Vikings’ quarterback Christian Ponder is still winless in 2013 following Minnesota’s 27-23 loss to Dallas today.
In his five starts, he has thrown just two touchdowns, and the Vikings’ only win of the season came when Matt Cassel started under center for the Purple.
Here’s what Ponder had to say after turning the ball over twice today.
“This is a frustrating one, to go 1-7 halfway through the year is tough for us. The good thing for us is it’s a short week and that will keep guys focused. We’re going to have to move on quickly. Hats off to Dallas, they played a good game.”
“On offense we came up short, a couple plays short of what we should’ve done to win the game.”
“To be honest, it sucks, but we’re going to keep moving forward, and get better as an offense and get some wins.”
Harder to lose like that? “It is tough, our expectation is we’re going to win every game. It is disappointing to lose that way.”
Need more effectiveness in the red zone? “When we tried to go for it on fourth early in the game, loved that, didn’t get the play. We didn’t get the conversion, which stinks. You lose points there. We gotta get better.”
On the no-huddle early: “I think a lot of guys like our no-huddle stuff, it’s a good tool to have for us.”
On the late game fourth down punt: “I was surprised – we were going to go for it. We were excited about it, then tried to draw them offsides, weren’t able to do it.”
“Our defense had been playing great the whole game, hats off to Dallas to going out and scoring.”
On starting Thursday: “I need to be out there playing, I’m happy that I’m out here playing, myself and the leaders on this team have to make sure we turn this around and win.”
On the interception: “Looked a little long, looked like I overthrew him.”
On being close to home: “A good experience, but a tough experience when you lose.”
On being 1-7: “A lack of execution on offense, we’re not making plays like we did last year. We have too many turnovers.”
Here’s the entire press conference with Ponder breaking down the performance blow-by-blow.
