Hard Knocks Season Finale

[Simon]

6 minutes ago, stevewin said:

there had to be lots of fun/goofy stuff that wasn't dramatic or controversial - there seemed to be very little of even that.  It's kind of amazing to me they didn't really even fully reveal the humor/goofiness of Josh, which is almost hard to do.

 

This was shocking to me.

That locker room is a goldmine of humor and slapstick competition that in itself could have created a dozen quality episodes.

Instead they chose to try to create overdrawn melodrama in a place where there is too much genuine character for that crap to exist.

The little I saw ended up being nothing more than a microcosm of the modern NFL; pushing fake manufactured drama instead of allowing organic entertainment to happen naturally.

[Albany,n.y.]

4 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

This was shocking to me.

That locker room is a goldmine of humor and slapstick competition that in itself could have created a dozen quality episodes.

Instead they chose to try to create overdrawn melodrama in a place where there is too much genuine character for that crap to exist.

The little I saw ended up being nothing more than a microcosm of the modern NFL; pushing fake manufactured drama instead of allowing organic entertainment to happen naturally.

Marv had the best take on the locker room at Jim Kelly's HOF induction:

Leadership, was he good in the locker room? Heck no, his locker was a mess! Our equipment managers Hojo and Woody were good in the locker room; Jim led by his actions out on the playing field.

 

[The Wiz]

13 minutes ago, stevewin said:

The one thing I don't get though is they must have had so much content that had nothing to do with drama/controvery/secrets that they chose not to use.  They have hundreds of hours of guys mic'ed up - there had to be lots of fun/goofy stuff that wasn't dramatic or controversial - there seemed to be very little of even that.  It's kind of amazing to me they didn't really even fully reveal the humor/goofiness of Josh, which is almost hard to do.  In this last episode they end up filming parts of other interviews with Brandt and the Bills social media as their content?   

 

7 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

This was shocking to me.

That locker room is a goldmine of humor and slapstick competition that in itself could have created a dozen quality episodes.

Instead they chose to try to create overdrawn melodrama in a place where there is too much genuine character for that crap to exist.

The little I saw ended up being nothing more than a microcosm of the modern NFL; pushing fake manufactured drama instead of allowing organic entertainment to happen naturally.

You both are right.  The only thing hard knocks has produced is drama and now they changed to rules and went to a team that is winning with a winning culture so they can't make chicken sh!t out of chicken salad.  So we get all the B/C/D reel stuff instead of the good stuff that we likely wouldn't even care about but the bills want to control all of that internally/dont let them air it and I give them credit for it.

 

Now hard knocks knows not to come back any time soon.

Edited September 3 by The Wiz

[The 9 Isles]

Gotta admit that remix at the end with Marv and the “Right Here, Right Now” gave me the chills. 

[Since1981]

Confession: I’ve never watched Hard Knocks.

If it were any other team, I’d rather watch paint dry on a rainy day.

 

Cinematography? Gorgeous.

Production? Tops.

Narrator? Sounds like God himself reading bedtime stories.

 

And yet… it was still boring enough to sedate a caffeinated toddler. Blessings counted—I never have to sit through that again.

[julian]

1 hour ago, zow2 said:

I was getting a chill while Josh was describing the Bills SB parade in fine detail. What a sports tragedy it will be if he (we) never experience it with this version of the team.

 

My only surprise from the series is they never featured Keon Coleman at all.  He’s another goofball of sorts and a fun guy and not a peep from him.  Maybe it’s good he’s all football this summer.

I think maybe Coleman has come into this season with a much more business like mindset, at least that’s the impression I’ve gotten from his interviews during this preseason.

 

 That might explain his lack of involvement in the show.

[Since1981]

1 hour ago, stevewin said:

Bills social media as their content?

That social guys segment was horrific. Sadly, I will never get those 8 min of my life back.   

1 hour ago, Bills!Win! said:

 

I want my 2 months of a $9.99 subscription back 

 

Oooooh. I just hit CANCEL. 
thanks!! Now, I have to save for the Wildcard on Peacocky. 

[Rocky Landing]

There was one, rather obscured shot of Keon Coleman catching a pass, and then another shot of Coleman asking someone if they were miced up. And I believe that was it for Keon Coleman.

[BillMafia716ix]

Buffalo Bills Hard Knocks overall was a solid 2 out of 5. Pretty boring. Lots of PR fluff 

[Dan Darragh]

6 hours ago, BillsPride12 said:

Another meh episode in my opinion.  Kinda glad this is over now to be honest.

No talk about Turkey Burgers and no golfing at Oak Hill major missed opportunities 

Maybe the most boring episode in the most boring season yet.  Who needed to see those podcast clowns eating wings for like 10 minutes?

 

That's 38:13 of my life I'll never get back.

[Dan Darragh]

5 hours ago, The 9 Isles said:

Gotta admit that remix at the end with Marv and the “Right Here, Right Now” gave me the chills. 

I met Marv on the street in Buffalo 9 or 10 years ago and despite my shock I managed to say "There's no place I'd rather be than right here, right now!"

 

I have many regrets in life over missed opportunities, but that's one time I swung and hit it into the upper deck.

 

[machine gun kelly]

For anyone who may have not watched last night, it’s available as of 4am on Max.  It was a nice episode, but didn’t learn much.  The human interest stuff was fun to see.

[SoMAn]

7 hours ago, stevewin said:

The one thing I don't get though is they must have had so much content that had nothing to do with drama/controvery/secrets that they chose not to use.  They have hundreds of hours of guys mic'ed up - there had to be lots of fun/goofy stuff that wasn't dramatic or controversial - there seemed to be very little of even that.  It's kind of amazing to me they didn't really even fully reveal the humor/goofiness of Josh, which is almost hard to do.  In this last episode they end up filming parts of other interviews with Brandt and the Bills social media as their content?   

 

I still enjoy any Bills content, including this, but think it is a letting them off a bit easy to just say it was boring because the Bills didn't want any drama.

Allen's humor was on full display when he broke the QB huddle with deliberate (and uncharacteristic) absence of enthusiasm.  When he did the "win on three" (or whatever it is he says), the QBs, obviously affecting apathy and sleepiness for the cameras, all displayed the energy of a sloth. 

It was hilarious.

 

Side note to the finale...anyone notice Deone Walker's obvious limp in one scene?  With only the one clip shown, it's to say if it was chronic or a temporary irritation following a specific play.

Starting to worry about this D-line that was supposed to be revamped for 2025.

[BillsFanForever19]

9 hours ago, ShakAttack said:

I’m surprised no mention of Tyrell Shavers. I thought his story would be hyped up in last week’s episode and this week. Did not even mention him making the team. Maybe a quiet, soft spoken dude that doesn’t like interviews?

 

I wasn't expecting it and I wasn't surprised.

 

They're only going to showcase players who made or didn't make the roster from the guys who they've already focused on in the show.

 

That's why you saw what became of Jimmy Ciarlo, K.J. Hamler, Joe Andreessen, Ja'Marcus Ingram, Shane Buechele, Frank Gore Jr., Casey Rogers, and Zach Davidson on cut down day and their responses to making or not making the team.

 

They were guys that got focused on in the show. It wouldn't have made sense from a dramatic television show storytelling standpoint and/or for people watching that aren't Bills fans to go "here's Tyrell Shavers, you've never heard of him and he wasn't on the show at all - but he made the team".

Edited September 3 by BillsFanForever19

[stevewin]

5 minutes ago, SoMAn said:

Allen's humor was on full display when he broke the QB huddle with deliberate (and uncharacteristic) absence of enthusiasm.  When he did the "win on three" (or whatever it is he says), the QBs, obviously affecting apathy and sleepiness for the cameras, all displayed the energy of a sloth. 

It was hilarious.

 

Side note to the finale...anyone notice Deone Walker's obvious limp in one scene?  With only the one clip shown, it's to say if it was chronic or a temporary irritation following a specific play.

Starting to worry about this D-line that was supposed to be revamped for 2025.

There were some examples for sure, but with all the hundreds of hours of footage there were comparatively few moments like that. 

 

I get that thay didn't want to make it the Josh Allen show, but my main point was that blaming the Bills for 'not letting them show any drama' as the reason for it being boring is letting Hard Knocks off the hook a little too easy IMO.  They should have had plenty of fun/interesting content that was not dramatic/controversial/sensitive, but seemed intent on the structure of following the fringe player 'will-he-or-won"t he' narrative - instead of just including more entertaining/interesting stuff

[RoscoeParrish]

8 minutes ago, stevewin said:

I get that thay didn't want to make it the Josh Allen show, but my main point was that blaming the Bills for 'not letting them show any drama' as the reason for it being boring is letting Hard Knocks off the hook a little too easy IMO.  They should have had plenty of fun/interesting content that was not dramatic/controversial/sensitive, but seemed intent on the structure of following the fringe player 'will-he-or-won"t he' narrative - instead of just including more entertaining/interesting stuff

I’m not sure that’s true and it takes 2 to tango.

 

the Bills may have said, “we don’t want to put the message out there that we are just a bunch of funny/goofy/unserious people.” McD and Beane want people to have fun and be themselves, but may feel differently about how much of that they allow broadcast to the world.

 

I think there’s very little drama surrounding this team, outside of finally winning a Super Bowl and finally beating KC in the playoffs. Neither topic was allowed as a story by the Bills obviously.

 

So it’s basically feel good UDFA stuff, character backgrounds on guys who didn’t make the team, and culture fluff.

[eball]

For everyone complaining in these threads about the show, understand that for people who don’t regularly follow the Bills it was very interesting — I’ve heard that from every person I’ve talked to.

 

Personally, I loved it. People got to see Josh Allen the goofball and Josh Allen the master technician. They got to see how a tight-knit professional organization is run. They got some Dion goofiness. They got some “hard knocks” stories seeing Davidson, Hamler, and Rogers get lots of air time and then be cut. 
 

I loved the D line dinner in last night’s episode and seeing Daquan’s character and heart. 
 

Some of you guys are just miserable ****s, truthfully. 

 

Edited September 3 by eball

[strive_for_five_guy]

21 minutes ago, eball said:

For everyone complaining in these threads about the show, understand that for people who don’t regularly follow the Bills it was very interesting — I’ve heard that from every person I’ve talked to.

 

Personally, I loved it. People got to see Josh Allen the goofball and Josh Allen the master technician. They got to see how a tight-knit professional organization is run. They got some Dion goofiness. They got some “hard knocks” stories seeing Davidson, Hamler, and Rogers get lots of air time and then be cut. 
 

I loved the D line dinner in last night’s episode and seeing Daquan’s character and heart. 
 

Some of you guys are just miserable ****s, truthfully. 

 

 

Don’t you know this about TBD?

 

[MiltonWaddams]

All this season did is reaffirm that we have the right people in charge and the right people around the team. These are people and players that we can be proud to call Buffalo Bills….

…..but hot damn that was boring.

[SoMAn]

43 minutes ago, eball said:

For everyone complaining in these threads about the show, understand that for people who don’t regularly follow the Bills it was very interesting — I’ve heard that from every person I’ve talked to.

 

Personally, I loved it. People got to see Josh Allen the goofball and Josh Allen the master technician. They got to see how a tight-knit professional organization is run. They got some Dion goofiness. They got some “hard knocks” stories seeing Davidson, Hamler, and Rogers get lots of air time and then be cut. 
 

I loved the D line dinner in last night’s episode and seeing Daquan’s character and heart. 
 

Some of you guys are just miserable ****s, truthfully. 

 

I think some of us may forget or not quite understand the objective of the HBO show. They're attempting to have a show that can be entertaining for a broad audience of hard core and casual fans - or possibly draw some non-fans into the NFL sphere.

Like any limited production, there's tons of editing choices that leave a lot of footage on the cutting room floor as they attempt to tell a story as concisely as possible. It would be impossible to feature every story line and every player that has an angle with the limited scope of the Hard Knocks episode. 

 

I enjoyed seeing some insider stuff and getting to know some of the players better. Now I'm ready for Sunday night.

Go Bills!