McNulty prepared to work with Cards’ QBs
Feb 10, 2012, 1:23 AM | Updated: 2:18 am
John McNulty spent the last three years with the Cardinals watching over the wide receivers, and he’s seen how frustrated they’ve been with the quarterback position. He’s now in charge of the quarterbacks, and he’s ready to address some issues.
He’s been able to watch John Skelton and Kevin Kolb’s progress with the Cardinals so he knows where to start with improvements.
“I think what Kevin did a great job with was cultivating the relationship and respect of the team and showing his leadership and did everything he could to learn the system,” McNulty told Arizona Sports 620’s Doug and Wolf. “But learning it and putting it into practice are two different things.”
He explained that Kolb had a lot of pressure going into training camp to go 16-0 even though he had to adjust to the new team and couldn’t practice the first week.
Heading into the offseason, McNulty said the main thing for Kolb to help improve will be getting in more reps with the knowledge he’s gained during the season. He didn’t have ample time to learn the plays before the season and couldn’t get as much practice time as he would have liked to.
What McNulty noticed in Skelton was that he had to play at another level rather than the pace he played at Fordham University. McNulty said he can physically play with the way he hums the ball and escape rushes, but he just has to connect it to the game mentally.
“The speed of the game and the fact that if you’re off by half a count, it’s too late, and it could cost your team a game,” McNulty said. “I think those things under fire came clear to him.”
He mentioned Skelton was able to grow as a person and working with the position, and he was also able to gain respect from his teammates. Skelton had to grow quickly when he was thrust into the starting position to take the place of the injured Kolb.
The Cardinals have many rumors swirling around them about the quarterback option for next season, but McNulty wants to focus on the players he has.
“We have two guys that are more than capable of being productive at the position, which is a lot more than other guys have,” McNulty said. “I think sooner than people think their talents will come to the fore, and hopefully I can help them do that.”
