Tag: Hard Knocks

Best moments from sixth episode of Dolphins ‘Hard Knocks’

Here’s what we saw in the sixth episode of “Hard Knocks.”

The Miami Dolphins have been on a roll in 2023, and they picked up a win on Sunday afternoon over the Dallas Cowboys to improve to 11-4 through the first 16 weeks of the season.

And, now, they have even more attention on them, as they’re the focus of this year’s edition of the in-season version of “Hard Knocks” on HBO and Max.

The sixth episode of the season aired on Tuesday night with more to follow weekly.

Here are some of the best moments from episode No. 6 (some are NSFW):

Mike McDaniel delivered an epic speech about learning from mistakes to help Dolphins recover from MNF collapse

Mike McDaniel is such a great coach.

Earlier this month, the Miami Dolphins suffered perhaps the most shocking loss of the still-young Mike McDaniel. Despite holding a 27-13 lead in the very late stages of a matchup with the Tennessee Titans, the Dolphins lost anyway, creating questions about who was most responsible.

To McDaniel’s credit, a new Hard Knocks clip shows the head coach taking responsibility for his shortcomings in the defeat. Because that’s what a great leader does.

While speaking to his team at a meeting, McDaniel delivered an awesome speech about how important it is to make mistakes and recover well by learning from them. This is clearly a message that would resonate in general life, not just pro football.

(Warning: NSFW language in the video below)

McDaniel is self-aware enough to know that he failed his team. He’s also smart enough to channel that energy and similarly challenge his players in the best way possible. What he said here appeared to work quite well as the Dolphins cruised over the New York Jets in a 30-0 win the following Sunday.

Best moments from fifth episode of Dolphins ‘Hard Knocks’

Here’s what we saw in the fifth episode of “Hard Knocks.”

The Miami Dolphins have been on a roll in 2023, and they picked up a win on Sunday afternoon over the New York Jets t improve to 10-4 through the first 15 weeks of the season.

And, now, they have even more attention on them, as they’re the focus of this year’s edition of the in-season version of “Hard Knocks” on HBO and Max.

The fifth episode of the season aired on Tuesday night with more to follow weekly.

Here are some of the best moments from episode No. 5 (some are NSFW):

Best moments from fourth episode of Dolphins ‘Hard Knocks’

Here’s what we saw in the fourth episode of “Hard Knocks.”

The Miami Dolphins have been on a roll in 2023, but they dropped their Monday night game against the Tennessee Titans to fall to 9-4 through the first 14 weeks of the season.

And, now, they have even more attention on them, as they’re the focus of this year’s edition of the in-season version of “Hard Knocks” on HBO and Max.

The fourth episode of the season aired on Tuesday night with more to follow weekly.

Here are some of the best moments from episode No. 4 (some are NSFW):

Titans’ Will Levis excited to watch ‘Hard Knocks’ after beating Dolphins

Titans QB Will Levis said he’s excited to watch the next episode of “Hard Knocks” because it features the team he just beat, the Dolphins.

Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis has a lot to celebrate after he led his team to a miracle win over the Miami Dolphins in Week 14.

With the Titans trailing 27-13 with just over four minutes remaining in the game, Levis drove Tennessee down the field twice to secure a 28-27 win.

“It’s awesome,” Levis said, per Jim Wyatt. “I’m pumped. We are going to have a fun (plane) ride home.”

The Dolphins are the team featured in the in-season version of HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

Levis did a little bit of trolling after the win, saying he can’t wait to watch the episode, which airs on Tuesday night.

We’re right there with ya, bud.

Levis completed 23-of-38 passes for 327 yards and one touchdown to one pick. This was the first 300-yard game of his career.

Sure, the victory will hurt Tennessee’s chances of landing a higher draft pick, but it will also do wonders for Levis’ development, something that is paramount right now.

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From Rock Valley to ‘Hard Knocks,’ Dolphins LB Andrew Van Ginkel has arrived

No. 43 was the star of “Hard Knocks” episode No. 3.

In 2019, the Miami Dolphins drafted a linebacker in the fifth round of the NFL draft. It was a draft in which the Dolphins were without second and fourth-round selections.

General manager Chris Grier started the process in the first round with a hit by the name of Christian Wilkins. Later in the draft, on the third day, Andrew Van Ginkel’s name was called.

The outside linebacker from Wisconsin was first a quarterback in high school in the small town of Rock Valley, Iowa before switching to defensive end at South Dakota, a Football Championship Subdivision school.

In what’s become a heart-warming and full-circle story, Van Ginkel has had a rollercoaster year, and that has nothing to do with an offensive touchdown celebration.

A touchdown scorer in his own right, with three in his 4.5 seasons as a pro, with one as recent as last Sunday against the Washington Commanders, Van Ginkel and his family were featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” show on Tuesday night.

Van Ginkel had a fine season in 2022 and has always made the most of his snaps on both defense as well as special teams. However, when pass-rusher Jaelan Phillips injured his Achilles against the Jets in Week 12, the door opened for Van Ginkel to be the guy to help Miami not lose ground or take a step back with the loss of a player as important as Phillips.

In the three games that Phillips missed with an injury earlier in the year, and before the Commanders game, the four sacks made by Van Ginkel this season all came in contests he was in for his fellow outside linebacker.

On Sunday, he played the game of his life, scoring a touchdown on an interception return, recording a pass defensed and hitting Commanders quarterback Sam Howell early in the game, which led to teammates Zach Sieler and Bradley Chubb getting credit for the joint sack.

It’s when Van Ginkel plays heavy snaps that the Dolphins have remarkably correlated success.  Miami is 9-1 during Van Ginkel’s career when he plays more than 80% of the defensive snaps in a game and 3-0 this season in these occurrences. Even further, when playing over 70%  of the snaps on defense in his career, they’re 16-6.

So far this season, Van Ginkel has 47 tackles, four sacks, 12 quarterback hits, seven tackles for loss and six passes defensed. He’s been tasked with inside linebacker duties throughout this season as well and has proven to be an overall defensive weapon for Miami, being all over the field in every capacity you can ask out of a linebacker.

As a pass-rusher, Van Ginkel has graded among the elite this year, and his pass-rushing prowess has been timed as one of if not the fastest to the quarterback on pressures in the entire league.

He’s done all of this while in another contract year, as he was last offseason.

Van Ginkel had the opportunity from several other teams over the winter to get a significant pay increase as well as a locked-down starting role. However, he chose to bet on himself and took a one-year deal from Miami. The Dolphins did what they needed to do to retain him and keep him around for this year, with hopes to talk again after a successful campaign.

The former Badger has held up his end of the bargain, and now it’s time for this 2019 draft pick to vest and for this linebacker to get what he financially deserves – a lucrative and multi-year deal with the Dolphins.

Van Ginkel’s success has even attracted the attention of super-agent Drew Rosenhaus. Earlier this year, the Miami-based agent signed Van Ginkel and is now the man to work his contract negotiations.

Following Tuesday’s “Hard Knocks” episode, which also featured Andrew’s wife, Samantha, and their two young children at their home, the stock has gone up for the versatile linebacker and his team at home. As shown in the episode, the Van Ginkels were high-school sweethearts, and their journey to the NFL has been in constant lock-step.

Following the momentum of this outstanding year he’s putting together, as well as the HBO crowd-pleaser, the Dolphins fan base is already clamoring to keep “Gink,” as he’s affectionately called by teammates and head coach Mike McDaniel, home.

As seen in the episode, McDaniel handed Van Ginkel a game ball, while using typical vocabulary that captured how much this linebacker means to his team, teammates and fans. The latter, of course, took to social media, as Dolphins fans were glowing with pride, as shown through posts across several platforms.

What resonated the most was the expression on Van Ginkel’s face when receiving that game ball. It was a look of joy, relief, belonging and, perhaps, a fight with happy tears building up.

Following the accolades, “Hard Knocks” captured and closed the episode with Andrew calling Samantha, as the Dolphins fan base watched with pride and happiness, almost as much as the Van Ginkels themselves.

From Rock Valley, Iowa to Hard Rock Stadium and now “Hard Knocks,” it’s official – Andrew Van Ginkel is a hit.

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Best moments from third episode of Dolphins ‘Hard Knocks’

Here’s what we saw in the third episode of “Hard Knocks.”

The Miami Dolphins have been on a roll to start this season, as they’ve compiled a 9-3 record through the first 13 weeks of the season.

And, now, they have even more attention on them, as they’re the focus of this year’s edition of the in-season version of “Hard Knocks” on HBO and Max.

The third episode of the season aired on Tuesday night with more to follow weekly.

Here are some of the best moments from episode No. 3 (some are NSFW):

Hard Knocks footage showed the Dolphins delightfully rehearsing their roller coaster celebration in practice

Practice really does make perfect.

Coaches always tell players to practice how they’d play in a game. The Miami Dolphins take that to heart apparently — even the celebrations are included.

During Miami’s dominant 45-15 win over the Commanders on Sunday, Tyreek Hill caught a 78-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa and had an elaborate roller coaster celebration ready to go in the end zone with his teammates.

Thanks to HBO’s Hard Knocks, we were able to see the Dolphins offense dedicate some practice time towards perfecting that specific celebration earlier in the week.

It was particularly great how the players workshopped the idea. What started as a boat concept turned into a roller coaster because the boat had already been done elsewhere. Originality is key here, after all.

Honestly, every team should give fans a behind-the-scenes look at celebration practice because that was just fascinating. They executed the celly to perfection.

Best moments from second episode of Dolphins ‘Hard Knocks’

Here’s what we saw in the second episode of “Hard Knocks.”

The Miami Dolphins have been on a roll to start this season, as they’ve compiled an 8-3 record through the first 12 weeks of the season.

And, now, they have even more attention on them, as they’re the focus of this year’s edition of the in-season version of “Hard Knocks” on HBO and Max.

The second episode of the season aired on Tuesday night with more to follow weekly.

Here are some of the best moments from episode No. 2:

Best moments from first episode of Dolphins ‘Hard Knocks’

Here’s what we saw in the first episode of “Hard Knocks.”

The Miami Dolphins have been on a roll to start this season, as they’ve compiled a 7-3 record through the first 11 weeks of the season.

Now, they’re going to have more attention on them, as they’re the focus of this year’s edition of the in-season “Hard Knocks” on HBO and Max.

The first episode of the season aired on Tuesday night with episodes airing weekly.

Here are some of the best moments from Miami’s debut: