Hard Knocks is finally over. The show that allegedly follows a football team as they prepare for their upcoming season aired its final episode of the season last night. It ended what was likely the worst season in the show’s history.
First of all, Hard Knocks is historically more about the guys on the bottom of the depth chart than the ones on the top of it. This year, that couldn’t have been less of the case. The Jets limited HBO’s access, and it was more than clear by the final product. It took four episodes for the audience to be introduced to anyone who had a chance of being cut. Instead, the Jets convinced HBO to make a five-hour hype up video for their best players.
The main characters of this season were guys every NFL fan was already familiar with. Aaron Rodgers got more screen time in five episodes on HBO than Tony Soprano ever did. There was also a several minute highlight montage of Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner every episode. Basically, HBO got full access to a team with expectations, and forgot why their show had been great for eighteen seasons.
In the past few episodes, fans got a free sample of all the reasons they came to watch the show in the first place. Undrafted rookie receivers Xavier Gipson and Jason Brownlee both made a name for themselves in limited screen time, and made the team. It was a nice moment. It likely forced tears for bored girlfriends across the country who were dying for this show to end.
Despite a few nice moments, Hard Knocks sucked this season, and their star quarterback was a main reason why. It was fun to see the reactions to him in New York in the first episode, but it was clear they had no plans for a show after that. In last night’s finale, there was a three-minute segment about Aaron Rodgers seeing a UFO in 2005.
I once worked in a kitchen where a guy bragged to me about the times he had encountered UFO’s. That guy’s nick-name was pyschedel-Nick. Are you seeing the connection here? Rodgers was preparing for the NFL Draft at the time. Mushrooms are out of your system in a couple days. It’s not just possible that Rodgers was tripping when this happened. It’s more of a lock than any NFL week one matchup.
Maybe I’m a cynic for dismissing Rodgers’ experience. Maybe he actually did dap up an alien or whatever it was he said happened. Either way, it had no business being on our tv screens. The Jets deserve to have a horrible season for giving us such a bad edition of Hard Knocks.
