Tag: HBO Hard Knocks

WATCH: First look at HBO’s Hard Knocks In-Season with the AFC North

HBO released the initial trailer for Hard Knocks In-Season with the AFC North featuring the Ravens, Bengals, Browns and Steelers

The AFC North is the most challenging division in the NFL. The season started with four potential 2024 playoff teams and tons of storylines. As HBO’s Hard Knocks takes an inside, in-season look at this historical division, fans will now have an up-close look.

For the first time since its debut, the award-winning docuseries goes behind the scenes of an entire NFL division for the first time. Warner Brothers Discovery made the announcement back in June.

HARD KNOCKS: IN SEASON WITH THE AFC NORTH will document the battle for the AFC North crown during the final six weeks of the NFL season, as well as a playoff run for the division-winner and any AFC North Wild Card teams. The 18-time Emmy®-winning series will deliver its signature all-access coverage as it follows the Mike Tomlin-coached Pittsburgh Steelers, who have never been featured on “Hard Knocks” in the history of the series, as well as coach John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens, coach Zac Taylor’s Cincinnati Bengals, and coach Kevin Stefanski’s Cleveland Browns. Quarterbacks Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson, and Justin Fields will share the “Hard Knocks” spotlight with Derrick Henry, Ja’Marr Chase, Myles Garrett, TJ Watt, and an array of other AFC North star players.

It will debut Tuesday, December 3, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and stream on Max. Subsequent Tuesdays will air through the end of the NFL regular season and continue into the NFL playoffs in January 2025. HBO released the first trailer on Tuesday, and it looks as intense as the action presents.

Baltimore was the first team featured on the original “Hard Knocks” training camp series 2001. Since then, the Bengals have appeared twice, in 2009 and 2013, and the Browns in 2018, while the Pittsburgh Steelers will be making their debut appearance. Storylines to watch will include Patrick Queen’s arrival in Pittsburgh and the renewed Steelers-Ravens rivalry.

Contract disputes in Cleveland, Deshaun Watson’s return and subsequent injury, Russell Wilson’s debut, Justin Field’s arrival, and Joe Burrow’s return are just the tip of the iceberg of storylines and interesting subplots.

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Flashback to the original HBO ‘Hard Knocks’ at Ravens training camp

With the Ravens back on the show, some football fans have been flashing back to that inaugural season.

Monday’s news cycle brought the exciting announcement that NFL Films and HBO’s Hard Knocks series will, for the first time, chronicle an entire NFL division. The AFC North was selected, and it will be covered during the reality series “In Season” portion.

This marks the Baltimore Ravens’ first appearance on the popular program since its inception in 2001.

The Ravens were coming off the franchise’s first Super Bowl win at the time.

Once again, the Ravens are making Hard Knocks history, as they become one of four teams to be in the first divisional edition, complementing their status as the series’ inaugural team selected. According to both NFL Films and HBO, the production was “the first sports-based reality series” in television history.

For the first twenty years of the series’ history, the focus was on the training camp portion of the season only. Then, in 2021, the Indianapolis Colts became the first team to participate in the in-season edition.

This year will mark the first time Hard Knocks has an offseason edition, with the New York Giants selected as the subject matter. With the Ravens back on the show, some football fans have been flashing back to that inaugural season.

The video below features arguably the most iconic clip from that first season: Tim Anderson bringing down the house with his hilarious lampoon of Shannon Sharpe at the rookie talent show.

Watching Sharpe’s reaction, as he loses his mind with laughter, makes the bit much funnier. In the same episode, Todd Heap did a spot-on impersonation of coach Brian Billick, which was pretty hilarious as well.

If you want to watch the first full episode of the entire series, it is embedded here below:

 

NFL fans collectively yawned at the Giants being featured on Hard Knocks. Here’s why they may still get their wish of seeing the Bears

Fans wanted to see the Bears on Hard Knocks this summer, and they still might.

The New York Giants will be featured on an upcoming season of HBO’s Hard Knocks, it was announced Wednesday, leaving fans less than enthused about the prospects of watching a team void of much excitement.

As a Giants fan myself, even I can admit to hardly caring to see Big Blue featured in the overly-edited BTS show. It’s just not a fun time to care about the Giants.

However, one fanbase in particular really thought this was a missed opportunity for HBO, and it was that of the Chicago Bears. With so many moving parts on a promising young roster featuring No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams, NFL fans thought Chicago was an obvious choice for Hard Knocks.

But everybody can calm down. The Bears may still end up on Hard Knocks this summer.

The Giants are being featured on a new version of the show that focuses specifically on the offseason, from January to July. Titled Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants, this iteration will give fans a behind the scenes look at things like the scouting combine, free agency and the draft.

As for the team to be featured on the traditional training camp version of Hard Knocks, that’s still to be determined.

Having a playoff appearance in the last two years was removed as something that can disqualify teams from appearing on the show, so the pool of potential teams is likely bigger than usual. But it still includes the Bears (for now), as they don’t yet meet any of the other disqualifying criteria, which includes:

  • Team has a first-year head coach
  • Team is participating in the in-season version of Hard Knocks this year or next year
  • Team appeared on Hard Knocks in the past eight years

The new offseason Hard Knocks featuring the Giants debuts July 2.

NFC East news: Giants to be featured on an offseason version of HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’

HBO, NFL Films, Skydance Sports, and the New York Giants are set to release Hard Knocks: Offseason with the Giants.

HBO is headed to North Jersey to follow the Giants around, and we’re hoping the footage starts before Saquon Barkley heads down the New Jersey Turnpike for Philadelphia.

HBO, NFL Films, Skydance Sports, and the New York Giants are joining forces for “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants,” a brand-new iteration of the groundbreaking franchise that will document the NFL offseason for the first time.

Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, announced the deal today during the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront presentation.

“Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants” will bring viewers inside the New York Giants organization as the team prepares for their highly anticipated 100th season. Camera crews will chronicle the team’s every move as general manager Joe Schoen and other members of the team’s front office and staff navigate the critical offseason period from January to July 2024, from the NFL Scouting Combine to free agency, to the NFL Draft and team minicamps.

“We are incredibly proud that ‘Hard Knocks’ is widely thought of as one of the most successful and entertaining unscripted sports franchises ever produced,” said Ross Ketover, senior executive, NFL Films. “To be able to expand on the ‘Hard Knocks’ universe, and with an elite franchise in the Giants while they celebrate their 100th season, is a privilege for all of us at NFL Films.”

The Giants did some good things this offseason, including drafting Malik Nabers. Still, all Philadelphia fans want to see is the reaction to Saquon Barkley exiting for a three-year deal with Philadelphia.

The five-part original series premieres Tuesday, July 2, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on Max. New episodes will debut on subsequent Tuesdays through July 30.

Best moments from seventh episode of Dolphins ‘Hard Knocks’

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

The Miami Dolphins finished the 2023 calendar year with a loss on Sunday afternoon against the Baltimore Ravens to fall to 11-5 through the first 17 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 seventh episode of the season aired on Tuesday night with more to follow weekly.

Here are some of the best moments from episode No. 7 (some are NSFW):

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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Eagles could make in-season cameo on HBO after Dolphins get selected for ‘Hard Knocks’

The Philadelphia #Eagles beatdown of Miami could be featured on HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ after the #Dolphins were chosen as the in-season team to be featured could make appearance on Hard Knocks after Dolphins get selected for in-season

The Eagles have never been the feature team for HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ series, but their Sunday night beatdown of Miami in Week 7 should be front and center for fans to consume.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Dolphins have been selected for the in-season version of the hit documentary series.

The NFL just confirmed the news.

HBO, NFL Films, and the Miami Dolphins announce the news on Monday morning, and there will be more details to come, but fans can watch on HBO while also streaming on MAX.

The Eagles came away with a 31-17 victory, and the matchup will undoubtedly be a key discussion piece for HBO and fans alike.

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Aaron Rodgers’ reaction to Jets QBs calling out his ‘[expletive] easy’ to spot play fakes is priceless

A hilarious moment from Hard Knocks.

Zach Wilson shouldn’t be calling out anyone, let alone Aaron Rodgers, in the QB room.

And that’s ESPECIALLY true of play fakes, one of Rodgers’ calling cards during his time in Green Bay.

But as we saw on Episode 2 of Hard Knocks on HBO, that’s what the young QB was asked to do along with his fellow New York Jets quarterbacks: Critique Rodgers’ play fakes in practice by calling out whether a fake was run or pass says Rodgers “shortchanged” a fake with his arms, to which Rodgers responds with a great face and a raised eyebrow

This is some funny stuff:

 

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The Jets plan to really limit what NFL Films will be able to show during HBO’s Hard Knocks

Hard Knocks will look different this year.

In recent years, the NFL has found it a struggle to get teams to participate in HBO’s Hard Knocks — an all-access docuseries from NFL Films that has turned into a training camp tradition. And it’s safe to say that the New York Jets aren’t thrilled to be the featured team this year.

They’re apparently going to limit NFL Films’ access even if that creates a far less compelling viewing experience.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, this year’s edition of Hard Knocks will look noticeably different with cameras no longer having access to head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas when they’re making personnel decisions. That means we won’t see players getting released on camera anymore — something the show has done in every previous season.

Via frontofficesports.com:

“Hard Knocks will not be the same. They’re not going to be given the same access. The Jets don’t believe it’s humane to show players being released.”

Given what Aaron Rodgers said about Hard Knocks last week, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

The Jets don’t want to go out of their way to offer access to NFL Films when they didn’t want to be featured in the first place.

They’re going to offer the bare minimum in terms of cooperation. And sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more teams follow that lead when they view Hard Knocks as a nuisance.

Are the Commanders going to be on Hard Knocks?

Of the four teams that can be forced to do “Hard Knocks,” the Commanders are the only team not to say no publicly.

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We are about six weeks away from all 32 NFL teams reporting to training camp, yet we still do not know who will be on “Hard Knocks” this summer.

Using the NFL’s formula, four teams could be forced into doing the show: the New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders.

This week, everyone’s favorite contender, the New York Jets, with new quarterback Aaron Rodgers, made it clear they do not want to be on the popular series.

“I know there would be some teams who would love to have Hard Knocks in their building — we’re just not one of them,” head coach Robert Saleh said, according to Lorenzo Reyes of USA TODAY Sports.”

Bears chairman George McCaskey made his stance clear in March.

Saints head coach Dennis Allen doesn’t want his team featured on the show either.

That leaves the Commanders. Washington is the only one of the four not to publicly express its desire not to participate.

Is that for a reason?

Many believe that exposure would be good for the Commanders, who are in the middle of a much-needed ownership change. Do some in Washington’s organization want to participate in the show?

Or is there so much going on that no one has said no?

Head coach Ron Rivera holds a lot of power in the organization. He’s old school, and “Hard Knocks” wouldn’t appear to be his thing. Meanwhile, team president Jason Wright may believe it’s good for the entire organization.

It’s difficult to tell, but a decision should come soon.