TEMPE, Ariz. – Sometimes, a wife just knows.
After Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald’s weaving 75-yard catch in overtime of the NFC divisional-round game against Green Bay, coach Bruce Arians’ wife, Christine, sat in her suite, nervous.
“Call the right play, Brucey,” she said. “One perfect play.”
With her words from high above, Arians dialed up a shovel pass from quarterback Carson Palmer to Fitzgerald. It was executed perfectly, and Fitzgerald sent the Cardinals to the NFC Championship Game with a 5-yard touchdown.
Throughout Episode 7 of “All or Nothing,” the eight-part series on Amazon Video that chronicles the Cardinals’ 2015 season, Chris was the star. The episode focused on the emotions of watching a wild game as the coach’s wife. Before a third-down play late in the fourth quarter, Chris heard people her in her box cheering but she quickly ended it: “Shh, shh,” she says loudly. “What the hell’s a matter with you? Don’t cheer when our offense is on the field.”
Later in the episode, after Michael Floyd catches an improbable touchdown pass after it was tipped by a Packers defensive back, Chris tells a friend sitting next to her that once Bruce retires, she doesn’t know if she’ll want to go to another football game. The stress can be too much.
What else we learned in Episode 7:
During a team meeting right after the regular season ended, Arians made sure his team knew the ramifications of winning the Super Bowl: “Your life will change if you go 3-0.”
Veteran defensive tackle Cory Redding has some jokes. While he, Calais Campbell and Rodney Gunter were bowling during the bye week, he cracked, “If Calais is a Pro Bowler, does that make him real good at bowling? The things that make you go hmm.”
Offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin was given his first NFL job by former NFL coach Lovie Smith, which made Smith’s firing by Tampa Bay last year – a job that Goodwin interviewed for – “bittersweet.”
Goodwin said that Arians told the Indianapolis Colts in 2012 that he wouldn’t accept the offensive coordinator job unless they hired Goodwin as his offensive line coach. They did. And to make sure, Arians didn’t sign his contract with the Colts until Goodwin did.
Even veteran NFL players daydream about the Super Bowl. During one playoff practice, defensive backs Rashad Johnson and Tony Jefferson talked about what it would be like to play in Super Bowl 50. “Lights so bright, boy,” Johnson said. “You know those lights are hella bright in the Super Bowl. That first play might get me. I might be shook,” Jefferson added. Former Cardinals cornerback Jerraud Powers overheard the conversation and laughed at the two vets, calling them little kids for dreaming about what it’d be like playing in the Super Bowl. Then Powers, who played in Super Bowl XLIV with the Colts, said the kickoff is the “dopest part.”
Sometimes, to get his point across to his players, defensive line coach Brentson Buckner shows clips of his playing days, spliced with Cardinals game film. After showing the defensive line room some highlights, he said, “If I was 6-5, I’d have a golden jacket.”
During practice leading up to the Packers game, defensive coordinator James Bettcher shared an eerily poignant piece of advice with his players. If Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers lines up for a Hail Mary, “don’t watch. Participate.”
Before Rodgers tied the divisional at the end of regulation with a Hail Mary, Arians asked Bettcher if he wanted to blitz or let Rodgers toss it. Then Arians made the decision: “Go get his ass.”
During Fitzgerald’s 75-yard catch-and-run that set up his game-winning touchdown in overtime, Campbell and fellow defensive tackle Frostee Rucker were watching Fitzgerald maneuver through the Packers’ defense on the video screen. “That’s 2008 vintage Larry,” Campbell said. To which Rucker responded: “That’s 2016 ‘I gotta have it’ Larry.”