Posted by Darren Urban on December 8, 2014 – 8:19 am

The short week has started. The Cardinals are already in meetings this morning, prepping for a Thursday night game in St. Louis, even as the win Sunday against the Chiefs has barely had a chance to register. That’s what happens on a short week; Bruce Arians said the coaches probably won’t even grade the Chiefs game because it’s already time to move ahead. Today is “Wednesday” in terms of the prep schedule, Tuesday is “Thursday” and Wednesday is a combo “Friday/Saturday” with travel mixed in. Hectic doesn’t begin to describe it.

So the newsiest thing coming out of GM Steve Keim’s weekly segment on the “Doug and Wolf” show on Arizona Sports 98.7 this morning was an update on cornerback Antonio Cromartie. When Cromartie first got hurt it did not look good, having to be helped off with help. Then it was announced it was an Achilles injury, which is really not good. A tear there and you are done for a long time.

But after the game, Arians said it wasn’t the Achilles, and Keim this morning said the preliminary diagnosis was an ankle injury affecting the peroneal tendon. Keim said at this point Cro is day-to-day, although he is getting more extensively checked out by doctors this morning.

“Things can change, but it wasn’t on the surface as severe as I thought it looked,” Keim said.

More from Keim:

— He said he wasn’t sure how Andre Ellington’s workload will be handled next year, but that he needs to get fixed up now. The running back is will go on injured reserve as soon as today and is getting surgery on a hernia in Philadelphia.

“Sometimes in football there are those fluke injuries,” Keim said. “And there are those guys who have rough seasons in terms of durability.

“Andre has got to stay healthy and I think this is an important offseason for him in terms of strength and conditioning, getting bigger, stronger.”

— Keim said the offensive line had its best game of the season, and thinks left tackle Jared Veldheer is “having a Pro Bowl season.”

— Linebacker Matt Shaughnessy banged up his shoulder late in the game and didn’t return, but Keim said he should be OK.

— Keim said he and Arians had “several conversations” over the last few weeks whether to make running back Kerwynn Williams active. They liked what they saw on the practice field, but there was an unknown once he would get into a game. Guess Williams answered that concern.

— It was director of football administration Mike Disner — the Cardinals’ salary cap guru, among other duties — who saw the ball pop loose from Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and told Arians he should challenge. The resulting Cardinals’ recovery was a turning point in the game. Disner spends every game with the coaches in booth upstairs, and one of his duties is to help figure out replay challenges.

“Dis gave us for good information for once,” Keim joked. “Not many people know this, but one of my nicknames for him is ‘Dismal.’ Because he is the money man. So many times we are talking about potential free agents or guys I’d like to sign and he’s the guy who gives me the thumbs up whether we can afford him or not. I call him ‘Dismal’ because too many times I get the thumbs down. (Sunday), ‘Dismal’ gave us some great news.”

— Keim opened his segment by praising the home fans. “They were a big reason why we won Sunday.”

Tags: Andre Ellington Posted in Blog