Kugler’s dismissal from Cards highlighted on ‘Hard Knocks’
No more “dumb (expletive) off the field” and no more having to answer questions from the media about a lack of effort.
In a clip that lasted less than a minute, that was the biggest takeaway Wednesday night from the third and latest installment from HBO’s and NFL Films’ “Hard Knocks – In Season with the Arizona Cardinals.”
It was at the end of Episode No.3 as coach Kliff Kingsbury addressed the entire team following Monday night’s 38-10 loss in Mexico City, where offensive line coach and running game coordinator Sean Kugler was sent home for, per ESPN, reportedly inappropriately touching a woman the previous night, resulting in his firing.
It also was related to a poignant postgame interview with Budda Baker on local TV station 12 Sports, in which the AllPro safety said some of his teammates quit before the game was over.
When the team arrived back in the Valley, Kingsbury laid it on the line to his players.
“Obviously (there was) a situation in the coaching staff, so I want to apologize from the coaching staff,” he said, referring to Kugler’s release. “Unacceptable, it won’t happen again. We understand that and it won’t happen again, all right?
“From the group, I want to ask two things moving forward: Make sure moving forward nobody has to stand in front of the media and answer any questions about dumb (expletive) off the field, one. And two, effort on the field. Everybody got me? No more moving forward, right? We’ve got a great group. We’ve handled our business all season, right? Let’s get this thing going right and win this week, right?”
“Hard Knocks” didn’t address the specifics of what led to Kugler’s firing, but that’s because no details became public until Wednesday morning, a day after The Republic broke the news.
Speaking of which, as reported by The Republic on Monday, there was no mention in Wednesday’s episode involving the controversial release last week of running back Eno Benjamin, the former ASU star. He was cut, according to sources, after getting involved in an altercation with an assistant coach because of his lack of playing time a week earlier at the Rams.
Benjamin tweeted prior to Wednesday night’s episode, “Can’t wait for Hard Knocks tonight,” adding with a hashtag, “Nothing ever happened.”
Other notable highlights from Episode 3 included:
*More details from cornerback Antonio Hamilton’s preseason cooking accident at home, which sent him to the emergency room with second-degree burns to his legs and feet and forced him to miss the first four games of the year.
Hamilton demonstrated what happened while he was filmed in his kitchen with his wife, Tiara. He was cooking shrimp for the family in a pot of oil when it suddenly caught fire. He tried to take it outside, but the oil sloshed, burned him on the face, and in a panic, he dropped it to the floor.
“Everything that fell on me was flaming hot grease,” Hamilton said.
When he got to the hospital, he was told that the oil would continue to burn him so the medical staff had to immediately begin cleaning his wounds, but with a caveat.
“They was like, ‘Hey, man. The skin is just going to kind of fall off.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean, the skin is just going to fall off.’ And they were like, ‘Yes, we’re just going to get as much skin off as we can,’ so they started pulling that skin. Watching my skin come off my feet, that’s when my dark days started.”
Hamilton said he thought his career might be over, but in his return in Week 5 against the Eagles, he made his first interception in seven NFL seasons and promptly ran to the end zone at State Farm Stadium to present the football to his wife.
*Guard Will Hernandez was also prominently featured, as the cameras followed him around from Tempe to Mexico City, even though he would miss the Monday night game because of a pectoral injury that landed him on injured reserve several days earlier.
His parents were born in Mexico, immigrated to the United States, and although he was disappointed in not being able to play, he was able to spend time with his family in front of the cameras and also lead the Cardinals onto the field at Estadio Azteca by running and waving the Mexican flag.
There were some priceless moments during the segment on him, such as offering reporters beforehand on how to order food in Mexico, eating grasshoppers covered in chiles and lime with his family and friends at a restaurant in Mexico City and asking kicker Matt Prater if “kicking records count” in Mexico should Prater get a chance at a record-long field goal in the high altitude at Azteca Stadium.