever wanted in. But when Ponder did finally survey his stats from a 34-24 victory over Detroit, he discovered his 24 completions had gone to 10 different players. There were deep balls to receivers and key third-down completions to tight ends. There were screens and check-downs to running backs. And, yes, Ponder even inadvertently completed one pass to himself, a connection he probably wanted a do-over for given that Lions defensive end Cliff Avril batted that ball back to him, then flung Ponder for a 15-yard loss. "Unfortunately," Ponder quipped, "I'm going to have to throw myself another 15-yard pass to negate the negative 15 yards." Ponder's good humor after Sunday's victory proved refreshing after the way he had approached postgame podiums the previous three weeks. After completing only eight passes and throwing for 58 yards in a Week 7 victory over Arizona, Ponder classified his own mood as "disappointed." After a lopsided loss to Tampa Bay, his dejection spiked. Then, when the bottom seemed to drop out of the passing attack with 44 net yards during a 30-20 loss in Seattle, Ponder seemed downright despondent. But on Sunday, the 24-year-old quarterback found a way to revive the positive energy that characterized the season's first seven weeks. It started with the Vikings' effort to spread the ball around. "We felt like we had become a little stagnant and predictable in some ways," Frazier said. "We needed Christian to understand the importance of moving it to different people because of what defenses are doing [to us]."" Read more: http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/179009791.html?refer=y
