Arizona Cardinals

Generating pass rush top priority for Cardinals in offseason

Published Jan. 25, 2016 12:42 p.m. ET

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The Arizona Cardinals were already looking ahead to next season just hours after a crushing 49-15 loss at the Carolina Panthers in Sunday's NFC title game.

Despite a stellar 13-3 record in the regular season, Cardinals general manager Steve Keim didn't need much time following the season-ending drubbing to identify the team's biggest need heading into the offseason.

“Create a pass rush,” Keim told Arizona Sports 98.7 on Monday morning during an appearance on his weekly radio spot.

Aside from the fact that the Cardinals tied for 20th in the league with 36 sacks, nine coming in one game, the most obvious sign was reflected in the team's numbers. Veteran linebacker Dwight Freeney, signed in October following an injury to Alex Okafor, led Arizona with eight sacks in only 11 games while lineman Calais Campbell was second with five.

Freeney will turn 36 next month and was utilized primarily as a situational pass rusher, so he's a stop-gap measure at best. Okafor, who topped the team with eight sacks in 2014, had only two this season - both in Week 1. Rookie Markus Golden showed potential with three of his four sacks over his final six games.

Arizona attempted to compensate for the lack of a consistent pass rush with a heavy blitz package on about 50 percent of obvious passing situations. That strategy was effective when its top-ranked offense forced teams to play catch-up, but the Cardinals managed only two sacks in two postseason games.

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