{"id":5810,"date":"2013-10-10T10:00:41","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/?p=5810"},"modified":"2013-10-10T10:00:41","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T14:00:41","slug":"christian-ponder-cleared-but-matt-cassel-will-start-for-vikings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/2013\/10\/10\/christian-ponder-cleared-but-matt-cassel-will-start-for-vikings\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Ponder cleared but Matt Cassel will start for Vikings"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_5495\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5495\" style=\"width: 594px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5495\" alt=\"getty\" src=\"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/files\/2013\/09\/cassel.jpg\" width=\"594\" height=\"478\" srcset=\"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/files\/2013\/09\/cassel.jpg 594w, http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/files\/2013\/09\/cassel-300x241.jpg 300w, http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/files\/2013\/09\/cassel-50x40.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5495\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Matt Cassel will continue to operate as the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings this weekend even as Christian Ponder has been cleared to return to the field following a rib injury.<\/p>\n<p>With Cassel under center the Vikings won their first game of the season against Pittsburgh on Sept. 29. After a bye week head coach Leslie Frazier is opting to stick with Cassel this weekend against Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>Cassel was 16-of-25 (64.0 percent) for 248 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions against Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p>Vikings QB Christian Ponder, who fractured his rib, has been cleared to play, but Matt Cassel is Minnesota\u2019s likely starter vs. Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamSchefter\/statuses\/388294667055271936\">October 10, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>How long of a leash Cassel will have is also a question in Minnesota after the Vikings <a title=\"Josh Freeman signs with Minnesota Vikings\" href=\"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/2013\/10\/06\/josh-freeman-to-join-minnesota-vikings\/\">signed free agent Josh Freeman<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n<p>It is looking doubtful that Ponder, a former 12th overall pick, will throw another pass for the Vikings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matt Cassel will continue to operate as the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings this weekend even as Christian Ponder has been cleared to return to the field following a rib injury. With Cassel under center the Vikings won their first game of the season against Pittsburgh on Sept. 29. After a bye week head coach [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[425],"tags":[414,33,152],"coauthors":[4],"class_list":{"0":"post-5810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-christian-ponder","9":"tag-matt-cassel","10":"tag-minnesota-vikings"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5810"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}