NFL Week 2 Full Of Seminoles

Richard Goodman, wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers,  had two kickoff returns for 37 yards a piece.

Kamerion Wimbley, defensive end for the Tennessee Titans,  made one tackle and one assist in a loss against the San Diego Chargers.

Lawrence Timmons, linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, had three tackles, one assist and made a pass deflection.  Also Timmons was in the backfield pressuring Mark Sanchez on three different occasions. 

Antonio Cromartie, corner back for the New York Jets made two tackles and helped on another in the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  All of his tackles were made against speedy Mike Wallace.

Leon Washington, running back for the Seattle Seahawks, had two returns in the kicking game.  On a kickoff he caught the ball on the 6 yard line and returned it 20 yards.  Then on a punt he returned it seven yards.  Washington also had four carries for 11 yards.

Anquan Boldin, wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens, only had two catches for seven yards and one was for zero yards.  The Ravens just could not get the ball to their receivers as they only made five catches in the game. 

Preston Parker, wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had a run on an end around for seven yards then he was pushed out of bounds.

Dekoda Watson, linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had a very productive day against the New York Giants.  He made two special team tackles, one coming on a kickoff and the other on a punt.  His third tackle came against Victor Cruz as he caught a pass over the middle.

Darnell Dockett, defensive end for the Arizona Cardinals, was in the backfield disrupting the quarterback again this week, this time it was Tom Brady.  During the first play for the Patriots, Brady dropped back and tried to throw a pass over the middle when Dockett got his arm up and tipped the pass that led to an interception.  He stopped 3 runs by himself against the Patriots running backs holding them to -5 yards.  Also, Dockett helped with another tackle for -1 yards. 

Sebastian Janikowski, kicker  for the Oakland Raiders, was perfect on the day going 2-2 on field goals with a long of 27 yards and 1-1 on extra points. 

Mike Harris, cornerback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, made his first career tackle against the Texans.  The tackle came on the first kickoff of the game as the Texans returned the kick 30 yards and was meet by Harris. 

Mister Alexander, linebacker for the Houston Texans, did not have a tackle but was on the field for kickoffs and punts.

Christian Ponder, quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, was 27-35 for 245 yards and 2 TDs.  Ponder started the game perfect going 6-6 in their first two drives and leading them to two field goals.  On their next possession, he fumbled the ball which led to a Colt field goal.  Ponder led his team to two touchdown in the second half going 12-15 for 89 yards in those drive.  The second TD tied the game with only 31 seconds left.  The Vikings defense could not stop the Colts who kicked a game winning field goal with 8 second to go.  Ponder gave it a shot going 2-2 for 29 yards as the time expired.

Letroy Guion, defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings, had one assist in the loss against the Indianapolis Colts.

Patrick Robinson, corner back for the New Orleans Saints, had two tackles one assist and two pass deflections.  The Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith caught a pass out in the left flat for 3 yards and Robinson was there to help make the tackle.  Robinson made another tackle on Steve Smith and also one against Jonathan Stewart.  Robinson’s two pass deflections were huge; one was on third down to end a drive and the other was on a deep ball stopping Steve Smith again. 

Brodrick Bunkleym, defensive tackle for the New Orleans Saints, helped on two tackles against the Carolina Panthers.  His first assist came when Cam Newton tried to scramble to the left end.  The second assist occurred in the fourth quarter as Carolina’s running back DeAngelo Williams tried to run behind the right guard for a gain of only 4 yards.

Nigel Bradham, linebacker for the Buffalo Bills, made two tackles and helped on another.  Bradham’s first career tackle came on punt coverage in the third quarter.  In the fourth,  Peyton Hillis tried to run around the right end only to be met by Bradham and D. Searcy for a gain of only 4 yards.  Then again in the fourth he made a tackle on a punt return. 

Rodney Hudson,  center for the Kansas City Chiefs, got his second start of the season. 

Recap Of Sundays Seminoles

LB Geno Hayes of the Chicago Bears made a couple of great plays in the second half of Sunday's matchup with the Indianapolis Colts.  On the Colts second possession of the second half, Geno made a nice stop for no gain on Donald Brown the running back as he tried to bounce the ball to the left outside.  Then a couple of plays later, Geno was covering tightend Coby Fleener over the middle and stopped him from breaking away for a touchdown.  In all it was a great start for Geno Hayes with his new team.

QB Christian Ponder of the Minnesota Vikings had a great start to his second season.  The first quarter and much of the second started out pretty slow for Ponder.  Then, with 2:28 to go the in half he led the Vikings down the field going 4-4 for 46 yards to put them on the Jacksonville 5 yard line. A couple of plays later, the Vikings were able to pound it in for a TD.  In the third quarter after a turnover, Ponder completed a 19 yard pass to Percy Harvin to setup a field goal.  In the second half he was 10-13 including a game tying drive with only 20 seconds left.  During overtime, Ponder was 3-3 for 28 yards to lead to a game winning field goal.  For the game he was 20-27 for 270 yards and only one turnover which was a fumble that he was unable to recover.

CB Patrick Robinson of the New Orleans Saints recorded his first sack of his NFL career by making the tackle on Robert Griffin III for negative 9 yards.  Patrick also had two other tackles and a pass deflection for the Saints.

DT Brodrick Bunkley of the New Orleans Saints helped with a tackle on Redskins RB Alfred Morris for only a gain of 2 yards.  Two series later, he got another tackle on Morris for only a gain of 2 yards.  In the fourth quarter Brodrick made his third tackle against Morris, this time stopping him for only a gain of 3 yards.

CB Antonio Cromartie of the New York Jets got his third career interception return for a TD against the Buffalo Bills to help secure a blowout win.  The pick came at the start of the third quarter when Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a short pass to WR D. Nelson and Cromartie read it perfectly jumping the route and taking it to the house even doing a little high stepping before the endzone.  Cromartie ended the day with 2 tackles and 2 assist.

DE Kamerion Wimbley of the Tennessee Titans had a nice sack against Tom Brady of the New England Patriots Sunday.  Brady tried to roll to the outside and did not see Kamerion coming from behind him to make the sack.  As he tackled Brady and was getting up, he kneed him in the face by accident.  Brady suffered a cut to his nose which was bleeding pretty badly.  Kamerion ended the game with 2 tackles and 2 assist.

DT Darnell Dockett of the Arizona Cardinals was unstoppable making 5 tackles with 4 being solo and 1 assist.  Dockett made the first tackle of the game, stopping Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch to 2 yards.  During the last series of the first half, Darnell made a tackle on former FSU RB Leon Washington.  Pretty much the DT was in the backfield disrupting the Seahawks as they were never able to get on track.

RB Leon Washington of the Seattle Seahawks almost broke two returns for TDs but was dragged down from behind.  Leon ran a kickoff back 83 yards only to be tackled just short of the endzone and then again on a punt return he made it 52 yards.  Both returns led to Seahawks points a TD and a FG.  Also Leon had 2 carries for 5 yards.

LB Lawrence Timmons was all over the field for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Timmons ended the night with 5 solo tackles and 3 straight in one drive.  Timmons showed his speed as the Broncos were trying to run out the clock with runs.  One run was to the right end and Timmons made the tackle on McGahee for only 5 yards.  The next run was McGahee right behind the left guard and Timmons stuffed it in the hole.  The last run was by Moreno this time behind the right guard and Timmons did the same thing again and stuffed the hole.

Ponder And Vikings Preview

Sunday will be the start of a new season for Christian Ponder and the Minnesota Vikings.  Ponder is coming off of his rookie season in which at times he showed great potential and at other times proved was a rookie.  He had to sit behind Donovon McNabb for the first six games then was given the starting position during week 7.

Ponder's best game statistically of his rookie campaign was against the Atlanta Falcons in week 12 when he was 17-25 for 68% with 186 yards and one TD.  He had a passer rating of 103.1 out of 158.3.  Then in week 13 he threw for a career high 381 yards against the Denver Broncos.  Last year the Vikings went 2-8 with Ponder as the starting quarterback.

Christian Ponder and the Vikings are still in the rebuilding process.  He will only have one wide reciever returning that caught over 50 passes last year and that will be Percy Harvin who caught 87 balls for 967 yards.  The Vikings signed receiver Jerome Simpson to help Harvin on the outside, but he is suspended for the first 3 games.  The team also signed two tightends in Kyle Rudolph and John Carlson to help over the middle and with blocking.  The team used their first round draft pick to sign offensive tackle Matt Kalil who will help an offensive line that gave up 49 sacks last season.

Then it all comes down to Adrian Peterson and how healthy he is and can stay.  Peterson is coming off of an ACL and MCL tear which required surgery to repair both.  He says that he is almost back to 100% but time will only tell.  He brings so much to the team and is a nightmare to opposing defenses.  If he can stay healthy he will take so much pressure off of Ponder that he will be able to develop into a better quarterback.  The game will be able to slow down because teams wont be able to blitz as much for the fear of a play action pass.

In all,  Ponder and the Vikings have a lot to work on to become a better football team.  With a little bit of help from different players, the Vikings should be able to improve their record from last season.  Its not unlikely for them to see 5 or 6 wins with improved stats.  

Christian Ponder Prepares For First Vikings Mini Camps

Christain Ponder played hurt most of his senior year at Florida State, and in his rookie season for the Vikings much was the same.  Coming into his first mini camps as a pro Christian Ponder has put an emphasis on becoming stronger. 

“I had some injuries last year (and) I can try to help myself not get injured next year,” Ponder said. “(I'm) doing a lot of stuff in the weight room, the training room, doing yoga. (I am preparing) myself to be in the best physical shape as possible for this coming season.”

Newly aquired tight end John Carlson has had nothing but great things to say about Ponder. 

“He's very talented. I didn't realize he was as mobile as he is. Watching some film from last year, that's very obvious. He's got all the tools. He can make all the throws, and he's a really bright guy. I'm excited to be a part of his development.”

Vikings mini camps start Thursday May 3rd to Sunday May 6th.

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