TEMPE, Ariz. -- Rookie quarterback John Skelton will make his first NFL start Sunday when the Cardinals host the Denver Broncos.
Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt made the announcement Friday after practice.
Many considered Skelton the probable choice after Derek Anderson was sidelined with a concussion. Arizona's only other healthy quarterback is Richard Bartel, who signed this week.
"I didn't really have a lot of choice," Whisenhunt said.
The coach said he hopes Anderson, whom doctors have yet to clear to play, will pass the required test Saturday and be the team's third quarterback.
The Cardinals have lost seven in a row entering Sunday's game against the Broncos, whose coach, Josh McDaniels, was fired earlier this week.
Skelton, a fifth-round draft pick out of Fordham, was 3-of-6 passing for 45 yards and sacked once in his NFL debut in the fourth quarter of last Sunday's 19-6 loss to the St. Louis Rams. His first pass was a 22-yard completion to Steve Breaston on a third-and-16 play.
Whisenhunt said Skelton's "command of the offense was a lot better" this week.
"I think that, coupled with the fact that he handled himself pretty well last week in the game, makes you feel that he's a lot better prepared now than he was earlier," Whisenhunt said. "It doesn't mean that it's going to be great quarterback play, but we're hopeful that he can get in there and handle it well and make some plays for us."
The Cardinals have used Skelton almost exclusively as their scout-team quarterback, simulating the opponents' signal-caller for the coming week.
"It's one thing to sit back and watch the reps and learn by film study and learn by watching someone," Skelton said, "and it's something else to be in there getting the reps. It definitely benefited. A lot of plays, I'm real comfortable with, and a lot of plays, the first time I ran them was this week."
Skelton grew up in El Paso, Texas, but he found his way to the Bronx and Fordham, where he led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) with 3,708 passing yards in 2009. His uncle, Javier Loya, owns a share of the Houston Texans and played quarterback at Columbia.
The Cardinals considered Skelton a long-term project. But when Anderson suffered the concussion, then Max Hall dislocated his left shoulder, the job fell to the third-stringer.
"They'll definitely still be some nerves," Skelton said of starting Sunday. "It will probably be tempered a little bit because I did get to play a little bit last week, but at the same time, it's still my first start. I'm not a guy that gets real nervous, but I'll probably be real anxious."
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
