Whisenhunt: ‘Acquiring Peyton Manning is no longer an option’

Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt released a
statement Friday regarding the team’s quarterback
situation moving forward:

Regarding today’s developments and our
quarterback position, acquiring Peyton Manning is no
longer an option for us.

Since the end of last season we made it very clear that
our plan was to head into 2012 with Kevin Kolb and John
Skelton, let the process play out and – like at every
position – go with the quarterback who gives us the best
chance to win.

Obviously something very unique and unexpected presented
itself. We’ve said it many times: if there’s an
opportunity to make our team better we’ll explore it; we
view the potential of adding a first-ballot Hall of Fame
quarterback as one of those. The organization quickly put
together an aggressive plan to go after it. We’re proud of
that and feel very strongly about what we have to offer as
a team and as an organization. In the end it didn’t work
out but from our perspective it was very positive and we
certainly don’t have any regrets about it.

We sit here today in the same spot we were heading into
the offseason. That’s with two experienced quarterbacks
who have both demonstrated positive things in the past and
who we feel good about. Like we said at the end of the
season when we won seven of the last nine games, carrying
the momentum of that strong finish into 2012 is important
and that remains unchanged.

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