Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Hard Knocks In Season: The Arizona Cardinals’ on HBO Max, Going Behind The Scenes Of A Struggling NFL Franchise

For more than twenty years, HBO’s Hard Knocks franchise has given viewers unprecedented access behind the scenes of NFL franchises. The series shows the off-field interactions of players, coaches and front-office personnel in a fascinating, unfiltered way. Starting in 2021, the show–normally filmed during preseason training camp–debuted an in-season version, following teams during their actual schedule. The second edition of this format has arrived, with Hard Knocks In Season: The Arizona Cardinals.

HARD KNOCKS IN SEASON: THE ARIZONA CARDINALS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The Arizona Cardinals walk off the field in Minneapolis after a tough loss to the Vikings drops them to a disappointing 3-5 on the season. As head coach Kliff Kingsbury reminds them in a somber speech as they prepare for the back half of their schedule, they’re not living up to expectations, sitting in last place in their division. But they’re also not out of the running yet, and can make up ground quickly if they turn things around right now.

The Gist: The Arizona Cardinals came into the 2022 season with high expectations, coming off an 11-5 finish and playoff berth in 2021. Led by exciting young quarterback Kyler Murray–signed to a massive contract extension in the offseason–the Cardinals came in with dreams of playing in the Super Bowl in their home stadium, as the NFL’s championship game is set to be played in Arizona this year. At midseason, though, Murray’s struggling, and the Cardinals’ record is a disappointing 3-5. This is where HBO’s cameras pick up, heading behind the scenes as the Cardinals attempt to right their ship and salvage their season.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There’s no comparison. Hard Knocks is the foremost brand in behind-the-scenes NFL filmmaking, and anything bearing a resemblance probably owes its existence to Hard Knocks, not the other way around.

Our Take: It’s easy to take Hard Knocks for granted, with the show now in its 19th season over the past 21 years. Since 2001, HBO’s cameras have given us access to a world that we could only have imagined beforehand. Instead of only seeing football on the field and the sidelines, we’re seeing it in the days leading up to the game, in the team offices and training facilities, in the film room and the weight room and everywhere in between. It’s amazing that NFL franchises–and NFL head coaches, notorious control freaks–have acceded to the demand of television production and let us into their world.

Even then, though, Hard Knocks In Season is a step up. It’s one thing to see a team during training camp, when a lot of the screen time ends up focusing on transactions and contract disputes, or practice-squad players and unsigned rookies hoping for a shot at the roster. It’s a far different thing to see a team in the middle of the season, when every game counts and wins and losses can make or break careers.

This format first debuted last season, with an inside look at the Indianapolis Colts’ season, and the Arizona Cardinals might be the perfect subject for the format. Winning teams are special, but in a boring way; there’s less drama when everything’s going right. Losing is tough, but a team that’s expected to be bad doesn’t have real stakes other than jockeying for draft position.

But the Cardinals are supposed to be good, and right now, they’re not. Kyler Murray’s got a huge contract to live up to, and there’s stars like JJ Watt, Budda Baker and the fresh-off-a-PED-suspension DeAndre Hopkins that gave the franchise reasonable expectations of a deep playoff run, one that’s looking less and less likely with each mounting loss. That’s tension, because that’s the kind of season that gets people fired.

The first episode follows the Cardinals’ preparations for their Week 9 matchup at home against the Seattle Seahawks, an important divisional contest made even more dire by the Seahawks’ win three weeks earlier in their first matchup in Seattle. They’ve got to pull things together–and quickly–or the season could go from frustrating start to complete disappointment quickly.

Sex and Skin: None, but plenty of foul language.

Parting Shot: After a disappointing, 31-21 loss to the Seahawks that drops the Cardinals to 3-6–a game that sees key safety Budda Baker sprain his ankle–the team filters into a somber locker room.

“It’s up to what we do, but we gotta stick the f*** together,” head coach Kingsbury tells his team.

Later, Baker and his sister reflect on the game back at home, and she suggests dinner.

“I’m not even hungry right now,” Baker sighs. “I’m mad. We lost.”

Sleeper Star: Safety Budda Baker, described by Murray as soft-spoken, displays his zeal for the game–and his disappointment in the team’s current performance–with an impassioned, voice-cracking, screaming speech meant to rally his teammates in the locker room.

Most Pilot-y Line: “This is Wisconsin spring ball right here,” veteran defensive end (and former Badger) JJ Watt observes as a cold rain drenches players during practice. “I want to challenge you guys,” one coach notes during film study, “somebody play harder than Budda in a game. Try to play harder than him. Imagine what kind of defense we’d have!”

Our Call: STREAM IT. There’s nothing in sports television quite like Hard Knocks, and Hard Knocks In Season: The Arizona Cardinals is another big step forward for the long-running franchise.

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and proficient internet user based in Louisville, Kentucky who publishes the widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter.