I am very concerned that the team is not practicing on a field which imitates game time surfaces at Lambeau. The special teams coach said they didn't go outside because there was snow on the field—that has to be cleared off. They have to get use to handling the ball in exactly the same temperature and on the same field surface as this Saturday night. I would also pipe in noise.

This column is allegedly about the Vikings but all I see is a history lesson on the Packers.

Last I checked, most winning teams build through the draft, and supplment through free agency. This isn't a 'Packer' thing. It's an 'NFL football' thing.

Too bad Spielman drafted the next Colt McCoy at QB instead of the next Aaron Rodgers.

The flaw in Patrick's thesis is, Spielman is no Thompson, Ponder is no Rodgers and Zygi doesn't know what he's doing.

Funny how TT is viewed as a genius for taking a gamble on Rodgers yet spielman gets vilified for doing the exact same thing with ponder. If Rodgers turned out to be like ponder everyone would be singing a different tune about the Packers and the alleged genius of TT.

vikings1, The key difference between Rodgers and Ponder is that Rodgers was predicted to be drafted well ahead of where he was actually drafted and Ponder was predicted to be drafted well later than he was actually drafted. One GM drafted a resource on the cheap and the other overpaid for a resource.

I think what's important here is what Speilman and Frazier were talking about at the end of last season and that had to do with drafting the players that are needed on the field. The Packers and the Vikings have different defensive fronts and different responsibilities for all of their defensive players as a result. You also look at the importance that Minnesota has put on their offensive linemen. They need to be able to both pass block AND run block because we have Adrian Peterson. We might be following a method of building through the draft like the Packers but if we are following them it has more to do with the importance of communication between the coaches and the GM and his scouting crew. We appear to be getting that part down pretty well.

Any writer that thinks Ponder is any kind of long term answer at QB, doesn't know sports.

I'm not sure how much genius it took when Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers were 1a and 1b in that draft, and 1b happened to fall to 24. When your starting QB at the time was 36 it was probably the easiest "gamble" Thompson has made.