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Steve Keim: "I'm coming out swinging like hell"

Steve Keim said he hasn't felt this way after a game "since the game we lost, 58-0," a reference to the blowout loss in Seattle in 2012 that ultimately doomed former GM Rod Graves and coach Ken Whisenhunt. It was that loss that Keim noted as a big part of his motivation when he was hired as GM about a month later.

Now the Cards are coming off Thursday night's 45-10 loss and have a 1-6 record.

"When you are in this situation, it's lonely," Keim said Friday morning on the "Doug and Wolf" show on 98.7, Arizona's Sports Station. "At the same time you find out a lot about yourself, you find out a lot about your organization. You have two choices. You can curl up in a ball and hope it goes away -- which it's not -- or you come out swinging and fight.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm coming out swinging like hell."

Like Wilks Thursday night, Keim declined to talk about any specific changes that might happen, including on the coaching staff.

"I'm not going to talk on the radio about anyone's job status," Keim said. "Everyone is being evaluated and we are going to make the changes that are necessary." (About 20 minutes after Keim's interview, the team announced OC Mike McCoy was let go.)

Keim said that it was the easy part of the business identifying what the problems are for the Cardinals. The challenge is finding ways to get them fixed.

"It gets back to making a lot of tough decisions, sometimes ones that aren't popular," he said. "The bottom line is we are all accountable. This isn't good enough."

-- Keim was asked about the Cardinals playing so poorly after Broncos linebacker Von Miller had challenged them with his comments earlier in the week.

"Obviously it's frustrating that he backed it up," Keim said. "Number two, what I would expect is for us to come out and fight our asses off and show everybody that's not the kind of football team we are. But again, talk is cheap, and we have to do it on the field."

-- Keim tried to see a silver lining, saying that even after the game was well out of reach, there were players fighting, including rookie quarterback Josh Rosen, "but there's not a whole lot to hang our hat on."

-- Keim praised Rosen's resilience -- "He has the right attitude and the mindset that you want" -- and said he can see both sides of the argument of having Rosen playing at the end of the game for experience or the idea he should have been taken out to prevent injury. "I don't think there is a good answer," Keim added.

-- He was asked about the defense, and whether the coaches should adjust schemes to the players, or teach the players the scheme and slowly get better players to fit that scheme.

"It's easy to say you have to put guys in the best position to succeed," Keim said. "That's something we have to take a long, hard look at. How do we get these guys going. How do we put them in different positions to succeed or to understand what we are asking them to do. That's no secret. Those are the things we have to get cleaned up. The average fan can see that."

-- Keim said he understood the situation the Cards have put themselves in. "We have to get people excited again," Keim said. "That starts with me and it starts with coach (Wilks) .. We've got to fight."

Keim Time POCKET
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