Some of you snubbed your noses last week at our developing man-crush on Christian Ponder. Then the Minnesota Vikings quarterback went out and slayed the San Francisco 49ers, leading the brain trust behind "Madden NFL 13" to hop on the bandwagon.
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Ponder's gutsy showing against the 49ers defense spurred programmers at EA Sports to bump his overall rating from 77 to 79. The second-year starter has rallied the Vikings to a surprising 2-1 start and trails only Matt Ryan with a 70.1 completion percentage after three games. Ponder did an excellent job extending plays against the 49ers and his 33 yards rushing included a 23-yard touchdown burst that made its way into our top-five runs of the week.
Ponder wasn't the only beneficiary. New York Giants running back Andre Brown jumped from a 67 overall rating to 73 after rumbling over the Carolina Panthers for 113 yards in relief of Ahmad Bradshaw. Meanwhile, rookie Indianapolis Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton went from a 65 to a 70 to reflect his outrageous four-catch, 113-yard outburst against the Jacksonville Jaguars over the weekend.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.