Arizona GM: Cardinals Should Be 'Angry, Disappointed And Embarrassed' Over Loss To Patriots
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Heading into Sunday night's game in Arizona, many folks believed the Cardinals would handily defeat the Patriots. Cardinals GM Steve Keim was apparently in that group.
Keim joined Arizona Sports 98.7 FM in Phoenix on Monday morning, and he did not hold back his feelings.
"You wake up Monday morning with a loss," he told the Doug & Wolf Show, "and you're angry, disappointed and embarrassed. And that's the way we should all feel."
He continued, saying the Cardinals' performance across the board was "unacceptable."
Keim was deeply critical of his team's defensive strategy and execution, and though he placed some blame on his own shoulders, he seemed to pin the loss on the players.
"I don't place blame on our team. My job is to try to produce the best roster I can. I know we have a talented bunch, yet at the same time, if they don't play to their level, then we're going to have disappointment. And that's certainly what happened last night," he said.
As a result, Keim expects urgency from the Cardinals.
"We've got to regroup. It's a 'sky is falling' Monday and that's the feel that all of us should have and use that as a chip on our shoulder to make sure that it doesn't happen again," he said.
Despite Jimmy Garoppolo playing well in his first career start, Keim still referred to the third-year player a "backup quarterback" when asked if there's such thing as a "good loss."
"No. Not when you're playing a backup quarterback and they're missing some playmakers and it's a game at home," Keim answered. "Our mind-set is, you cannot lose those home games in front of our crowd. … We did not live up to expectations, and that's something that needs to change by next Sunday against Tampa."
Typically, this isn't the reaction of the leader of a team that lost to the Patriots. After all, the Patriots win 12-plus games every year, and they're a pretty good team. Yet the absences of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski and Rob Ninkovich and Nate Solder likely led to Arizona believing the chances for a Week 1 win were higher.
Alas, that confidence has left at least the general manager feeling embarrassed on the first Monday of the season.
