Cardinals

they traveled to Foxborough, Mass., and got pelted by the Patriots 47-7 in a snowstorm.

That Arizona team ended up winning the NFC West with a 9-7 record and became just the second 9-7 team in history to reach the Super Bowl.

Nobody’s thinking that big anymore this season, but could Keim be on to something? Maybe the Cardinals don’t have to finish with a record of 10-5-1 or better to reach the postseason. All they have to do is finish ahead of the rival Seahawks, whom they trail in the NFC West by just a game and a half.

While that may seem like an insurmountable task, it isn’t impossible. But as the Cardinals enter their off week, coach Bruce Arians knows his players are going to have to perform with far more consistency to have any kind of a chance at all.

And they’re going to have to do it without their starting left tackle, Jared Veldheer, who is lost for the season after suffering a torn triceps tendon against the Panthers. But they can do it, Arians said.

“Oh, there’s no doubt,” he said. “There’s nobody on our schedule we can’t beat and there’s nobody on the schedule that can’t beat us. That’s the way it always is, but right now it’s putting the pieces together that we have, get game plans for each guy to execute that plan and hopefully prepare well enough to play on Sunday.

“I’ve been pleased with the preparation. The preparation hasn’t been a problem. It’s the execution of the plan.”

Sunday’s loss to Carolina, according to Keim, was “a microcosm of the season as a whole.”

“I mean, it’s you start slow, you continue to make mistakes, unacceptable mistakes – ten penalties for 88 yards – particularly in situations when you’re converting first downs,” he said. “The protection was poor, as most everybody saw, particularly out of both our guard spots. Very disappointed with their play.

“On the bright side, if we would have protected better, we had opportunities all day in the passing game.”

Carson Palmer only missed on 11 of his 46 pass attempts, completing 35 of them for 363 yards and three touchdowns. But continued penalties on the offense, not to mention the constant pass rush the ragged line couldn’t stop, stalled any hopes of a comeback.

Arians had plenty to say about the slew of penalties and the performance of his linemen.

“I’m not getting fined,” Arians said, “but the penalties, I’ve never – and I’ve been in football 40-some years – and had more second-and-30s and thirdand-30s in my life.”

There were far too many mental errors along the offensive line, Arians said, blaming footwork and technique for most of the unit’s problems. And everyone along the front shared responsibility, he added.

The defense, meanwhile, wasn’t without fault. The Panthers raced out to a 24-0 lead in the second quarter and kept making play after play in the first half.

“I didn’t see the same type of energy and edge rush that we’ve created the last several weeks,” Keim said, “and then, quite frankly, I thought that the tackling was poor. You know, leaky yards after contact and the inability to finish and wrap up are areas where again yesterday I was very disappointed.”

Keim said the team will use the off week to evaluate players, do some scouting, and look at churning the active roster. Changes, he said, will be forthcoming.

“I would say there would be a few,” he said. “… Before I get out and leave town to go do some scouting, we’ll take a look at some different players and see if there’s some areas where we can improve. But there should be probably a change or two.”

As for where the Cardinals stand within the NFC West at the moment, Arians said, “That’s the only good thing right now.”

“We’re not happy with the first half of the season,” the coach said, “but for the second half of the season to be a game or a game and a half (behind the Seahawks) and knowing we’re going to play them again and if we can take care of our business that game shouldn’t matter. And we’re in the hunt for our division, which automatically gets us in the playoffs, so we’ve got a ton of stuff to practice and prepare and to play for.”

The Cardinals on Monday placed starting left tackle Jared Veldheer on what amounts to season-ending injured reserve after it was learned he suffered a torn triceps tendon in his right arm that will require surgery.

Veldheer was injured during Sunday’s 30-20 loss at the Carolina Panthers and will be replaced by John Wetzel, according to coach Bruce Arians.

“He played extremely well in the 18 to 20 plays he played,” Arians said of Wetzel. “He’s played very well every time we’ve asked him to play. We feel very comfortable with him. Obviously, he’s not Jared, but he’ll be solid.”

In other injury news, safety Tyrann Mathieu could be sidelined anywhere from three to six weeks after suffering a shoulder subluxation. The injury won’t require surgery, Arians said, but he’s definitely ruling Mathieu out of the Cardinals’ next game on Nov. 13 against the visiting 49ers and most likely the game after, on Nov. 20 at the Vikings.

“We’ll know more about the length of his rehab in the next few days,” Arians said. “… Ty’s a tough guy so we’ll wait and see.”

Tight end Ifeanyi Momah, meanwhile, suffered a broken wrist against the Panthers, and Arians said the team will likely reach an injury settlement with the second-year pro.

Veldheer suffered a torn left triceps in 2013 while with the Raiders. That injury forced him to miss 10 weeks. He becomes the eighth pivotal player the Cardinals have lost this season due to injury.

He joins a list that includes cornerback Mike Jenkins (torn ACL), punter Drew Butler (strained Achilles), tight end Troy Niklas (wrist), safety Tyvon Branch (groin), running back Chris Johnson (groin), right guard Evan Mathis BEARS 20, VIKINGS 10 (foot) and wide receiver Jaron Brown (torn ACL).

The team can activate one player from its injured-reserve list and the Cardinals likely will choose between Johnson and Branch. Players cannot be activated off IR until eight weeks after they have been placed on the list.

Receiver Larry Fitzgerald suffered an ankle sprain against the Panthers and played through the pain, although afterward, he was seen wearing a walking boot. Arians said Fitzgerald should be able to practice at some point next week.

The coach added that tight end Darren Fells (ankle) and outside linebacker Alex Okafor (calf) also will likely be able to return to practice next week.

Because the team is so beat up and is coming off two very physical games, Arians said the Cardinals will not practice on Tuesday or Wednesday this week as previously scheduled. Younger players will work out individually with their position coaches and the rest of the team will spend most of those two days in film study with their coaches.

“Physically, we need to rest up,” Arians said. “… We wouldn’t have very many guys to practice with anyway.”

Replay explanation

Arians said the reason that a firstquarter play that was ruled a 46-yard fumble return by Carolina’s Thomas Davis and wasn’t overturned and deemed an incomplete pass by Carson Palmer is because the FOX network feed to the Arizona coaches’ booth wasn’t working properly.

Arians said the Fox network feed was to blame for the controversial review of a 46-yard fumble return by Carolina's Thomas Davis in the first quarter. The play was not overturned to an incomplete pass by Carson Palmer because the feed to the Arizona coaches' booth wasn't working properly.

“They shut it down to fix it,” Arians said, “and that’s when the play occurred. So there was no instant-replay feed. It was confirmed a forward pass, an obvious forward pass, but no one had an instant-replay feed to look at it.

“The replay official upstairs went with his naked eye so he went with the call in the field because there was no video to watch at that point in time … Including in New York (at league headquarters).”

An NFL source confirmed Arians’ description of the failed review process. According to the source, both the instant replay booth at the stadium as well as the NFL’s review headquarters in New York were not receiving the proper video feed.

Had they been receiving the proper feed, the game would have been stopped for a review and the on-field ruling of a fumble would have been overturned to an incomplete pass.

Arians said he was told of the gaffe at halftime. Asked on Monday how he felt about the clarification, he responded: “How do you think?”

As for why Arians didn’t throw a challenge flag when it appeared on television replays that Panthers tight end Greg Olsen didn’t get both feet in bounds on what was ruled a first-down reception in the second quarter, Arians said there wasn’t enough time for his coaches to make a determination on whether a challenge would be warranted.

“The coaches upstairs got a very fast replay, the ball was snapped, then they got a slow-motion replay to confirm that it was not a catch but it was too late to challenge at that point,” Arians said. “So there was no chance to challenge that play for the coaching staff. The guys upstairs did their job.”

Arians said from his view, it looked like a catch initially. The Panthers scored three plays later to go up 21-0.