Steve Keim Time: Cardinals GM doesn’t get nervous

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 the NFC Championship game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Did you overpay for Larry Fitzgerald in the offseason?

“I think that situation handled itself very nicely.”

This is such an incredible game, the wildest game that I have ever witnessed personally. When I ask you what was your No. 1 take away from Saturday night, where do you go?  What’s the first thing you think of?

“That’s a great question, aside from the fact that my heart stopped twice, I think we played particularly well.  Hats off to Green Bay. They got healthy and we knew they were going to play a much better game. We knew that we were going to get their best. Aaron Rodgers was excellent, Mike McCarthy, hats off to him. I thought they had a better game plan. I will say this: What a great atmosphere. Our fans were electric. Watching those white towels waving in our stadium and to see the Red Sea. It still gives me chills thinking about it. Our fans really brought it.”

Everybody across the country wants to talk about Larry Fitzgerald and rightfully so and you could talk about him forever. But for the general manager of the NFC Western Division Champion Cardinals, who is somebody else that you want to talk about because they played just as well?

“Aside from Larry, I don’t think a ton of guys played great. I will say this, we were resilient like we have been all year. When you look at that big catch that Larry had at the end of the game and in overtime, when you look at the play itself and what was a better play? Larry or Carson? That’s the one thing. Carson didn’t have his best game and I thought he was a little off, particularly with his footwork. But to make that play at the end of the game, we needed him. When the air was sucked out of the building. When our team could’ve been deflated on the sideline. To make that kind of play — spin out out of a tackle and make that move with his feet and to throw that ball across his body — across the field and find Larry was probably his third option. I thought that was amazing. Again it’s veteran leadership. It’s a team sticking together and it’s a group of guys believing in each other. I couldn’t be more proud and I’m excited about our next opportunity.”

You just mentioned Carson and like so many other athletes, is he just being a gamer? Is he just sucking up this finger injury and it’s worse than what we realize? Is that a part of him being off slightly on Saturday night?

“I don’t think so. I think that in the first half he had to deal with quite a bit of pressure. The second half there was some throws that I thought he was off. But again when we needed him the most, he came through for us. To me that is the ability of Carson Palmer. A leader, a champion, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he will be ready to play on Sunday night.”

Running the ball I thought the team that could get into a three-dimensional offense was going to have a huge advantage in this game. The running attack never really got going for us. Was that more of  how the offensive line played or was it more scheme from the Green Bay Packers?

“I would say it was a little of both. I felt they stacked the box a little more this time around as well as when you look at our offensive line play. I thought those guys played hard but we made some mistakes. I felt like we weren’t always smart, particularly with our second level blocks. When you are in combination, coming off the second level. I felt like there was times where we didn’t finish well enough. We have to regroup this week and improve that area and get better.”

Do believe in the phrase, ‘survive and advance’ and that’s what this is all about or do you see things like you had just mentioned? Things that have to be fixed if the dreams are going to come true?

“You have to get things fixed, but man I’m an NC State guy — Jim Valvano ’83 — survive and advance. At the end of the day you are going to have some close games like this, particularly in the playoffs. Those guys get paid too. Again we knew those guys were embarrassed the last game. We knew they were going to come in and play at a high level. I didn’t think we played particular well. Not that we didn’t play hard, we just didn’t play smart in all areas. Again playing against a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, I thought he was excellent. Some of the throws that he made, we didn’t get pressure on him all the time and when we didn’t get pressure on him he made us pay.”

So Steve, I thought of you when this scenario actually unfolded right here.  I was thinking of that second down. Okay the second down with three minutes to go and BA and his no risk it, no biscuit mentality actually threw the ball on a fade to Larry Fitzgerald as opposed to running it and taking it down to the two minute warning. Where you a little nervous at that moment?

“Not really. Let me ask you guys something, do you remember the Saints game with a minute 44 left.  It was second and eight with a five-point lead. We had inside two minutes and we passed it to David Johnson — 55-yard touchdown. So Bruce Arians looked like a genius on that play. Again if it works, great, if it doesn’t then everybody second guesses it.  You know our style, you know our aggressiveness and we play to win.”

Where you nervous?

“No not at all. I don’t get nervous.”

You can’t make a trade when you’re up there in the booth. Everything is crazy at that moment. You’re a fan, aren’t you?

“I’m a fan but I trust our coach and I trust our players.”

Talk a moment about the defense and the defense’s performances in this game.

“Again not our best effort. I thought there was some miscommunication in the defensive backfield in coverage. I thought that we were sporadic in our pressure. There was some times when Markus (Golden) and Dwight (Freeney) got pressure off the edge. I thought we stopped the run for the most part, yet we were gassed a couple of times because of lane discipline. So there were times when we got out of our lane and that’s what happened with that big run by Eddie Lacy. We just have to be more disciplined up front and it’s a big task. When you watch the Panthers, and yesterday was really one of the first days that I have been able to actually watch them. They are extremely physical up front on both sides of the ball.”

On that fourth and 20, did you get an explanation on what Justin Bethel  was doing in that situation right there in allowing him to get behind him? Did you get any type of explanation on that?

“I didn’t yet, because we will talk to the coaches this morning. Just from watching the tape he scrambled and it just looked like we were out of position and it looked like Justin knows the safety should’ve been over the top. I need to get the right answer this morning at some point, but we need to make sure that we finish on those sort of plays. That’s football 101 where you have to be in the right place at the right time.”

We are allowed to say this, you’re not, but the amount of non-holding calls that happened by the Packers offensive line were a severe detriment to your pass rush. Yet you didn’t get enough pressure on Aaron Rodgers so as you evaluate, how do you judge both when you can see there is a hold but it’s not being called? Yet your job is still to get to the quarterback. What did you see in terms of a pass rush standpoint, how can you improve against Cam Newton?

“You can’t use those kinds of things as excuses. At the end of the day you have to get off the blocks and that’s what we teach our players. As far as Cam, you are talking about another guy who is extremely mobile. We will have to play him like we play Russell (Wilson) to some degree. You have to keep lane discipline. But at the same time you are talking about a big physical runner in what you have to tackle. He’s going to bring the load and you better bring your big boy pads because you are talking about a big man who is 6-foot-6, 250-255 pounds and can finish runs as well.”

Are you ready for this? The NFC Championship Game?

“What did I tell you. This is what Bill Parcells said, this is why we left all those wights.”