Beachum, McCoy, Watt featured in Episode 2
This week’s episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks: In Season with the Arizona Cardinals” which aired Wednesday night features the mentoring and competitive nature of starting right tackle Kelvin Beachum, looking back on defensive lineman J.J. Watt’s health scare and his thoughts on being a father.
The episode also shows how backup quarterback Colt McCoy took charge of the offense and led the Cardinals to a much-needed win in Los Angeles last weekend against the Rams.
What viewers didn’t see might have been most intriguing, however: Shedding of light on the sudden and surprising release of running back Eno Benjamin on Monday and what led up to that.
Episode 2 opens with starting quarterback Kyler Murray on a training table getting his hamstring massaged. Murray was injured the previous week in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and the scene foreshadows his being ruled out of the Rams game in favor of McCoy.
There’s clearly tension. Cardinals GM Steve Keim, who is seen later at his son Carson’s high school football game, talks about the Cardinals’ struggles with their 3-6 record at the time.
McCoy, in a quarterbacks meeting, makes sure everyone in the room knows he can guide the offense. He’s proven it when given the opportunity last season.
“You be in the place you’re supposed to be, you’ll get the ball,” he says.
One storyline from last week was the offensive line forced to go with rookie Lecitus Smith and three players new to the team, with injuries to four starters. It’s a major issue with Rams star pass rusher Aaron Donald a focal point.
Smith is shown trying to figure things out in practice. Beachum counsels him, then comes in for a position meeting and announces that he was about to pass out and thinks it’s an appendix issue.
That’s a red flag, of course, and Beachum, the only previously healthy starter on the offensive line, is ordered to go to the emergency room for tests. When he’s deemed fit and returns to the team facility, offensive line coach Sean Kugler is ready with a graphic of an X-ray on the projection screen that shows a bag of popcorn inside Beachum’s body. Everyone has a laugh about it.
A big storyline last week was safety Budda Baker practicing last Friday despite a sprained ankle, and he goes on to play in Sunday’s game and makes an impact with an interception.
The most poignant moments of the show come when Watt and his wife Kealia are walking newborn son Koa and Watt is talking about putting life in perspective after his heart went into atrial fibrillation, and being a father.
One of the joys of fatherhood, Watt says, is “knowing that you get a chance to show him the world.”
From there, the story of Cardinals wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson and his son Van, a Rams wide receiver, is explored leading up to the two facing each other. Van’s wife went into labor during the Super Bowl, and Shawn’s grandson is named “Champ” in honor of the Rams winning the NFL championship.
The show concludes with about 16 minutes of looking back on the Cardinals’ 27-17 win over the Rams, in which Watt makes a passionate pregame speech, Smith and Beachum shut down Donald and McCoy leads the postgame locker room huddle, urging his teammate to turn things around.