Photo courtesy of StarTribune.com
By: Aj Mansour | KFAN.com
@AjKFAN
Minneapolis, MN - There's been no shortage of Christian Ponder since the Minnesota Vikings second-year quarterback had to be pulled out of the starting lineup and was unable to play last Saturday's Wild Card Playoff game at Lambeau Field. Monday afternoon a picture (above) surfaced on the Star Tribune's website that showed Ponder's bruised and battered arm and today, Ponder took to the airwaves with KFAN's Paul Allen and cleared the record on what kept him out of last weekend's playoff game.
"It was painful the whole game after it got hit," Ponder told KFAN. "I had to keep it loose and kept throwing on the sidelines [during the game] to keep it loose...Adrenaline is a heck of a thing and was able to get me through it. By Monday morning, at the elbow, I couldn't even bend my arm close to 90 degrees. I wasn't functional to be able to throw a football."
Ponder went on to explain that the injury that kept him off the field on Saturday night was not an issue with pain tolerance but was more an issue of limitations that made it not possible for him to throw the ball and be effective on the field.
"I couldn't throw the football," Ponder said. "My tricep had shut down and the tricep is a pretty important muscle when you throw the football. I couldn't throw the ball ten yards."
Hindsight being 20/20, we now know that after taking zero snaps all season long, Joe Webb was not up to snuff and couldn't not match what the Green Bay Packers defense was bringing. That being said, on Saturday night, he was apparently a much better option than the injured Ponder would have been.
"Our decision was the fact of what was best for the team," Ponder explained. "If I can't throw, what are we going to do in a third-and-nine situation? Joe was a lot more effective at quarterback than I could have ever been."
Closing out the conversation about the Wild Card game, Ponder explained that no matter the pain, if he were able to have been in uniform and on the field, he would have.
"With what we went through last year to be able to be in the playoffs and not be able to play, it was very disappointing to say the least," Ponder said in closing.
CLICK HERE to listen to the full interview with Christian Ponder...
