It’s the $63 million question.

---

Cardinals vs. Seahawks | Cardinals fans | Box score | NFL scoreboard

---

When the Cardinals report to training camp next fall, will coach Ken Whisenhunt put the starting-quarterback position up for grabs between Kevin Kolb and John Skelton?

Kolb signed a five-year, $63million contract with Arizona upon being acquired from Philadelphia for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round draft pick.

But injuries and ineffectiveness left him 2-6 in his eight full games as a starter this season. Skelton, meanwhile, went 6-2 when he started or played most of the game.

After Sunday’s season-ending 23-20 overtime victory over Seattle, Skelton was asked if he felt he deserved a fair shot to unseat Kolb as the Cardinals’ starter next year.

“I hope I do. That is for the coaching staff to determine,” he said, adding, “Kevin and I have a great relationship. We push each other, and we always help each other out. We will see what happens this off-season.”

As the Cardinals cleared out their lockers Monday, Kolb told reporters he fully expects to be in a battle with Skelton for the starting job, saying it only would be fair given how things played out.

He also looks forward to putting this season behind him and getting a clean slate with which to work in 2012.

“I’m looking forward to the fruits of the labor and having a great season next year,” he said.

But Whisenhunt will decide who starts next season and on Monday, he reminded reporters that he’s always had open competitions for starting positions and that won’t be different at quarterback.

“That’s the way we’ve always been,” he said.

When informed of Kolb’s comments about having to earn the starting job again, Whisenhunt nodded appreciatively.

“I would hope that every player thinks he has to earn it,” he said. “… I think you’ve got to have that with your team. You can go back and look at all the spots, and that’s the way we’ve operated no matter what the situation has been.”

Health scares

News surfaced after Sunday’s game that Skelton and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald each were dealing with some health concerns.

Skelton, who passed for 271 yards and a touchdown, fainted and fell before the game shortly after having his knee drained in the training room.

Fitzgerald took a hit in the third quarter and suffered a bruised lung, which reportedly made him spit up blood at one point.

Doctors checked out both players thoroughly, Whisenhunt said, and allowed them to play.

Whisenhunt said Skelton joked with him about the fainting spell, calling him “Mike,” as in offensive coordinator Mike Miller.

“I knew he was OK after that,” Whisenhunt said.

Skelton said he’s never passed out before and called it a “a freak thing.” He added, “I think everyone was more worried than I was.”

As for Fitzgerald, who caught nine passes for 149 yards, including three big receptions on the team’s winning drive in overtime, he was re-evaluated by doctors after the game and again Monday.

Whisenhunt said everything checked out fine.

Free-agency talk

The Cardinals have several players set to become free agents, including defensive end Calais Campbell, defensive back Richard Marshall, left tackle Levi Brown and kicker Jay Feely.

Campbell likely will be given a multi-year extension or be presented with the franchise tag. Marshall and Feely each said Monday they would prefer to return. And Whisenhunt said he hopes Brown will be back as well, although given what it likely will cost the team to retain him, that might not occur.

What’s next

Whisenhunt said he and his staff will meet for the next week evaluating the team and grading players and each position as well as every play. After that, they will take a break and do it all over again, so as not to make any judgments based on emotion from the season just having ended.

As for any potential coaching changes, Whisenhunt said Monday that it was too early to make any decisions, adding that he must sit down with his own bosses and be evaluated first.

TEMPE, Ariz. – Four times this season the Arizona Cardinals had found a way to lose a close game at the end. A play here, a play there, and the outcomes would have been different.

Then came Sunday’s game against St. Louis, where those failures, in the words of coach Ken Whisenhunt, “pale in comparison” to what the Cardinals had to pull off to escape with a 19-13 overtime victory.

Special teams were truly special at the end.

First, Calais Campbell blocked what would have been the game-winning field goal at the end of regulation. Then Patrick Peterson bounced like a pinball through the defense in a record-breaking 99-yard punt return in overtime.

Players had the day off on Monday to savor the unlikely triumph that snapped a six-game losing streak.

So what if it was a pair of 1-6 teams fighting to avoid the cellar in what might be the worst division in the NFL. The Cardinals celebrated as though they had just made the playoffs.

“It was much needed by our football team,” Whisenhunt said at his Monday news conference. “I think you could see that in the emotion of our guys in the locker room afterward and even on the field. When you come in here every day and you’re working and you want to do well and things don’t go your way, it’s tough. It’s really tough.”

Arizona seemed headed for another of those excruciating losses when the Rams’ Josh Brown lined up for a 42-yard field goal as regulation was about to end. But the 6-foot-8 Campbell, with a generous push from teammate Darnell Dockett, soared to block the attempt and send the game into overtime. It was the fourth blocked field goal of his career.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)—Four times this season the Arizona Cardinals had found a
way to lose a close game at the end. A play here, a play there, and the outcomes
would have been different.

Then came Sunday’s game against St. Louis, where those failures, in the
words of coach Ken Whisenhunt, “pale in comparison” to what the Cardinals had
to pull off to escape with a 19-13 overtime victory.

Special teams were truly special at the end.

First, Calais Campbell(notes) blocked what would have been the game-winning field
goal at the end of regulation, then Patrick Peterson(notes) bounced like a pinball
through the defense in a record-breaking 99-yard punt return in overtime.

Players had the day off on Monday to savor the unlikely triumph that snapped
a six-game losing streak.

So what if it was a pair of 1-6 teams fighting to avoid the cellar in what
might be the worst division in the NFL. The Cardinals celebrated as though they
had just made the playoffs.

“It was much needed by our football team,” Whisenhunt said at his Monday
news conference. “I think you could see that in the emotion of our guys in the
locker room afterward and even on the field. When you come in here every day and
you’re working and you want to do well and things don’t go your way, it’s tough.
It’s really tough.”

Arizona seemed headed for another of those excruciating losses when the
Rams’ Josh Brown(notes) lined up for a 42-yard field goal as regulation was about to
end. But the 6-foot-8 Campbell, with a generous push from teammate Darnell
Dockett(notes), soared to block the attempt and send the game into overtime. It was the
fourth blocked field goal of his career.

“My mindset was just we’ve got to find a way to get a block,” Campbell
said. “Whatever I’ve got to do I’ve got to find a way to get a block.”

That was amazing. The next big Arizona play was mind-boggling.

Nobody fields a punt at his own 1-yard line—except maybe Peterson,
Arizona’s dynamic rookie.

Peterson had a short time earlier been called for pass interference, a call
he disputed after the game, on a play that moved the game-winning field goal try
well within Brown’s range. The block gave him a reprieve.

And boy did he make the most of it.

“I’m thinking touchdown each and every time I get back there and return
that kick,” Peterson said Monday on NFL Network. “I tell the guys in front of
me `I don’t like fair-catching so hopefully you can block these 10 guys that are
coming down that are trying to tackle me. If you give me five yards, I’ll meet
you guys in the end zone.”’

Peterson became the first player in NFL history to have three punt returns
for touchdowns in his first eight games. His was the second punt return for a
score in overtime and, by far, the longest. In fact, the 99-yarder ranked
second-longest of any punt return.

“He’s a very talented young player and I think that he’s a very mature
young player,” Whisenhunt said, “and understands what he needs to do. Thank
goodness that we got him.”

Almost overlooked in the wild finish were the two plays where the Cardinals
stopped Steven Jackson, first on third-and-one, then on fourth-and-one at the
Arizona 33-yard line. O’Brien Schofield(notes) made the first tackle. Dockett and Daryl
Washington(notes) teamed up on the second.

The Rams, with eight offensive touchdowns all season, managed just three
field goals against Arizona.

The Cardinals got some good news on Monday when Whisenhunt said cornerback
Michael Adams(notes) seemed to be fine after a scary moment late in Sunday’s game.
After a violent collision in the secondary, Adams was taken off in a cart with
his neck immobilized as a precaution. Adams was riding an exercise bike at the
Cardinals’ facility on Monday, Whisenhunt said.

The coach acknowledged how much quarterback Kevin Kolb(notes) will want to play
next Sunday, when the Cardinals visit his former team in Philadelphia. Kolb sat
out Sunday’s game with a turf toe injury on his right foot. Backup John Skelton(notes)
got the start and after some shaky moments, including a pair of safeties,
directed the team on a nine-play, 84-yard touchdown drive capped by his 13-yard
pass to Larry Fitzgerald(notes) to tie it at 13-13 with 4:57 to play in regulation.

“”It sounds cliche, but we just have to see how it progresses,” Whisenhunt
said. “I was listening to the radio this morning and somebody said, `Turf toe,
what’s that? That sounds like a sissy thing.’ It’s not. It’s a very painful
injury and something that’s very difficult, especially for a quarterback, to be
able to drop and push off of, or run out of the pocket and escape things.”

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)—For the second week in a row, the Arizona Cardinals blew
a chance to win late on the road. This time, the offense shoulders the biggest
share of the blame.

Coach Ken Whisenhunt called the performance of quarterback Kevin Kolb(notes)
“uneven” in Sunday’s 13-10 loss at Seattle.

The Cardinals were driving for a potential game-winning TD or at least a
game-tying field goal and were at the Seahawks 36-yard line when Kolb’s pass was
intercepted by Kam Chancellor(notes) at the Seattle 25 with 1:04 to play.

Whisenhunt noted that Kolb still is a relatively inexperienced quarterback,
making his ninth NFL start and third in his new system with Arizona.

“You have to understand he’s in a completely different scheme than what
he’s used to running,” the coach said at his Monday news conference. “He’s
been in this scheme for a very short time and we’re asking him to do things he’s
never done before. All of those contribute to having some growing pains, and we
went through that a little bit yesterday.”

Whisenhunt said the Cardinals don’t want Kolb to force things.

“I believe that when we are confident and execute, he does a very good
job,” Whisenhunt said. “He made some good throws. The one throw to Larry
(Fitzgerald) on the sideline yesterday was a great throw. Even with all that
said, we still had our opportunities yesterday, and the thing that we’ll do is
we’ll learn from it and get better. I have no doubts that we’ll continue to
improve offensively, especially at the quarterback position, as we progress.”

Kolb wasn’t around to talk to reporters in the locker room on Monday, but
after the game he simply said, “I was not very good.”

He completed 25 of 39 passes for 252 yards and a touchdown. He was
intercepted twice and sacked three times. Kolb threw to Fitzgerald just twice in
the second half. Both fell incomplete.

“Yesterday they really tried to take him (Fitzgerald) out of the game in
the second half by doubling, and there were a lot of things that were open on
the other side of the field,” Whisenhunt said. “We have to be better about
hitting those things, because if you do that, then they have to honor the
coverage and it will give you opportunities to get it back to Larry.”

Arizona was especially bad on third down, going 3 for 14—1 for 6 in the
second half. Those statistics can be blamed, in part, on the absence of
oft-injured Beanie Wells(notes). After gaining nearly 100 yards in each of his first
two games, the big running back injured a hamstring in practice last Thursday
and didn’t play on Sunday.

“It was one of those things where we were being extra cautious with it,”
Wells said. “You know how those things are, they can linger three, four, five
weeks and we didn’t want that at all.”

He said he is “100 percent” certain he will play Sunday when the New York
Giants come to Arizona. Whisenhunt also said there is a good chance that running
back, kickoff returner and special teams ace LaRod Stephens-Howling(notes) will be back
after missing two games with a hand injury.

Chester Taylor(notes) was ineffective—20 yards in eight carries—so the
Cardinals mostly went with Alfonso Smith(notes), a second-year player who spent most of
last season on the practice squad. Smith gained 54 yards in 17 attempts.

“I feel like I showed them that they can depend on me to go in there if
Beanie goes down,” Smith said. “I feel like throughout the game that my
confidence picked up a whole lot. I know that I can go in there and do what they
ask me.”

The offensive struggles spoiled the defense’s best game of the season. The
Cardinals allowed 262 yards, only 139 through the air.

It was a rough day, too, for kicker Jay Feely(notes), who missed from 51 and 49
yards in windy, wet conditions.

“The wind was swirling and you couldn’t really get a handle on exactly
where it is,” Feely said, “but those are both kicks I feel like I should have
made.”

The 51-yard field goal try was long enough but the wind helped take it to
the left. The 49-yarder was directly into the wind and fell short.

Arizona (1-2) has lost the last two weeks on the road by a combined four
points—22-21 at Washington and 13-10 at Seattle.

“We’re the ones stopping ourselves right now,” guard Daryn Colledge(notes) said.
“We’ve got to get a lot of guys in synch. We’ve got a lot of new guys in here
and time’s ticking by. We’ve got a lot of games left but we’ve let a couple slip
by. To lose two games by four points, that hurts.

“Those games are the ones you need come November.”

TEMPE, Ariz. — For the second week in a row, the Arizona Cardinals blew a chance to win late on the road. This time, the offense shoulders the biggest share of the blame.

Coach Ken Whisenhunt called the performance of quarterback Kevin Kolb “uneven” in Sunday’s 13-10 loss at Seattle.

The Cardinals were driving for a potential game-winning TD or at least a game-tying field goal and were at the Seahawks 36-yard line when Kolb’s pass was intercepted by Kam Chancellor at the Seattle 25 with 1:04 to play.

Whisenhunt noted that Kolb still is a relatively inexperienced quarterback, making his ninth NFL start and third in his new system with Arizona.

“You have to understand he’s in a completely different scheme than what he’s used to running,” the coach said at his Monday news conference. “He’s been in this scheme for a very short time and we’re asking him to do things he’s never done before. All of those contribute to having some growing pains, and we went through that a little bit yesterday.”

Whisenhunt said the Cardinals don’t want Kolb to force things.

“I believe that when we are confident and execute, he does a very good job,” Whisenhunt said. “He made some good throws. The one throw to Larry (Fitzgerald) on the sideline yesterday was a great throw. Even with all that said, we still had our opportunities yesterday, and the thing that we’ll do is we’ll learn from it and get better. I have no doubts that we’ll continue to improve offensively, especially at the quarterback position, as we progress.”

Kolb wasn’t around to talk to reporters in the locker room on Monday, but after the game he said simply “I was not very good.”

He completed 25 of 39 passes for 252 yards and a touchdown. He was intercepted twice and sacked three times. Kolb threw to Fitzgerald just twice in the second half. Both fell incomplete.

“Yesterday they really tried to take him (Fitzgerald) out of the game in the second half by doubling, and there were a lot of things that were open on the other side of the field,” Whisenhunt said. “We have to be better about hitting those things, because if you do that, then they have to honor the coverage and it will give you opportunities to get it back to Larry.”

Arizona was especially bad on third down conversions, going 3-for-14, 1-for-6 in the second half. Those statistics can be blamed, in part, on the absence of oft-injured Beanie Wells. After gaining nearly 100 yards in each of his first two games, the big running back injured a hamstring in practice last Thursday and didn’t play on Sunday.

“It was one of those things where we were being extra cautious with it,” Wells said. “You know how those things are, they can linger three, four, five weeks and we didn’t want that at all.”

He said he is “100 percent” certain he will play Sunday when the Giants come to Arizona. Whisenhunt also said there is a good chance that running back, kickoff returner and special teams ace LaRod Stephens-Howling will be back after missing two games with a hand injury.

Chester Taylor was ineffective — 20 yards in eight carries — so the Cardinals mostly went with Alfonso Smith, a second-year player who spent most of last season on the practice squad. Smith gained 54 yards in 17 attempts.

“I feel like I showed them that they can depend on me to go in there if Beanie goes down,” Smith said. “I feel like throughout the game that my confidence picked up a whole lot. I know that I can go in there and do what they ask me.”

The offensive struggles spoiled the defense’s best game of the season. The Cardinals allowed 262 yards, only 139 through the air.

It was a rough day, too, for kicker Jay Feely, who missed from 51 and 49 yards in windy, wet conditions.

“The wind was swirling and you couldn’t really get a handle on exactly where it is,” Feely said, “but those are both kicks I feel like I should have made.”

The 51-yard field goal try was long enough but the wind helped take it to the left. The 49-yarder was directly into the wind and fell short.

Arizona (1-2) has lost the last two weeks on the road by a combined four points — 22-21 at Washington and 13-10 at Seattle.

“We’re the ones stopping ourselves right now,” guard Daryn Colledge said. “We’ve got to get a lot of guys in synch. We’ve got a lot of new guys in here and time’s ticking by. We’ve got a lot of games left but we’ve let a couple slip by. To lose two games by four points, that hurts.

“Those games are the ones you need come November.”