This past offseason, the Arizona Cardinals and general manager Steve Keim made a handful of veteran acquisitions including Rodney Hudson, J.J. Watt and A.J Green to increase the leadership within the locker room.
Though Arizona’s 2021 season is only three games old, the early returns from the new additions has Keim and Co. in good spirits, especially after the way the team bounced back in Week 3’s win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“The great thing is our players battled back from adversity,” Keim told Arizona Sport’s Burns & Gambo. “The leaders in that locker room stood up and took control, and obviously put us in a great position at the very end.
“Guys like Rodney Hudson, guys like A.J Green, J.J. Watt, you can’t put a price on adding players that continue to self-police the locker room, that do the right things.”
As for Green, Cardinals fans finally got a glimpse of what the veteran wide receiver can still bring to the table in Week 3. Green was Arizona’s leading receiver, catching five passes for 112 yards, averaging 22.4 yards per grab.
It was a solid follow-up after his touchdown grab in Week 2.
“It was nice to see A.J. have that kind of day because that’s what we saw throughout camp,” Keim said. “Because of the way people played us the first couple of weeks, maybe he didn’t have the numbers.
“Depending on the way people play us each week, different players are going to have big game.”
Through three games, that has certainly been the case for the Cardinals’ passing game. A different receiver has been the team’s leading pass catcher each week, with DeAndre Hopkins leading the way in Week 1, Rondale Moore in Week 2 and Green in Week 3.
Turning his attention to this week’s opponent, Keim sees the anticipation surrounding the Cardinals meeting with the Los Angeles Rams and calls it a “great litmus test.”
“I think when you have two 3-0 teams, [the anticipation] gets bigger and bigger each week,” Keim said. “Based on my studies, they have a great team.
“We feel like we have a good football team and a team that can match up against everybody.”