Christian Ponder the new experts Favorite

[GatorNation4Lyf]

Now I love Ponder, thought he was a great pickup in the first round and I think he will be an awesome QB in the league...

BUT how is it that every expert is so high on him after 1 game while Tebow is still a question mark in their minds? Listening to most of them, you would have thought that he threw for 400 yards and 5 TDs. Here's his numbers from Sunday...

C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT NFL RATING
C. Ponder 13/32 219 6.8 2 2 59.2

He had a 40% completion rate and threw 2 INT's but he's not getting bashed. Heck look at Carson Palmer and Kyle Boller? They were both horrible but you hear nothing but crickets. Oh yeah this was Palmer's first start in quite some time, hmmm, this was Tebow's first start this year but he still get's bashed?

C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT NFL RATING
C. Palmer 8/21 116 5.5 0 3 17.3
K. Boller 7/14 61 4.4 0 3 22.3

These guys were God awful for 4 quarters but somehow Tebow has to prove he's a QB???

[Amari24]

I've been high on Ponder before the combine. He was actually playing good for the first two quarters.

After halftime, the Packers' defense made life tough for him. I wasn't impressed with Ponder's numbers, I was impressed with his mobility, passes, and his ability to stay calm in the pocket. He looked pretty good for a rookie, and made some pretty good reads.

[DenverBlood]

Wait a second so you are a Gators fan for life who loves Christian Ponder? How does that make sense?

[JayJack]

Easy. Tebow is not the typical QB. Ponder is. Tebow needs an offense built just for him to be successful, Ponder doesn't. And then you look at decision making, being able to stay in the pocket and make plays, mechanics, and accuracy. Ponder, Newton, and Dalton amongst others are years ahead of Tebow.

[Atwnbroncfan]

Ponder was balling yesterday. To almost bring his team back against the defending champs? Yea he was doing work. He is going to be a good QB.

[jetdrumz]

Yeah, Ponder passes the eye test....Tebow does not. Only time will tell who is better, but really it's not a competition so whatever.

[Wolf Brother]

Ponder is not gonna win many games. Neither are the rest of those dudes, Cam, Dalton. They play for teams with little track record of success. Quite different playing as a Bronco. Tebow will have a better career than all of those guys unless Cam continues to work hard and display a good attitude and not allow show biz and the glam get to his head. I see that happening to Cam before it would to Tebow. Dalton and Ponder are non-stories. They are journeyman level dudes with a bit of upside, but little spark long term. How's that for an assessment.

[CoryWinget81]

Why does every young QB that plays well immediately get bashed for not being Tom Brady by Tebow fans?

Ponder played great in his first NFL start against maybe the best team in the NFL.

get over it.

[JaysusCutler]

He played very well. I watched the whole game, he was impressive.

[Hoserman117]

Why does every young QB that plays well immediately get bashed for not being Tom Brady by Tebow fans?

Ponder played great in his first NFL start against maybe the best team in the NFL.

get over it.

He was far from great, and the Packers pass defense sucks ass.

[GatorNation4Lyf]

Wait a second so you are a Gators fan for life who loves Christian Ponder? How does that make sense?

I'm a huge Ponder fan. I was telling my FSU friends (the very few smart ones :-) that he was going to be a first rounder when he was a sophmore. If he can stay healthy, he's going to be a good one.

I thought he was balling as well yesterday but I was very surprised when I looked at the box score. I was only catching bits and pieces of the game but I thought he was doing real well for what I saw. Yet, Tebow got crushed yesterday, deservedly so to some extent but Ponder didn't get much criticism at all and his numbers were worst than Tebows???

I guess my point is that all these guys are young and they deserve time to fail IMO.

[#87Birdman]

Still gotta say Dalton is still gonna be better than Ponder, but still Ponder was doing good for a first start. The Packers adjusted and he was rattled. We need to let some games go down.... uhhhh... like a full season and then we can see how they sit against each other and then give it a few more seasons and see how they have progressed, because that right there will be the key and that is how they progress during the season and future seasons.

[MileHighInNY]

Why does every young QB that plays well immediately get bashed for not being Tom Brady by Tebow fans?

Ponder played great in his first NFL start against maybe the best team in the NFL.

get over it.

I don't think it's necessarily bashing Ponder. The argument, IMO, is that there are other QBs, particularly young ones, whose stats look just as bad as Tebow's did but we're not constantly hearing how those guys are never going to make it in the NFL.

It's the media's double-standard that is being questioned, not Ponder's play.

And yes, you might argue that the competition faced by Ponder yesterday was better than what Tebow faced (I'd respond that while GB's offense is amazing, their pass defense is actually pretty bad and Miami has a surprisingly tough defense), but the point is that their stat lines aren't all that different (I'd argue that Tebow's is actually better), PLUS Tebow got the most important stat--the W.

The bottom line is that Tebow is now 2-2 as a starter in the NFL. He's 1-0 this season. He's a young guy who we all knew would need a lot of work to become a great NFL player. He's not there yet. But young QBs always look bad at times, and Tebow doesn't seem to be getting the "grace period" that other young guys are getting.

[GatorNation4Lyf]

Why does every young QB that plays well immediately get bashed for not being Tom Brady by Tebow fans?

Ponder played great in his first NFL start against maybe the best team in the NFL.

get over it.

My post was not to bash Ponder. I don't think Tebow fans bash others for not being Tom Brady but merely point out the double standard. How many other QBs have been questioned as to if he should even play QB (Maybe Vince Young). It's not the play of these QBs but the results and many people are more into "looks" versus results. I think old school folks who are results oriented don't mind Tebow, Vick, or Young.

Tebow put up better numbers than Ponder, Palmer, Boller, etc. yesterday BUT he's the only guy that got criticized. Don't you see the hypocrisy?

Imagine this forum if Tebow went 13/32?

[MaloCS]

Why does every young QB that plays well immediately get bashed for not being Tom Brady by Tebow fans?

Ponder played great in his first NFL start against maybe the best team in the NFL.

get over it.

Because people like you feel the need to criticize a young Tebow for not being Tom Brady. The benefit of the doubt you give Ponder is not given to Tim Tebow.

Most Broncos' fans, although overzealous, just want the criticism to reflect his experience. If the analysts expect a young QB to struggle when reading NFL defenses then Tebow should be given the same pass. After all, depsite his religion and popularity, he is still very much a young QB, especially when taking into account the off season lock out that hurt his development.

If Ponder is praised for his effort, despite lack luster stats then Tebow should be given the same benefit of the doubt. If Newton is praised for his effort, again, Tebow should be given the same benefit. To single Tebow out and expect results a 5 year veteran would have a hard time achieving is not being 'fair and unbiased'.

Yes, Tebow has to improve. Yes, Tebow looked awful for most of the game. Yes, Tebow needs to become better accustomed to NFL defenses. All of these things are true but they are true for any 4 game, young NFL quarterback.

To summarize, when we hear Tebow being criticized because he's not a Tom Brady clone putting up Hall-of-Fame caliber efforts then we feel the need to balance the playing field by presenting the fact that the so-called young QBs with bright futures are not out performing Tebow. Yes, Ponder played well but his overall performance wasn't light years ahead of Tebow's overall performance. At the end of the day, Tebow and Ponder both put up similar numbers. The difference was that all of Tebow's number came in the last 3 minutes of the game whereas Ponder's came throughout the course of the game. This fact may mean alot to some people but it doesn't to me.