Cardinals GM Steve Keim: ‘I never envisioned this’

The calendar has barely hit October, yet there is plenty of panic in Arizona when it comes to the Cardinals.

Bruce Arians’ team was sloppy and generous with the football Sunday, committing five turnovers in a 17-13 loss to the Los Angeles Rams that dipped their season record to 1-3.

It’s not the end of the world (or the season) for the Cardinals, but considering they lost three games all of last season, there is genuine concern. Among the concerned is the man who built the roster, general manager Steve Keim.

“I’ll say this, I never envisioned this type of start,” Keim told Doug and Wolf Monday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “I don’t know that anybody — fans or anybody in the organization — would have envisioned this.”

The Cardinals have struggled in all three phases of the game in their three losses. While the defense played well enough to win Sunday, the offense once again sputtered and the special teams didn’t produce to winning levels. Arizona had 420 yards of offense, but scored only one touchdown in three trips inside the Rams’ 20-yard line and repeatedly hampered drives with penalties and turnovers. The Cardinals’ kick return game continues to produce nearly nothing and the punt coverage team allowed Tavon Austin to uncork a 47-yard return in the fourth quarter which lead to Los Angeles’ go-ahead touchdown.

Keim pointed to the past when the Cardinals were able to win close games like Sunday’s and their Week 1 loss to New England, both of which were at home. He’s scratching his head as to why that isn’t happening so far in 2016.

“Those were different teams and this is a different time,” he said. “So now we’re facing adversity for the first time — this kind of adversity — in the three years we’ve been together and we’ll find out what we’re made of quickly.”

The Cardinals find themselves tied with the San Francisco 49ers in last place of the NFC West through the first quarter of the season. The two teams will face each other Thursday night in Santa Clara in what is a big game for both. But the gravity of the game and the situation for the Cardinals isn’t reason to panic, according to Keim.

“Panic, to me, is a word when you do things out of the realm and you need to do things unorthodox and I don’t know that we need to do that,” he said. “I think we have some good football players who need to play better and guys who need to get their heads straight in terms of preparation off the field — the mental side of it.

“We played with urgency and physicality this past game. But like I said, it’s the little things, attention to detail that’s hurting us.”

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