'Hard Knocks': Another Cardinals loss, Watt's last home game and how Baker's season ended
The Arizona Cardinals keep searching for a way to get a win. At five defeats in a row, there are two more chances to get to five wins on the season.
They'll have to go for it without the heart and soul of their defense, Pro Bowler Budda Baker. Early in the fourth quarter with the Cardinals trying to protect a 10-point lead against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Christmas, Baker collided with teammate Zaven Collins trying to make a tackle and fractured his left shoulder.
Baker didn't leave the game. He played through the pain, then this week was placed on injured reserve, ending his season.
It's that kind of heart and effort that Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph uses as an example in a speech to the defense shown on Wednesday's "Hard Knocks" episode on HBO.
"The powers that be are making two lists; one of players who've been doing their job, the other of those who haven't," narrator Liev Schreiber says cryptically when talking about the Cardinals as they near the end of the season.
Such is an underlying theme of the show this week, as Joseph spells out to his players what they face with three games left in a season of loss, frustration, injury and mistakes.
Joseph is straight with the players.
"We're out of the playoffs. So now it's going to how are we going to fix this moving forward?" Joseph says. "If you want to be here (with the Cardinals) or in this league next year, or get an extension, I'm just telling you guys, the effort part, it can't ever be a question.
"And here's what's sad in this room. You've got two guys, Budda Baker and J.J. Watt, their best trait is effort," Joseph adds. "The example is here. ... Do the same if you want to be here or be in the NFL."
That Joseph has to use Baker and Watt to get more out of the other players could be a reason why the Cardinals are where they are. But that's another matter.
Read more: What made Cardinals special teams 'special' and why nothing else was in loss to Bucs
The show goes on to tell the story of third-string quarterback Trace McSorley, who started last Sunday's game. Then there's Christmas with the family of cornerback Antonio Hamilton, who can become a free agent after this season and is trying to earn another NFL contract, be it in Arizona or elsewhere.
The story of running back James Conner's winning battle over lymphoma is detailed, and then the highlights and lowlights of the Tampa Bay game are analyzed. Watt's impending retirement, which he announced Tuesday, is mentioned.
Near the end of the episode, a shot of owner Michael Bidwill with head coach Kliff Kingsbury in the postgame locker room after the overtime loss to the Buccaneers is telling. Bidwill looks visibly frustrated with yet another loss in a close game.
Baker addresses the team, telling his teammates to keep working hard. He speaks the truth when he says there are only two more opportunities to play together.
"Fourteen days, that's all we've got and it's over, and this team is never going to be the same again," Baker says.
In a four-win season thus far, that is a certainty.
Cardinals notebook: Coach Kliff Kingsbury says the plan is to go back to QB Colt McCoy
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals' Trace McSorley, James Conner featured on 'Hard Knocks'
