Arizona Cardinals quarterback John Skelton spoke with XTRA Sports 910 in Phoenix on Tuesday morning about how his development is progressing and his comfort level with the team's current competition for the starting QB job. Skelton is battling Kevin Kolb for the position, and he's been given the nod as starter for the team's upcoming preseason game.
As Skelton told Dan Bickley and Mike Jurecki, there's no added pressure in playing with the first-team unit (via Sports Radio Interviews):
The pressure’s been there ever since Coach Whisenhunt announced that it was gonna be an open competition and I don’t see this game any different than the first practice of camp or anything like that.
Skelton, 24, has spent portions of the past two seasons as a starter for the Cardinals. Over those 13 games (including 11 starts), Skelton has completed just 52.6 percent of his passes with a 66.9 passing rating, but Arizona is 7-4 in games that he's started.
Accuracy has often been an issue for the quarterback, but he believes that improved technique will allow him to become a more precise passer going forward:
The accuracy is kind of the last thing that falls into place. You work on your footwork, you work on your release point, you work on knowing beforehand where the ball’s gonna go based on your pre-snap reads and stuff like that. And when all of that kind of comes together, it kind of culminates into the accuracy getting better, and I think that’s where I am at this point.
For now, Skelton may be in the lead for the starting quarterback job, but the Cardinals have invested a lot in Kolb, so they're going to give him a fair shake. It's worth watching the next couple preseason games just to see how this situation develops.
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