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To be totally and completely honest, I had no intention of actually sitting and watching “Hard Knocks”. Mostly because it wasn’t my team so why should I care? Secondly, it’s training camp so how much fun could it actually be? However one night, I was flipping through the channels and it was on and to be honest, the show sucked me in. I ended up watching all of the episodes at once except for the last one which was on last night. Here’s my review of the series as a whole.
There have been reports that Bill O’Brien told his mother not to watch the show due to his swearing and boy was he right! O’Brien certainly knows how to articulate what he feels through the art of swearing. O’Brien really shows his frustrations on the field and his most explosive moments came during the preseason games.
O’Brien has an interesting persona on the field, but the small insight we get into his home life will really make you connect with the guy. He’s clearly tired of losing and being known as one of the worst teams in the AFC South, the way he acts is because of his passion for this team. While O’Brien is a big feature in the show, the players are really what makes it worth watching.
Most of the storylines revolve around players who are on the roster bubble or who are either drafted/undrafted rookies, but the high publicity players get a good bit of time dedicated to them too. The rookies bring a real element to the show because it’s showing you guys trying to learn a completely new playbook and also trying to compete for a roster spot. Since the show has already aired, it seems right to include spoilers, but in case you plan on watching it, I won’t give away too much even though you probably know everything by now.
Besides obviously JJ Watt, the show really had a few guys who make it worth the watch including Charles James II, Brian Cushing, DeAndre Hopkins and Vince Wilfork. Charles James II is known for his crazy sock collection and during a preseason game, he actually went up and complimented Peyton Manning which was funny to watch. Brian Cushing is just plain nuts, especially with some of the things that come out of his mouth including “I used to go to Starbucks, but then I realized I wasn’t a chick, and then when he actually vomits on the field “My bad…just kidding I did it on purpose”.
Everyone knows how good Hopkins is at WR, but apparently he intends to live like a European which includes carrying his dog in a man bag and then there’s Vince Wilfork. Wilfork has to be the biggest personality on the team, maybe even more than Watt, because he showed up in freaking overalls and discussed how much he loves brunch with Watt who shares the same love.
The biggest storyline of the whole series is, of course, O’Brien choosing who he wants to be the starting quarterback. In a somewhat anti-climactic moment, O’Brien meets them in the QB room and delivers the news that Hoyer will be starting. He talks about some of Hoyer’s strengths and then exits the room, leaving the scene less than 5 minutes. Then the next day, Ryan Mallet forgets to set his alarm and rolls up to practice late which doesn’t seem to be of any care to O’Brien. When someone mentioned that they were on their way to his house, O’Brien was very direct, “Tell Khalil to turn around and come back. He don’t need to do that sh**!” but GM Rick Smith discussed the matter with Mallet. Mallet gave a pretty dumb excuse to Smith which he seemed to believe and actually doesn’t even seem possible, but Mallet stands by it.
Overall, I’d rate “Hard Knocks” a solid 3.7 out of 5 because it gives you an inside look into a lot of things you wouldn’t normally see. The fight with the Redskins is featured on there too and a funny moment occurs with the quarterbacks at the Redskins joint practice too. One of the biggest drawbacks of the show is that most of the time it’s pretty candid, but sometimes it seems a little less than candid in my opinion. Cutting has to be the biggest element of the show and it really helps to put into perspective what it is like to make or not make cuts. That is definitely the most authentic part of the show and it’s so interesting to see. If you get a chance or are just flipping through the channels and “Hard Knocks” is on, give it a watch!
