Like most of you reading this, I never miss a season of HBO’s Hard Knocks. Over the last couple of years I’ve gone so far as predicting who the Hard Knocks team will be, based on the NFL and NFL Films’ own criteria. So far I’m 2-for-2.
This year’s Hard Knocks should have been a special one for me. I’ve been a Los Angeles (and St. Louis) Rams fan since I was four years old. I live in East Tennessee and back in 1979 there was no NFL team here. Standing in the bedroom my cousins Bobby and Jesse shared, I looked at a poster of all then 28 NFL teams and picked the Rams as my favorite. I thought they had the coolest helmets and, by God, I still do.
It’s not always been easy rooting for the Rams. From 1979-1989 it was great. From 1990-1998 it was a nightmare. The Greatest Show on Turf showed up in 1999 and lasted all of three years before Mike Martz decided his coaching was the secret, and not the rare talents of quarterback Kurt Warner. Warner was shipped out of town to take another team to the Super Bowl. The Rams haven’t had a winning record since 2003.
Martz has since publicly flagellated himself over the way he helped run Warner out of town and, frankly, if and when Stan Kroenke decides to cast Jeff Fisher in the wind, I hope Martz is the first man he calls.
Want to improve your WR evaluation skills?
Come learn from one of our WR instructors, SB winning coach Mike Martz. pic.twitter.com/lpc8hhj5Gd
— The Scouting Academy (@TheScoutAcademy) September 5, 2016
Fisher’s continued presence and guaranteed mediocrity were the main reason I wasn’t pumped about the Rams being the Hard Knocks team this year. On the bright side, I told myself, it’ll be great to see guys like Todd Gurley, Aaron Donald and Robert Quinn get their chance at the spotlight. Only that didn’t happen.
Instead NFL Films decided to focus almost exclusively on a handful of hapless sad sacks and their effing kids. And, yes, all the kids were adorable. But maybe I wanted to get to know Gurley and Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt a little better. You know, the guys that will actually play, instead of showing Ian Seau’s entire family, with tons of camera time dedicated to his sister, when there was no way in hell he was going to make the team.
Can't be scared to take risks. Taking risks develop natural instincts which will ultimately develop better performances and outcomes. STRIVE
— Ian Seau (@Isayow8) August 30, 2016
Do you know what would have had to happen for Austin Hill to make this Rams team? Nothing short of a team-filled bus crash. Yet there he was, episode after episode, taking up time and whining about not getting reps or catches in the final minutes of meaningless preseason games.
is there a reason austin hill's gf and daughter got more screen time then the rest of the entire rams' roster combined? #HardKnocks
— Jeff Miller (@jefe_miller) September 7, 2016
After the first episode, Jared Goff and Gurley were nothing more than bit players in the Austin Hill and Ian Seau show. There were some surprising releases for the Rams on the final cut-down day and I can assure you, not a single one of those players were featured on this show. Akeem Ayers was the starting outside linebacker and started on the New England Patriots 2015 Super Bowl team and got cut. Did he even make an appearance in the background?
You know who I was interested in getting to see? Sean Mannion. He’s the Rams second-year quarterback and beat out Jared Goff to be the back up and may, as of right now, be the best quarterback on the team. How about pointing the camera at his head for a minute?
Did you know that while you were being shown Eric Kush’s tank top collection he wasn’t even the back up center? That’s Demetrius Rhaney. And the starting center is Tim Barnes. Neither guy every showed up once on your TV.
After being cut by the @RamsNFL lineman @EricKush64 has signed with @ChicagoBears #HardKnocks pic.twitter.com/Pufv8zjNJ0
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) September 7, 2016
Mo Alexander did so well that the team shut down their search for a free agent free safety. That might have been interesting to see. Or how about Trumaine Johnson, the cornerback the Rams wanted to keep so bad they used the franchise tag on him? Why not put a microphone in front of him for just a second? I’m sure he could bring a kid or a puppy or something. A turtle. Whatever you need, Hard Knocks.
The fact that Alec Ogletree, the man who Mike Singletary said could be the next Ray Lewis, only got significant time on camera when his wife face timed or came around with his newborn baby should tell you everything wrong with this season of Hard Knocks. When Austin Hill’s kid doing cartwheels gets more screen time than Aaron Donald, you’re not making a football show.
