the Skelton poll

[AZ Native]

In other words you don't think he can singlehandedly carry a football team.

That's how I see it too. Most of the greatest QBs had defense, a running game etc on their side.

 

[devilalum]

That's how I see it too. Most of the greatest QBs had defense, a running game etc on their side.

Trent Dilfer

Skelton could have been the qb of that Ravens team and they still would have won the SuperBowl.

 

[AZ Native]

Trent Dilfer

Skelton could have been the qb of that Ravens team and they still would have won the SuperBowl.

Agreed. Trent was not a great qb. I was stating that most of the greatest QBs had defense, a running game etc on their side. I did not mean to imply that is why they were great, only that it helps achieve the status of "great". I have never used the words great and Dilfer in the same sentenc (until now)

 

[ReddBird]

Yep but it's easy to promote 'potential'. He's got the arm, he's got the size, and I think he could develop into a solid QB -- if the coach was behind him and gave him time to grow.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Nope. I do not see franchise QB when I see Skelton.

This

 

[Dayman]

This post has me confused. If he shouldn't have seen the field for a couple of years then how to you hold his completion % against him?

That's like saying when Barry Sanders was 12 months old he could barely walk so he will never play in the NFL.

It means that I want to reserve judgement because he started too early, but I can't find many examples of franchise QBs who completed under 50% of their throws in their rookie years on over 100 attempts. The only two I can find are Vick and Eli. I hope the main reason behind his inaccuracy was his larger than average transition, but judging by the amount of wide open receivers he missed, I'm not holding my breath.

It's more like questioning if Max Komar can ever be a serviceable NFL player than deeming Barry Sanders a bust as an infant.

 

[Cardiac]

It means that I want to reserve judgement because he started too early, but I can't find many examples of franchise QBs who completed under 50% of their throws in their rookie years on over 100 attempts. The only two I can find are Vick and Eli. I hope the main reason behind his inaccuracy was his larger than average transition, but judging by the amount of wide open receivers he missed, I'm not holding my breath.

It's more like questioning if Max Komar can ever be a serviceable NFL player than deeming Barry Sanders a bust as an infant.

Well I don't think Max has the measurables that Skelton does so I still like my infant anology better.

If Skelton was having trouble simply calling the play correctly then one would assume that he doesn't have a great feel for how the play should unfold. He didn't get reps with the starters or many reps at all during the season. Simply having sufficient practice time with the WR corps will help dramatically with completion %.

What we could observe and critique was his pocket presence and how he spins the ball. He passed those tests with flying colors. Now we have to see if he can read a defense and get his completion % up to snuff. Those skills take time to develop even if you are Peyton Manning.

 

[bg7brd]

It means that I want to reserve judgement because he started too early, but I can't find many examples of franchise QBs who completed under 50% of their throws in their rookie years on over 100 attempts. The only two I can find are Vick and Eli. I hope the main reason behind his inaccuracy was his larger than average transition, but judging by the amount of wide open receivers he missed, I'm not holding my breath.

It's more like questioning if Max Komar can ever be a serviceable NFL player than deeming Barry Sanders a bust as an infant.

I think Elway was about 47 or 48% in his rookie year.

Add:
Dan Fouts - 44.8%
Terry Bradshaw - 38.1%
Archie Manning - 48.6%

 

[Dayman]

Well I don't think Max has the measurables that Skelton does so I still like my infant anology better.

If Skelton was having trouble simply calling the play correctly then one would assume that he doesn't have a great feel for how the play should unfold. He didn't get reps with the starters or many reps at all during the season. Simply having sufficient practice time with the WR corps will help dramatically with completion %.

What we could observe and critique was his pocket presence and how he spins the ball. He passed those tests with flying colors. Now we have to see if he can read a defense and get his completion % up to snuff. Those skills take time to develop even if you are Peyton Manning.

Skelton definitely showed some nice skills last year. He's much more mobile than I expected, and his pocket presence was impressive for the situation he was in. And you could be right about his completion percentage getting better with time. I hope you are. Stats like completing 39.4% of his passes intended for RBs and TEs, however, still give me cause for concern. Every other QB in the division completed over 60% of those passes, including DA and Hall.

I think Elway was about 47 or 48% in his rookie year.

Indeed he was (47.5%). Theisman and Fouts are two other examples. I'm not saying a QB has never succeeded after completing under 50% of his passes, although it happened more often when the rules favored the defense. Still, the modern day precedent doesn't bode well for Skelton.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

rightfully so, we are looking at vet options at the QB because Skelton is not ready yet but he did show some promise...but is he a possible franchise QB in the future? That is actually almost as important knowing as getting a vet for the position.

I voted yes because "It's too early" should be an option.

 

[Second Deck]

I would like to see a vet brought in hopefully McNabb and let both fight it out for the starting job. I also was impressed with Skelton's pocket presence. Hopefully the frickin HC can figure out how to help him by using the RB's.

 

[joeshmo]

He was thrown into the mix way too soon, so it's tough to say. Ideally, Skelton wouldn't have even seen the field for another couple of years. But right now, that 47.6 completion percentage makes it tough to think he'll ever be a franchise QB.

Trust me I love some stats but this is where you can look a little deeper into it.

When throwing to WR's/TE's Skelton actually had a better completion percentage of 55.3%. Still not great but not Max Hall horrible either.

It is when he threw to the RB's that dropped his percentage below 50%. When throwing to RB's he had a completion percentage of only 39.4%.

Usually throwing to your RB's improves your comp % not the other way around. This could be one of three things, Skelton needs better touch on shorter throws, Skelton got rattled and wasn't comfortable with throwing emergency underneath routes(panic), or as we all know our RB's had drops issues. I don't believe he panic in emergencies because he is pretty calm guy in the pocket so it is probably a combo of adding better touch to his throws (easily coach-able) and RB's with horrible hands which is statistically true.

Could be a big reason why they were high on a RB and FB with perceived good hands.

Anyways Sando gets the credit for the statistical breakdown here -

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/36305/the-long-and-short-of-nfc-west-qbs

 

[SECTION 11]

I like Skelton a lot. At least as much as the free agent pile that's out there.

 

[DoTheDew]

Trust me I love some stats but this is where you can look a little deeper into it.

When throwing to WR's/TE's Skelton actually had a better completion percentage of 55.3%. Still not great but not Max Hall horrible either.

It is when he threw to the RB's that dropped his percentage below 50%. When throwing to RB's he had a completion percentage of only 39.4%.

Usually throwing to your RB's improves your comp % not the other way around. This could be one of three things, Skelton needs better touch on shorter throws, Skelton got rattled and wasn't comfortable with throwing emergency underneath routes(panic), or as we all know our RB's had drops issues. I don't believe he panic in emergencies because he is pretty calm guy in the pocket so it is probably a combo of adding better touch to his throws (easily coach-able) and RB's with horrible hands which is statistically true.

Could be a big reason why they were high on a RB and FB with perceived good hands.

Anyways Sando gets the credit for the statistical breakdown here -

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/36305/the-long-and-short-of-nfc-west-qbs

Very interesting. Good find joeschmo.

Our RBs are not good receivers. I think maybe this explains why Ryan Williams was so high on our draft board. Not sure that Williams is a great pass catcher either though. Anyone know more about him?

 

[Duckjake]

Nope. I do not see franchise QB when I see Skelton.

But this is fun to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJKSM0dpRGU&feature=related

 

[Chopper0080]

If the Cardinals addressed the offensive line when free agency hits, and committed to running the football, I would have no problem with the Cardinals starting Skelton with a vet like Bulger backing him up. However, I don't believe this is an option right now.

 

[Dayman]

Trust me I love some stats but this is where you can look a little deeper into it.

When throwing to WR's/TE's Skelton actually had a better completion percentage of 55.3%. Still not great but not Max Hall horrible either.

It is when he threw to the RB's that dropped his percentage below 50%. When throwing to RB's he had a completion percentage of only 39.4%.

Usually throwing to your RB's improves your comp % not the other way around. This could be one of three things, Skelton needs better touch on shorter throws, Skelton got rattled and wasn't comfortable with throwing emergency underneath routes(panic), or as we all know our RB's had drops issues. I don't believe he panic in emergencies because he is pretty calm guy in the pocket so it is probably a combo of adding better touch to his throws (easily coach-able) and RB's with horrible hands which is statistically true.

Could be a big reason why they were high on a RB and FB with perceived good hands.

Anyways Sando gets the credit for the statistical breakdown here -

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/36305/the-long-and-short-of-nfc-west-qbs

While our RBs did drop a lot of balls last year, the fact that DA and Hall were much more accurate to the same players made me stop and think. Having a big arm is great, but you still need to hit the easy throws.

Like you said, touch is likely a big part of it. His footwork and inconsistent release point seem to be more of a problem when he isn't airing the ball out. Some QBs have fixed such problems while developing in the NFL. Many haven't. I hope Skelton falls into the first category. He definitely flashed some ability to be a future starter last year. I just question if he has all the qualities that would make him the long term answer here.

 

[Duckjake]

If the Cardinals addressed the offensive line when free agency hits, and committed to running the football, I would have no problem with the Cardinals starting Skelton with a vet like Bulger backing him up. However, I don't believe this is an option right now.

Me either. Because Free Agency isn't going to "hit". We're basically going to have to play with what we have now. If we play at all.

On the plus side I think we can win with what we have on our 53 right now. We just had too many players in new positions last year. Everyone on our 53 is going to be better versed in what we want to do. We can win 9 games with Skelator.

The improvement from year one to year two is Geometrical. Our new guys will gel and that alone should put us back in contention for a home playoff game.

 

[Chopper0080]

Me either. Because Free Agency isn't going to "hit". We're basically going to have to play with what we have now. If we play at all.

On the plus side I think we can win with what we have on our 53 right now. We just had too many players in new positions last year. Everyone on our 53 is going to be better versed in what we want to do. We can win 9 games with Skelator.

The improvement from year one to year two is Geometrical. Our new guys will gel and that alone should put us back in contention for a home playoff game.

I still have hope, but it is getting more and more in question.

 

[TJ]

Me either. Because Free Agency isn't going to "hit". We're basically going to have to play with what we have now. If we play at all.

On the plus side I think we can win with what we have on our 53 right now. We just had too many players in new positions last year. Everyone on our 53 is going to be better versed in what we want to do. We can win 9 games with Skelator.

The improvement from year one to year two is Geometrical. Our new guys will gel and that alone should put us back in contention for a home playoff game.

No way. I love Skelton's potential, but I doubt he'll be ready to take on teams from the AFC North and NFC East and win 9 games for us. I think the team as a whole will be improved, but winning more than 7 games with Skelton and Hall as his back up is an absolute pipedream.

 

[Duckjake]

No way. I love Skelton's potential, but I doubt he'll be ready to take on teams from the AFC North and NFC East and win 9 games for us. I think the team as a whole will be improved, but winning more than 7 games with Skelton and Hall as his back up is an absolute pipedream.

Hall? If he is even on the roster in September then I agree and CKW needs to start polishing his resume.

Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford played on the biggest stage possible in college. Under intense spotlights their entire college careers. In the biggest game of the season Bradford was 19-36-155 with no TDs and an INT. 4.3 yards per attempt. I wonder if Rams fans are calling him Captain checkdown.

In the last two games of the season McCoy turned the ball over 6 times.

Let's give our small spotlight guy at least one season working with the first team before we toss him out with the garbage.

 

[sundevilscott]

I am stunned by the poll results.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Could go either way. Had to vote yes. Just haven't seen enough of him yet.

 

[Cardiac]

But this is fun to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJKSM0dpRGU&feature=related

It was great to watch that win again, thanks for the link.

We can look at completion %'s or TD throws or QB rating but what that video showed you was a QB that doesn't wilt under the pressure. He made money throws and great decisions during a 2 minute drill.

If the Cardinals addressed the offensive line when free agency hits, and committed to running the football, I would have no problem with the Cardinals starting Skelton with a vet like Bulger backing him up. However, I don't believe this is an option right now.

I agree but would switch it to Bulger starting for several games before throwing Skelton back out there.

Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford played on the biggest stage possible in college. Under intense spotlights their entire college careers. In the biggest game of the season Bradford was 19-36-155 with no TDs and an INT. 4.3 yards per attempt. I wonder if Rams fans are calling him Captain checkdown.

In the last two games of the season McCoy turned the ball over 6 times.

Let's give our small spotlight guy at least one season working with the first team before we toss him out with the garbage.

I agree but how frustrating is it that Skelton can't be in the tape room and getting coached up right now.

 

[Buckybird]

I am stunned by the poll results.

me too...Skelton hasn't shown much accuracy to me...but behind our Oline only Warner has. I really believe Cards fans want to believe that Skelton's big arm will lead to success, but the chances of a 5th rd pick being anything more than average is probably reality. I've seen this board go gaga over less talent before.