Still no resolution to Arizona Cardinals QB competition
Aug 27, 2012, 5:32 PM | Updated: Aug 28, 2012, 6:36 pm
Ryan Lindley will start for the Cardinals Thursday against the Denver Broncos.
It will be the last game he starts for a while.
Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said Monday he has not yet made a decision on who the team’s starting quarterback will be Week 1 against Seattle, thereby prolonging one of the more intriguing and frustrating story lines of camp.
Who will it be, Kevin Kolb or John Skelton? It appears they have just about wrapped up making their respective cases, as neither is expected to play in the team’s preseason finale in large part because Denver is not expected to play its starters much.
“As far as evaluation of the quarterbacks, in trying to make it a level playing field as for the number of reps and who they’re playing against, I don’t know how much that would serve with John or Kevin out of this game,” Whisenhunt said.
Instead the Cardinals will continue to take a look at the two in practice this week, and while Whisenhunt said he knows there are a lot of people looking for an answer, he simply does not have one at this time.
“I still think we have opportunities to evaluate the players and we’re going to do that,” he said. “And when we feel like we’ve made a decision we’ll let you know.”
So Lindley, a sixth-round pick out of San Diego State, will get the start, with Richard Bartel also seeing time in the game. The head coach made sure to let everyone know that there is nothing the rookie could do to supplant either of the two front runners.
Along with Lindley, running back William Powell and linebacker Reggie Walker are set to play a substantial amount of snaps, with the coaching staff hoping to see more of players who have done well this preseason.
“One of the knocks that you hear about those type of players is you don’t get a chance to see them with your good players or against good players,” Whisenhunt said. “So this is an opportunity for us, in a situation like this with a fifth preseason game, where we’re going to get a chance to evaluate them with our good players against some of Denver’s starters.”
Arizona Sports’ Craig Grialou contributed to this report
