Ponder suffered injury in loss to Cleveland last week.
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder is hoping to shake off a rib injury in order to play against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Wembley on Sunday.
The 25-year-old suffered the knock during the 31-27 loss to the Cleveland Browns last week, and had been in doubt to feature despite completing the game.
However, although he is confident that he can take part in the clash in London, he is still cautious about how he will react to a hit.
“The biggest concern is contact,” Ponder said, per USA Today. “My mindset is I’m going to play.”
The quarterback confirmed that he threw during the Vikings’ walkthrough but wouldn’t answer whether or not he knew if he had either bruised or broken his ribs.
He claimed that he had played twice through rib injuries during his college days at Florida State, but would be limited during training on Thursday.
Nevertheless, coach Leslie Frazer has insisted that it was a good sign that he managed to complete the game against the Browns last week, and he has therefore not started planning plays with back-up quarterback Matt Cassel.
“We want to see how Christian does today,” he told reporters.
According to NFL media’s Aditi Kinkhabwala, the Vikings equipment staff are preparing extra padding for their quarterback to protect the injury, but it remains to be seen whether or not it will help Ponder overcome his issues of form on the field.
His struggles have been well documented over the past, and it is perhaps in his thinking that he doesn’t want to miss Sunday’s game in order to avoid handing Cassel the chance to shine.
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