Steve Keim Time: A little off in Pittsburgh, focus must improve

Sometimes, it’s best to go straight to the man in charge.

And when it comes to the Arizona Cardinals’ roster, that man is Steve Keim.

Arizona’s general manager since January 2013, Keim has overseen a transformation that has led to 21 wins over two seasons. His deft touch with the draft and free agency has led to the team becoming a contender in the NFC.

Lucky for us, Keim happens to be a weekly guest on the Doug and Wolf Show, right here on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. And since what he has to say is important, we thought it would be a good idea to put his words into print, allowing you to read what the GM is thinking. So, without further ado, here’s this week’s edition, which follows Arizona’s 25-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

What stings the most from Sunday’s loss?

“I think for the most part the second straight loss that you feel like you beat yourself. To me, again, it was almost like deja vu for me with the St. Louis game. When you have 469 total yards of offense to their 310, it comes down to two games that we’ve lost with six turnovers and being 2-of-9 in the red zone, and those are things that we absolutely have to clean up, particularly when you play a traditionally tough team in a hostile environment. Everything was off yesterday. I didn’t think Carson played particularly great — I thought he made some nice throws but at the same time he was off on some of them. It was disappointing to see some of the mistakes we made. We’ve just got to get some of those things cleaned up, be ready for Monday Night Football, come out and excite our fans again.”

Why didn’t the team run the ball more and more effectively against the Steelers?

“I thought we ran it, probably just average. I would say probably the thing that, you’d have to ask B.A. this, but I’m guessing some of the mismatches we felt like we had on the perimeter with their corners and safeties with our guys, which obviously we exposed them in the passing game with John Brown having a big day, Fitz making some big plays. It was nice to see Michael Floyd get back in action a little bit. But you know, I think it’s sometimes one of those things that, depending on what teams are giving you. I felt like B.A. had them off guard a little bit with the passing game and we were hitting big chunks, but once we got down to the red zone would couldn’t convert and that was really the story of the game on top of the fact that you’re turning the football over, which you cannot do.”

Do you feel like the team has big issues that need to be solved or just needs minor fixes?

“I don’t think there’s any question it’s correctable. We won 11 games last year and I think we’re a more talented football team this year. It’s correcting some of the issues, minimizing the mistakes and playing with more consistency. One of the hard things to swallow is last year, with the way those two games ended that we’ve lost this year, those are games last year that we generally won, and we have to fix that, there’s no doubt about it. But even to play as bad as we did, it’s amazing that in those two games we had the ball the last possession of the game and we had a chance to score, get the lead and win the game. These things are correctable. We just have to improve our focus, minimize those mistakes like I talked about. You just can’t turn the football over, I don’t care who you’re playing.”

Big picture, where do you think your team’s strength is?

“Offensively I think it’s the perimeter mismatches we create. When you have Larry (Fitzgerald) as a move guy on the interior, what he can do, and then you have John (Brown) and Michael (Floyd) outside. And then you have those backs that can flank and flare out of the backfield and some of the mismatches they can create on linebackers and safeties. Offensively, just those perimeter weapons are really, to me, something that I don’t know — if we can block them up front I don’t see many teams stopping us from throwing the football. Now defensively, really two-fold. We have some ballhawks in the secondary who do a nice job, but there are some guys up front who are playing well. Calais Campbell continues to play well, Rodney Gunter, it’s extremely tough to run the football on us when he is at the nose spot. Plays with great leverage and does a nice job collapsing the pocket. And guys like Markus Golden are starting to come on. So you know, we just have to continue to improve the consistency and get back to work this week and I know we’ll be ready for the Ravens next Monday night.”

The defense seemed to struggle late in both losses, was it as bad as it looked?

“I don’t know if I would say it was as bad as you thought. What’s disappointing is when you see so many periods of domination, where you see these guys getting after people, playing fast, playing aggressive, and then all of a sudden having a little run where you’re out of your gaps or you’re making some mistakes or their are some coverage busts. Those are the sort of things, to me, it’s not as much physically as it is the mental aspect of the game, which, as you know, is one of the most important things. If guys don’t understand or can’t process information, you can’t win with them. So these guys have to improve from that standpoint and really it comes down to the consistency thing. These guys play hard, they play physical, but you have to minimize those mental mistakes.”

Was staying at The Greenbrier a success?

“I think it was definitely a success. It was nice to have some team building. Obviously you want come away with a W after staying on the road, but at the same time I think the players were able to get acclimated to the time change and that sort of thing. And again, it came down to the mental preparation, which is where I think we got beat this past weekend. Like I said, I know we’ll have it corrected. I’ll be excited to get back to University of Phoenix Stadium with the rowdy crowd on Monday night. I know our fans will energize the group and we’re just looking forward to getting back on the field.”

Who stood out on the offensive line and who needs to improve?

“Two tackles played, I thought, OK. On the interior, I think (Mike) Iupati has played a little bit better than he did last week. He’s got some dominating traits that excite you, when he comes off the ball and some of the movement he can create in the run game.”

But Iupati isn’t healthy, is he?

“I would say probably not quite 100 percent, but he’s getting close. And then those other two guys, Lyle (Sendlein) and Coop (Jonathan Cooper), I thought were up and down a little bit. Again, you see some really good things and then there’s some inconsistency. Again, I don’t know that aside from John Brown — I thought he was exceptional — I thought a lot of other guys kind of played up and down, for the most part.”

Are you happy with the Cardinals’ toughness? Do you see a tough team?

“I am happy with the toughness. What I would tell you is I would say there needs to be improved focus. I think there’s a difference there. I think these guys are confident, they have some swagger, they play physical. But when you lose focus, and Ron knows this more than anybody, when you void run lanes and you break down in coverage or you miss a protection, it can really change the outcome of the game. To me it’s the focus that needs to be improved.”

What about the team’s health coming out of the Steelers game?

“I think the only guy that got banged up was Darren Fells. We’re not sure what it is but we don’t know that it’s significant. He’s having an MRI this morning and I’ll know a little bit later after I meet with Tom (Reed) and our medical staff.”

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