Bruce Arians, Tyrann Mathieu shine in 'All or Nothing'
It has long been established that NFL Films is one of the best things the league has going for it. The group presents the game and its characters in a cinematic way, the slow-motion action cuts and dramatic music endearing many to the game beyond Sunday’s action (and Monday. And Thursday.).
Along those lines, “Hard Knocks,” the now-annual behind-the-scenes look at one team’s training camp and preseason has become an incredibly popular franchise. But now NFL Films has taken things one step further, giving viewers an all-access pass for an entire season. The franchise to agree to such a thing? The Arizona Cardinals.
“All or Nothing,” which became available on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, is eight episodes that track the Cardinals from the 2015 NFL draft through their loss to the Carolina Panthers in the NFC championship game in January.
Whether you’re a fan of the Cardinals or not, if you love “Hard Knocks,” “All or Nothing” is even better. Despite 10 months being condensed into less than eight hours, it doesn’t feel rushed like “Hard Knocks” sometimes does. You’re in the meeting rooms during the week, you hear the chatter on the headsets during the games, you are in players’ kitchens and coaches’ living rooms, getting a sense of everything that happens during the course of a season.
The star of the series is head coach Bruce Arians. Known for his signature Kangol hats (which the league won’t let him wear on the sidelines because of its deal with Nike), Arians just gets it. He’s hard on his players but he loves them. He wants to win but keeps the game simple. He knows that time away from the facility is as important, if not more, than the time at the facility. He’s never met an F-bomb he won’t use.
“When I hear of guys sleeping in their office, I wonder what the hell they’re doing there,” Arians says during Episode 3. “The game ain’t that hard. The work will always be there; the kids won’t.”
He tells his assistants: if they miss a piano recital, play performance, flag football game or anything along those lines, “I’ll fire you,” and the families of all players and coaches are invited to watch Saturday practices during the season.
It’s a method that works. 2015 was Arians’ third season as coach in Arizona, and the franchise, for years one of the NFL’s also-rans, is 34-14 on his watch with playoff appearances in each of the last two years.
Arians’ work is made easier by president Michael Bidwill and general manager Steve Keim (fun note: Keim’s three sons are named Carson, Brady and Warner, after quarterbacks Carson Palmer, Tom Brady and Kurt Warner), who has both drafted well and done well signing free agents, before the season and in-season – Dwight Freeney, signed in October, winds up leading the team with 8 sacks.
Bidwill and Keim are prominent throughout the series, as is defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, one of the first draft picks of Arians’ tenure. Arians and Mathieu are tight, two men who thrived after stumbling and getting a second chance. Arians was kicked out of high school (in an interview with Andrea Kremer on a recent episode of “Real Sports,” he says it was for drinking), and Mathieu was dismissed from the Louisiana State team for violations of the substance abuse policy.
After Mathieu tears his ACL in the closing minutes of the 14th game of the season, a blowout win over the Eagles, we see Arians wiping away tears, though he isn’t the only one deeply bothered by seeing the heart and soul of the team go down; Palmer says there’s no greater loss the team could have suffered than to have Mathieu out for the remainder of the season.
Multiple other members of the team are featured, of course, from Palmer to Larry Fitzgerald to rookie running back David Johnson (in the opening minutes of the series we see the Cardinals excited to see Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah still on the board as their second-round pick approaches, only to see the Lions take him. Arizona goes with Northern Iowa’s Johnson instead) to cornerback Patrick Peterson to defensive line coach Brentson Buckner, who is seemingly a rising star in the coaching ranks.
It’s hard to say too much in detail without spoiling some of the key moments of the show, but like almost everything NFL Films does, it’s worth your time.
