Skelton feels like he has chance to start for Cardinals

John Skelton played in eight games last season, including
seven starts.

Skelton completed 54.9 percent of his passes, tossing 11
touchdowns to go along with 14 interceptions.

He also led the Cardinals to six of their eight victories,
and played well enough that head coach Ken Whisenhunt said
following the season that there would be a competition
between Skelton and Kevin Kolb for the starting gig in
2012.

The plan took a small detour in March when the team
pursued QB Peyton Manning, but alas the former Colt signed
with the Broncos.

Skelton understood the team’s interest in Manning.

“He’s a great player, he’s a surefire Hall of Fame guy,
why would you not want him in your locker room,” Skelton
said. “It works out either way, whether they brought him
in or they didn’t.

“Kevin and I are just going to go on like it never
happened.”

That means continuing on with the idea that he has a
chance to be the team’s starter entering 2012.

“[The coaches] said it will be an open competition and I’m
sure we’re both going to go in there with that mind-set,”
Skelton said of his chances to be the starting QB.
“Whether
one of us is proclaimed the starter or not, we’re both
going
to work our tails off.”

The 24-year-old out of Fordham, though, is far from a
finished product. While he showed a knack for rallying the
team late in games, often times it was Skelton’s miscues
that put the team in a hole to begin with.

So, the next few months will be of the utmost important to
the former fifth-round pick, as he looks to make
significant improvements to his game during his first full
offseason.

“I still have to get the playbook down completely, I have
to be able to make those surefire reads and throws and
everything, and just continue to get better,” he said.

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