Episode 9 of "Hard Knocks In Season" featuring the Cardinals debuted on Wednesday night, and -- as we did after every episode this season -- here are the top five takeaways from the show for your reading pleasure. Warning: Spoilers ahead.
And with that, the Cardinals' "Hard Knocks" journey is over.
THE MOVIE-LIKE QUALITY OF J.J. WATT'S FAREWELL
In real time, you knew the final game of J.J. Watt was something special, with two sacks and a standing ovation in a road stadium. But "Hard Knocks" gives you the behind-the-scenes as it happens, with the emotional score underneath. And that video Watt talked about seeing the night before? We see him watch it, bawling his eyes out like he said, and then him giving a quality speech to his teammates a final time. He talks about how everyone in the room should appreciate being able to go out and play the game the next day, and wonders what he'll do after to get that shot of adrenaline he got when he notched a sack.
"There's one legal way to get that high," Watt says, "and that's this game. It's the best feeling in the world."
KLIFF KINGSBURY'S FINAL MEETING AND THE WEEK'S WORDS LEADING INTO HIS DISMISSAL
No, there was no scene of MIchael Bidwill and Kliff Kingsbury in their final meeting. Kingsbury's dismissal was handled artfully, his last few words to his coaching staff interspersed with shots from the complex as the season ended. At one point, in an interview shot a couple of days before the last game, at Kingsbury's house by the firepit originally made famous by the viral picture of his house during the draft, Kingsbury acknowledged the season had "tested my patience." After a couple years of progress, "this year was dramatically backward," he said, adding, "you don't want to feel like this again."
He said it as if he planned on getting that chance at redemption with the Cardinals, but as we know, it did not happen.
"JOE MONTANA" AND THE EMBER OF POTENTIAL IN DAVID BLOUGH
David Blough showed some things in his brief window of playing time. You see wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson saying that Blough "is as poised as all (expletive) get out." Then there is the matter of the "Joe Montana " play. The Cardinals had been working on it since midseason, we are shown -- a play in which Kyler Murray tosses the ball to wide receiver Rondale Moore on a sweep, only to have Moore throw it backward cross the field to Murray, who would throw the ball deep to someone like DeAndre Hopkins. But this point in the season, David Blough was playing the Kyler role, Pharoh Cooper the Moore role and A.J. Green the Hopkins role -- and it worked to perfection, a 77-yard touchdown. Kingsbury is seen running down the sideline, laughing and giddy for one of the few times in a hard season.
HOPKINS' LAST WORDS?
Veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins didn't play the last two games, but he was shown taking teammates Zaven Collins and Isaiah Simmons out to create some pottery. Later we see Hop in his house, talking about the difficult season. He again takes blame for getting suspended for six games, putting the team in a bad spot to start the season. Overall, though, Hopkins is blunt.
"It was an (expletive) season," Hopkins said. "There's been a lot of chatter about changes in the organization. I just keep my head down, try to work hard, do my job. But the season has been ... has been (expletive) up."
AND A CHILD WILL LEAD HIM -- HIM BEING WATT
There is a lot of interaction between Watt and his baby son Koa. He had said after the game he plays better when Koa is around. And then during the game, the cameras catch him after his second sack wondering if he had then had 10 sacks in 10 games since Koa had been born. And Watt was right -- Koa Watt was born Oct. 23, with exactly 10 games left in the season, and J.J. Watt piled up 10 of his 12½ sacks in those 10 Koa-existent games.
