In the midst of one of his best games with the Minnesota Vikings, quarterback Christian Ponder left the Thursday Night Football game against the Washington Redskins late in the third quarter after dislocating his left shoulder when he was stretching for a touchdown on a 15-yard run. Despite the injury, Ponder believes he'll be back in 10 days when the Vikings take on the Seattle Seahawks in Week 11.
ESPN reports that Ponder was lobbying to come back into the game after trainers popped his shoulder back in, but head coach Leslie Frazier wouldn't let him come back and risk further injury. Ponder said after the game he expects to be back as soon as Week 11.
"My expectations are, I'm going to be back next week," Ponder told ESPN. "We've got a great athletic training staff. They're going to do me right. I'm going to do everything I can to be back next Sunday."
The Vikings (2-7) ended up defeating the Redskins (3-7) 34-27. A video of the injury can be viewed here.
Though he threw an early interception, Ponder settled in and went 17-for-21 for 174 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while getting sacked once. On the season, Ponder is 115-for-179 (64.2%) for 1,246 yards with five touchdowns and seven interceptions. With Ponder out for the game, Matt Cassel took over and handed the ball off to running back Adrian Peterson to give Minnesota a 28-27 lead.
Cassel went 4-for-6 for 47 yards in relief, and Peterson finished with two touchdowns and 75 yards on 20 rushes. Ponder's injury is the latest twist in the quarterback situation for the Vikings (2-7), just as Ponder was starting to get in gear after making his third straight start. The Vikings have also used Cassel and Josh Freeman, who was required after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers released him, this season.
Frazier talked about how well Ponder has been playing lately after the game.
"I think Christian's really growing," Frazier said via ESPN. "He's more confident. He's showing more command. He's growing as a leader. Just the fact that he never got shaken, even after that interception. I'm sure he'll tell you, that was not the right decision to throw that football where he threw it. But that did not cause him to go in the tank and have self-doubt. He came back and played some of his best football. He's growing and maturing as a quarterback."
The Vikings are 3.5 games back in the NFC North as the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers all have 5-3 records.
Ponder is driven to get back by the time the Vikings head to Seattle on Nov. 17, but it remains to be seen if he'll be able to return.
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