The Christian Ponder Experience! And more thoughts from the Edge with Odin

So now we have it at hand. The Christian Ponder Experience is upon us. The chosen one has been handed the keys. He is only the 3rd quarterback the Vikings have drafted in the first round. 50 years and three QB's. Tommy Kramer (1977), Duante Culpepper (1999) and Christian Ponder (2011).

Tommy Kramer played for 11 years and amassed 24,775 yards in his career. He tossed 159 TD's and 157 picks and had a 72.9 QB rating. He ran for 531 yards and had 8 rushing TD's.

Duante Culpepper played for 6 years and amassed 20,162 yards. He tossed 135 TD's and 86 picks and had a 91.5 QB rating. He ran for 2476 yards and had 29 rushing TD's.

What will the Christian Ponder Experience do? We will join him on his journey to find out later today. He will face a Green Bay Packer team that has no reason to believe they won't walk out with a victory right about suppertime. And further separate themselves from the division and the rest of the league.

But we don't know much about Christian do we? Sure, we know about his college career, but this is the NFL. I liked what I saw in the debacle at Soldier Field last Sunday night. What I liked, is he looks like someone who is letting the game come to him, instead of forcing anything. He's reacting and attacking at the same time. Very cool in my mind. He escapes pressure well and seems to find his spots. What that also tells me is that barring injury, there is little reason to believe that he won't be the guy for awhile. 

Green Bay has always been a natural rival, but Green Bay has been around almost twice as long as our Vikes (Founded in 1919). They are like our older brother who we like to battle with. This edition of the Pack is somewhat like last year's vintage, and there are some elements that are different from last year. They seem like a team operating like they are daydreaming about winning another Superbowl. Last year they jumped on chances and took advantage of opportunities and created their own destiny. This year is pretty much the same. The one thing that the Vikes have in thier favor is that Green Bay doesn't know much about Christian Ponder either. 

We will all find out today. My gut tells me that the Christian Ponder Experience will surprise us all. I expect the game to be closer than most pundits think it will. I'm not picking a Viking victory, but what do they have to lose? The fact that Chris Cook is locked up in the pokey (which looks like he'll be unavailable for this season and most likely his career). I figure this by three words to describe his situation. "Felony" and "without bail". So with an ageing and depleted secondary, Aaron Rogers will most likely dissect our favorite team on a fairly regular basis. This happens if Jared Allen doesn't put on the foil (thanks Hanson Brothers!) and get in Roger's mind. He can do this (get in his mind) by hitting him frequently and with little to no regard of safety.

So what the message is, is keep Green Bay's offense off the field as much as possible. This means a healthy dose of All Day. We expect Green Bay to stack the box in an attempt to hold All Day in check and that will allow Christain to do his thang. And with Christian's debut as the wild card as to what will happen, it should be a fun ride with The Christian Ponder Experience. This game and beyond.

Prediction: Green Bay - 34

                 Vikings - 24

Odin, out.