Steve Keim Time: Disappointing loss fuels Cardinals GM for 2016

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

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

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 as the Cardinals fell short of advancing to Super Bowl 50.

How are you feeling this morning?

“It’s a bitter ending and the harsh reality of the NFL. You reflect and realize that 2015 was a special year for all of us, our fans, our organization. Yet at the end of the day, there are 31 teams who end their seasons in disappointment, and we were one of them.”

What’s the first thing you think about losing to the Panthers?

“Well it’s simple, we started slow. Three out of the four losses we had this year came down to one thing and that’s turning the football over, which you can’t do. You can’t do it in a hostile environment, you can’t do it against a team with the caliber of the Carolina Panthers. Hats off to them. Dave Gettleman (Panthers GM), Ron Rivera they’ve done a great job there, they have an excellent team and it’ll certainly be a tough task for the Denver Broncos to stop those guys.”

Did Carson Palmer choke?

“I don’t think he performed particularly well, but I would say that goes for a lot of our players. You look at the big picture and some of our stars had a rough night, Pat(rick) Peterson, Carson Palmer. But make no mistake, we wouldn’t have been in the position we were in if it were not for Carson Palmer and his play this year, his leadership, his determination, the comeback from ACL injury. So, when I think about what he’s battled back from and what he did for us this season, there’s nobody I respect and appreciate more than Carson Palmer. In a league full of teams who are looking for a quarterback, I’m certainly proud that he’s our guy.”

Was Palmer’s finger an issue?

“I don’t know. He would be the only one to tell you that, but I’ll say this. When you start slow, I felt like when you look at the game and how it played out, we were in a position where we started slow and we really didn’t get the run game going until that one series where we scored, and David Johnson got hot. Then we were in a position where it was 17-7, and to me the two plays that really changed the game was the fumble punt by Pat, and then the interception by Pat to put us in position to score and Carson made that poor decision and threw that interception. We had our opportunities to jump back into the game against a really good team, and we didn’t get it done. It’s unfortunate, I’m sad for our fans, I’m sad for our organization, because it has been such a grind this season and it’s been such a fun ride. But experiences like this only fuel me. I’ve taken a few disappointments in my life, like the Seattle game when we lost 58 to nothing and that certainly fueled me and this will be no different. I’ll get back to work in a couple hours here, I’ll be on a plane to Mobile, Alabama starting to look at the 2016 draft class at the all-star game at the Senior Bowl and I couldn’t be more excited to start putting the team back together.”

What was the first thing that popped into your head that said “I have to do ‘this’ to be in Super Bowl 51”?

“Create a pass rush. I don’t care who it is, whether it’s Cam Newton or Aaron Rodgers, you have to affect the quarterback on a lot of snaps, and we weren’t able to do that last night. Our back end didn’t play particular well last night, you have to give those guys some help as well. I don’t think we created any pressure, we have to get more physical up front, and that starts with me and I have to do a better job. I will certainly answer the bell and get that started today and try to put a team on the field that all our fans can be proud of.”

How did you evaluate the protection for Carson?

“It was up and down, there were some plays where he had some time, but then there were times where he was affected with the rush. Bobby Massie got beat, the right side of the line played below average, and again, they have some really good players up front. We got so far behind that it would’ve be nice if we’d stuck to the run game a little more, but obviously we had to press and try to push the ball down the field after a while and it just got out of hand. We got to get that fixed.”

Were there open receivers for Carson Palmer?

“Yeah from time to time, but that’s any game. That position, as you know Wolf, sometimes when you win those guys get more credit than they deserve and when you lose it’s obviously on them. I know people are frustrated and disappointed with the performance of our team, the performance of our quarterback, all the way around, my performance, Coach’s performance, but at the end of the day I know what we have in that locker room, I know the type of player and person Carson Palmer is and I feel strongly that he’ll bounce back and be ready in 2016.”

Is the secondary a strength, weakness or average part of this team?

“When we lost Ty(rann Mathieu) I think it’s hard to replace someone like him because of his positional flexibility and everything he does on the back end, whether it’s blitzing off the slot, whether it’s playing the nickle or playing the deep pass, he does so many things for you and his coverage is obviously exceptional. But again, it goes back to the inability to rush the passer, and you give a team four or five seconds, those guys are going to find ways to pick you a part. I think when you look back on games that our guys were picked on, it was games that we were unable to create pressure. There are times where James Bettcher (Cardinals defensive coordinator) has to bring a 5th or 6th man and whenever you bring those guys and they don’t get home, it can get ugly and I think yesterday you say that.”

From the season’s perceptive, what positives did you see that’ll help in 2016?

“It started with a group of rookies that played pretty well when you talk about David Johnson, Markus Golden, guys like J.J. Nelson, Rodney Gunter, guys like that became real pros because of the veterans that they were surrounded with. And then I’m so proud of guys like Carson and Larry and the types of years they’ve had, coming off an ACL, coming off a year when Larry was down and people counted him out. I thought Michael Floyd made great strides. So there were so many things you can be proud of and can look forward to next year, but we have a lot of work ahead of us. We have a list of guys who are going to be unrestricted free agents, Coach and I have already spent a lot of time last night bouncing ideas off each other, how are we going to fill some holes, how we are going to fix some things, and again I can’t wait to get started with that today.”

What do you want to say to Cardinals fans?

“To the fans, how much we truly appreciate them. It was a special season, and again, I apologize that we let them down in the end, because I know we all had such great expectations, but they were truly a difference this season. If it was the attendance at the home games, I think about their involvement being on the road with us, for the first time I’ve never seen so much red in Chicago and different places we’ve traveled to. They’re truly what gets us excited about the job that we do. The Big Red Rage the other night that Tim Hovick put together and the attendance there, and I know Wolf you talked about that. And the sendoff that we had on Saturday morning to Carolina with the thousands of people that attended the pep rally at the airport, just from the bottom of my heart, thank you and how much we appreciate it.”

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