AP

The Vikings are already in London for Sunday’s game with the Steelers, which means that they’re further into their working day than those of us in the United States.

And that means that they have already determined that quarterback Christian Ponder is limited in practice because of a rib injury. Coach Leslie Frazier made the announcement on Wednesday and Ponder confirmed that he was injured early in last week’s loss to the Browns. Ponder was able to finish that game and threw the ball during the walkthrough portion of practice, but admitted that he’s worried about contact because of the injury and left open the possibility that Matt Cassel could be the Vikings’ man on the other side of the pond.

“If I can’t fulfill my duties, then Matt’s going to step in and play,” Ponder said, via Tom Pelissero of USA Today.

Ponder expects to play, but it’s obviously a situation to monitor over the rest of the week. If he can’t go, he’d have a bye week following the London trip to heal up fully although a winning start for Cassel in his stead probably wouldn’t do much to quiet those calling for a more permanent switch at quarterback with the Vikings.