Christian Ponder has said that the Minnesota Vikings are "hungry" for the first week of the 2013 regular season.

The NFC North side, who face the Detroit Lions on Sunday, reached the playoffs last season, losing to the Green Bay Packers in the wildcard round.

The quarterback told reporters: "I think this whole team is hungry to get out there. It's been a long time since we've put the pads up back in January. We're eager to get out there, I'm eager to get out there and just play football again.

"We go through this whole pre-season and all these practices to get out there and finally play. There's nothing like playing a game. Again, to start out in an environment like Detroit, we know the crowd is going to be really loud.

"It's going to be a competitive environment and I think that's where we thrive. I think we have a lot of competitive players on this team including myself and we're excited for this challenge."

Ponder completed 2,935 passing yards for 18 touchdown passes in 2012.