The good people of Amazon.com have arrived to save us from the doldrums of the offseason. The gift is All or Nothing, an eight-part miniseries that documents the the Arizona Cardinals' 2015 season.
The series is produced by NFL Films -- Translation: We're in good hands here -- with Amazon dropping all eight episodes July 1 (more details on how to watch below).
"It's going to be great for the fans. They're going to see something they never get to see," Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians told Entertainment Weekly. "I think they'll really get to enjoy the unique players and their families, and what these guys really go through."
We've long daydreamed of the possibility of a season-long Hard Knocks style docuseries, and this may be it. We even get the famous person as narrator -- Mad Men star Jon Hamm taking on the role so capably held down by Liev Schreiber on Hard Knocks.
But Arians told EW that viewers will get something different with All or Nothing.
"I am not a fan of (Hard Knocks). They sensationalize players getting cut, and it's more reality TV, looking for emotional stuff," he said. "This was just everybody doing their job -- players, coaches, front office, owners -- every single day of the season."
There's always an element of risk in a project like this. Hitching your wagon to a Super Bowl contender doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a Super Bowl contender ... or even a compelling group of individuals. But the Cardinals were the real deal last season, finishing 13-3, surviving one of the most memorable playoff games in recent history against the Packers before falling to the Panthers in the NFC Championship Game.
There are great personalities involved as well, from the charasmatic Arians, to NFL ambassador Larry Fitzgerald to All-Pro corner Patrick Peterson to former 2,000-yard rusher Chris Johnson, who revitalized his career in Arizona after being involved in a deadly drive-by shooting the prior offseason.
Put it all together and this should be appointment viewing for fans interested in a peek behind the curtain of the insular world of the NFL. I'll be at the All or Nothing premiere event in Los Angeles on Thursday night where I'll try to learn more about the series and, perhaps, belly up at the bar with Kangol Bruce himself.
- All eight one-hour episodes of "All or Nothing: A Season with the Arizona Cardinals" will be available for Amazon Prime members as part of their membership, and to all Amazon customers from July 1 to August 31, via the Amazon Video app for TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, mobile devices and online at Amazon.com/allornothing. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.*