By: Aj Mansour | KFAN.com
@AjKFAN
Minneapolis, MN - According to the official Vikings injury report that was released early Thursday afternoon, Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder was limited at today's practice. If there were a more specific distinction based on the thirty or so minutes that the media was able to witness, I might have listed him as "severely limited."
In the locker room after last Sunday's victory over the Green Bay Packers, Ponder could be seen walking around with an ice pack tightly wrapped around his right elbow gingerly shaking hands with his teammates and team officials. According to coach Frazier, the elbow injured occurred late in the second quarter of last week's game when Ponder was hit in the pocket and sent a pass sky-high across the middle. The pass was eventually caught by a diving Jarius Wright and Ponder stayed in the game going on to deliver two touchdown passes and a 65-yard pass to Wright all in the second-half.
During his only media availability this week, Ponder simply said that the elbow was "fine."
"It’s whatever," Ponder said on Tuesday. "It’s something that will be fine and get it ready to go."
Since then, Ponder has appeared on the Vikings injury report for the first time in recent memory and today paved the way for Joe Webb and McLeod Bethel-Thompson to take reps during the wide receiver and quarterback warm up session.
After practice Thursday, head coach Leslie Fraizer met the media and addressed the situation saying that they didn't ask Christian to do a whole lot today.
"[We want to] let that elbow calm down a bit," Frazier said. "It's a little bit tight for him, just have to loosen it up a little bit."
Frazier went on to say that Ponder has been taking more mental reps than physical reps this week but also added that he doesn't think that anybody will end up being listed as "doubtful" when the official injury report is released by the team Friday afternoon.
If Ponder is unable to go, Joe Webb will be the guy to step in. Webb has only two starts under his belt (@PHI & @DET), both coming during his rookie season of 2010. In those games, Webb put up 340 yards passing (27/58) with no passing touchdowns and one interception.
Even with the final weekly injury report coming out tomorrow afternoon, it is unlikely that we will get any final decision on Ponder until game time Saturday or just before that. Stay tuned to KFAN.com and @KFAN1003 for the latest on this an other situations for the Minnesota Vikings.
CLICK HERE to get un update on Antoine Winfield who told us today he will play Saturday.
