Takeaways From Cardinals' First Hard Knocks Episode

The first episode of Arizona Cardinals' in-season series with Hard Knocks is officially out. Here's some observations from the first episode.

The highly anticipated debut of HBO's Hard Knocks In Season: The Arizona Cardinals premiered on Wednesday night, and many fans were delighted to get an inside look at their favorite team.

The opener first starts with quarterback Kyler Murray being followed after a tough loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 8. 

The Cardinals, entering a pivotal three-game stretch against their NFC West opponents, now needed to begin stockpiling wins with a 3-5 record. 

The episode, just under 50 minutes, then goes into various storylines as the team prepared to host the Seattle Seahawks in Week 9. 

From the man who calls the plays to various leaders on the team, here's some observations from the first episode of Arizona's stint with Hard Knocks. 

Takeaways From Cardinals' First Hard Knocks Episode

A Deeper Look Into Kliff Kingsbury

On the surface, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury seems pretty vanilla. His monotone voice during press conferences doesn't exactly paint him as a character aside from the occasional sassy sound bite to a question from us in the media. He's not exactly known as a master motivator, either. 

Yet the crew was able to take viewers inside meetings and during games, where Kingsbury stepped up more vocally to try and rally his troops. More colorful language accompanied that, too.

We all know his beautiful home from the famous picture posted of him during the NFL Draft a couple years back, but Hard Knocks was taken through a tour of the rest of the house.

To nobody's surprise, other rooms in the house follow suit of a tremendous view in the living room.

Kingsbury dove into some of the views, aspects of the house he liked and even showed off a few paintings, one of which was a giant canvas of a lion with a crown on it's heard before he explained that was to represent his sign as a Leo. 

We didn't learn anything groundbreaking from the first episode, but it was nice to build a bigger picture of Kingsbury outside of the podium.

DeAndre Hopkins' Absence

The absence of DeAndre Hopkins undoubtedly impacted the Cardinals, as we saw during the first six weeks of the season. 

However, we also learned how it impacted Hopkins personally. 

In a prompt "conversation" (more like an interview) with Isaiah Simmons, Hopkins revealed some of the feelings he held during his time away from the game and even mentioned he picked up a new hobby.

Teammates and coaches had a few good soundbites from the episode when he returned, including a conversation with his position coach where Hopkins asked if he could still potentially make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Hopkins was already a quiet but confident person, and his time on the first episode never revealed anything other than that. However, we did gain a small amount of insight into what the suspension was like. 

Budda Baker's Leadership

There's no questioning Budda Baker's leadership on the team, and especially his play. 

Both of those points were driven home by Hard Knocks with viewers able to see his heartfelt speeches to teammates, which is perfectly showcased after the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Baker, who was already ruled out by Kingsbury to play next week, shows the moment where he picked up a high-ankle sprain as well.

Perhaps one of the best parts was Baker mic'd up during practice, where we learn a bit about his knowledge of sign language. 

From his family life to his constant vocal communication on the field/sideline, plenty of content surrounding Baker's is available for consumption. 

Other Notable Observations

Michael Bidwill was followed by Hard Knocks on his flight from DC to Arizona for the game. 

He didn't fly in business, nor general seating, nor first class. 

He flew himself. Very much dressed up. 

If you're a Cardinals fan, Bidwill's ability to fly a plane isn't something new to the scene, but the rest of the country may find it a bit interesting. 

Also, J.J. Watt's humor was flashed a few times through the first episode. He was giving some teammates a hard time during a rainy practice complaining about the weather, and also poked some fun at Budda Baker before the Seattle game.

All in all, it was nothing short of the standard the series has set, and we can't wait for next week's episode.

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