Five Takeaways From Cardinals' Third Episode of Hard Knocks
The third installment of HBO's Hard Knocks in-season series following the Arizona Cardinals was released last night, and what a time for the next weekly installment.
With one series director telling fans last week about a "shocking" moment that followed the release of Eno Benjamin to be shown this week - on top of the release of offensive line coach Sean Kugler - drama was at the picking for HBO, let alone the actual performance put on by the Cardinals in a 38-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.
With Arizona on the brink of postseason elimination, it will be interesting to see how Hard Knocks is able to frame their path for the rest of the season.
Yet there's plenty of time to worry about what's ahead. The first two episodes set the bar quite high, or at least that's what we're telling ourselves. Wednesday's newest addition failed to match the standards set by prior episodes when it came to sustained drama while including light-hearted moments, although it's hard to shovel that when Arizona was 4-6 at the time.
However, there were still a few solid takeaways from episode three:
Five Takeaways From Cardinals Hard Knocks Episode 3
Zach Ertz's Void
Hard Knocks finally acknowledged the season-ending injury to tight end Zach Ertz, and although detail wasn't provided behind the scenes, the show did feature teammates and coaches reacting to the news.
"We have a job, which is to replace what we have lost," said tight ends coach Steve Heiden.
The show didn't dive into his replacement of Trey McBride or personally speak with Ertz (who is recovering from surgery, to be fair), which was a tad disappointing.
Colt McCoy's Journey
Starting for a second straight week allowed HBO the opportunity to focus more on the background of Colt McCoy, who sat down with Hard Knocks and touched on his career through Arizona. He says he contemplated retirement after suffering a broken leg but was convinced to give it one more shot, and now he's here in the desert.
McCoy being mic'd up during the practices and talking with Kingsbury during the loss at San Francisco was great access into their conversations as well.
Antonio Hamilton's Recovery
Back in training camp, Antonio Hamilton was playing some of the best football of his career.
However, a freak cooking accident put him for what was potentially the rest of his career before he made a full recovery.
Some pictures were shared on social media of the burns, and Hamilton did tell his side of the story upon his return.
Yet there's something different about the camera crew being in the actual kitchen it happened in, having Hamilton and his wife walk viewers through exactly what happened, which included their trip to the hospital and the events that occured in there.
Will Hernandez's Homecoming
The Cardinals played in Mexico last week, home the guard Will Hernandez.
Hernandez was excited to play in what he dubbed a clash of both his worlds before a pec injury sidelined him and those hopes.
However, Hernandez still made the trip with the team and even carried out a massive Mexican flag before the game. Footage of him and his family before and after the game drove home exactly how big it was for Hernandez and others like him for that game to be played at Estadio Azteca.
Sean Kugler's Dismissal
The Cardinals, despite not even mentioning the release of Eno Benjamin last week or this week, did manage to touch on the dismissal of OL/Run game coordinator Sean Kugler, who reportedly groped a woman while the team was in Mexico City.
There was a brief mention of his departure during the first half of the episode, but HBO did indeed loop back around to close out the episode with Kingsbury addressing his team, apologizing on the coaching staff's behalf and asking his team to do no more further damage to themselves.
Props to Hard Knocks for addressing that. Maybe now they can find that somehow lost footage of Benjamin.
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