Dec. 19, 2011
Bronx, N.Y. -
News Clips on John Skelton:
Fordham's Skelton making most of NFL Shot |Skelton just keeps winning
Cardinals QB Skelton showing the fourth-quarter touch of Tim Tebow as of late
Former Fordham record-setting quarterback John Skelton is at it again, leading the Arizona Cardinals to another come-from-behind victory on Sunday to help the team get to 7-7 this year and keeps its playoff hopes alive. The victim on Sunday was the Cleveland Browns as Skelton led Arizona to a 20-17 overtime win at home.
In the Cleveland game, Skelton completed 28 of 46 passes for 313 yards and one touchdown. He connected with Larry Fitzgerald on a 32-yard pass in overtime that set up the game-winning field goal.
The previous week, Skelton came on to replace Kevin Kolb when he was injured on the third offensive play against San Francisco, and completed 19 of 28 passes for 282 yards and three touchdowns, avenging a loss earlier in the season to the 49ers.
On the year, Skelton has completed 106 of 191 passes for 1,345 yards and eight touchdowns. He now is 6-3 as an NFL starter (7-3 if you count the San Francisco game last week when he came in early in the first quarter).
Last year, Skelton became the first Ram to appear in an NFL game since Aki Jones appeared in four games with the Washington Redskins in 2005. He also is the first Fordham quarterback to take a snap in an NFL regular season game since Ed Danowski played with the New York football Giants in 1941.
Skelton was the Cardinals' fifth-round draft pick in 2010, becoming the first Fordham football player to be drafted by an NFL team since 1968. A 2009 Second Team All-Patriot League selection, he wrapped up a record-shattering career for the Rams that fall, closing out the year completing 284 of 441 passes (64.4%) for 3,708 yards and 26 touchdowns. He set new school marks for completions and passing yards, breaking Kevin Eakin's former school records of 247 completions for 3,072 yards set in 2003 as well as breaking Steve O'Hare's completion percentage record of 63.1% set in 1997. Skelton led the NCAA FCS in passing yards/game (337.09) and was ranked second in total offense (348.18 yards/game), fourth in completions per game (25.82) and total passing yards and tenth in passing efficiency (149.95).
Skelton threw for over 300 yards eight times in eleven games in 2009, including four 400-yard games. He completed 20 of 27 passes for 420 yards and five touchdowns against Cornell on October 17th, breaking the school record of 413 passing yards set by Joe Moorhead in 1995 and coming up one shy of the school record for scoring passes of six, set by Kevin Eakin in 2003. Skelton then broke his own record two weeks later, completing 43 of 67 passes for 427 yards, all school records, against Holy Cross on October 31st. He finished one passing attempt shy of the NCAA FCS record for most pass attempts in a game without an interception, just missing the national mark of 68 set by Marshall's Tony Petersen against Western Carolina in 1987 (Peterson completed 34). Skelton surpassed his own school record of 420 passing yards in a game while breaking Matt Georgia's 1999 records of 36 completions and 65 attempts.
Following the 2009 season, Skelton was selected to play in the prestigious East-West Shrine game in January and he received an invitation to the NFL Combine.
Over his career, Skelton completed 802 passes for 9,923 yards and 69 touchdowns, all school marks. He shattered Joe Moorhead's career completions record of 518 while also surpassing Eakin's career marks for passing yards (6,112) and touchdowns (45).
