Steve Keim Time: Playing in front of the home crowd is key to Saturday’s playoff game against the Packers

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 get ready for its NFC Divisional playoff game Saturday against the Green Bay Packers.

Do you think Aaron Rodgers and the Packers’ offense regained their confidence?

“Yeah, it looks like they got their swag back a little. The one thing they were able to do was run the ball effectively. They started pounding the football which obviously sets up your play-action game. I think the one thing prior to them running the ball, I think some teams thought they became one dimensional. For Aaron to have that in his arsenal, whether it’s Eddie Lacey or (James) Starks — those guys gashed the Skins pretty good yesterday and it sets up  the play-action game and it creates some opportunities in the passing game.”

How much will you break down that film from yesterday?

“I’ll take a look at that, I won’t get in depth like our coaching staff will. There’s no doubt in my mind that we will get the best of what the Green Bay Packers have to offer. I’m sure they will use their last game as fuel to their fire.

Regardless of who we play — whether it’s the Seattle Seahawks, who everyone is going to say is the hottest team in football, and me saying I wanted the opportunity to play them again, or the Packers because it’s not going to be the same. You can create any kind of spin you want. The bottom line is that we have to play somebody Saturday night. We have to bring our energy and focus and play our game.”

There are two old sayings when you compete against each other. One is don’t go to the well to often, and the other is if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.  With everything that Arizona did correctly in that game against Green Bay, how many of those things are something you say, “Hey do that again against Green Bay,” and how many are, “It’s a completely different game,” and Green Bay is going to have a different game plan. How do you see the first match up effecting the second one?

“Well I think internally it gives our players confidence that we can compete against those guys and we do have some match ups that we like. Yet at the same time they are getting quite a few players back that were not healthy. Their offensive line looks to be a little more healthier then we played them and we are going to get their best effort. I’m sure. Mike McCarthy is a fantastic coach and is going to have some different wrinkles for us and some mismatches that he thinks he can create.  They are playing with some confidence right now after that type of game yesterday. Again we have to focus and play with some intensity. I felt like we had a great week of practice last week after the disappointing loss to Seattle. I thought our guys practice well last week, they were energetic, they were enthused, they hustled and I think we will be ready to go on Saturday night.”

How is the health of this football team?

“Overall pretty good. Again having the off week certainly helped some of those players who were banged up. I feel really good, Andre Ellington had another week on that toe. I think he’s getting his confidence back to be able to have that one-two punch with David Johnson. I think with the other guys whether it’s Carson with the finger and some of these other guys, they are certainly getting some well needed rest.”

After you set down and watched Wild Card weekend, out of everything that was on the table, what are you still thinking about this morning?

“I think it would be remiss  if I didn’t say that if I was in Mr. Brown or Rick Spielman places that I wouldn’t be extremely disappointed with the way those two teams lost. For Cincinnati to go through what they went through and still lost that game, and of course with the missed field goal yesterday. I feel really bad for Rick Spielman and his team. I thought they played well yesterday and did some nice things against Seattle. It was certainly a tough way to lose on both sides.”

You are a GM with a local college in town. You saw Vontaze Burfict for three years, you see Vontaze Burfict now with the Bengals. There’s no doubt this guy can play. But can he play for Steve Keim?

“I don’t want to get into talking about players from other teams. The guy is a talented player, there’s no doubt about it and that’s probably a better question for Marvin Lewis.”

When you watch the end of that Minnesota game, were you thinking, “My goodness, I hope nothing like that happens to Chandler Catanzaro.” This guy has had some problems with extra-points, Steve. What do you say to a guy like Chandler Catanzaro and where do you think his confidence level is at?

“That’s all you try to do is try and inject some organizational confidence into him, that organizationally we are behind him and you can’t kick scared. Like B.A. said, you just have to punch it through the up-rights. That’s the hard part of being a kicker. It’s not just the physical aspect of it, there’s a mental part of that game and Chandler has made some big kicks for us. We do have a lot of confidence in him, but at the same time he’s had some hiccups this year. He’s a young kicker and it’s always a delicate balance where you don’t want to get in the kid’s head and make him feel uneasy. At the same time you just have to continue to tell him that we have confidence in him and let him know that we know he is going to make the big kick if he’s called upon. But again, to be able to watch that again as a fan, that put a sick pit into your stomach.”

When you look ahead to Saturday, what is your big key to the game?

“I would say just playing our game and we are fortunate to be playing at home. There’s nothing like playing at the University of Phoenix Stadium and before our own fans and the energy and excitement that’s in that stadium. To be able to have that advantage of playing on your home field and in front of your fans, and to have our players where they are used to the locker room, used to the surroundings. That’s a big key for us and hopefully for the next two games we can continue to play there.”

I want to give a free shout out and have you back me up Steve. To Andy (Levy head of University of Phoenix Stadium’s turf crew) and all of his staff, how much work is going into from a game against the Packers to of the Fiesta Bowl of Norte Dame-Ohio State to a game against the Seahawks and now a game tonight against Alabama and Clemson and then into your own game on Saturday night.

“I can’t tell you the kind of job that Andy and his crew do. It’s a tremendous amount of stress put on those guys of having to keep that field up to high standards. Year end and year out, the NFL players always vote our field as the best in the NFL and it’s because of Andy and his crew and the job that they do. It starts in training camp with the amount of stress that we put on that field everyday with practice. He has that field every week in tip-top condition. So to me Andy and his crew are the very best in the National Football League.”