‘Hard Knocks’ is killing it this season
‘Hard Knocks’ is killing it this season
My interest in the series waned a bit in recent years, but this season has been a welcome return to form for the show.
I’ve made no secret of my NFL fandom over the years, and am a sucker for all things football. But recent seasons of the HBO series “Hard Knocks” haven’t been able to capture my interest as the show has in seasons past.
There are multiple reasons for this, from production decisions to oversaturation. Indeed, when the current season of “Hard Knocks,” which features the Seattle Seahawks, began, I thought I would probably give the series a miss altogether this year. But as reviews for the season came out, I decided I owed “Hard Knocks” one more shot. The result was my favorite stream of the week.
Through three episodes, “Hard Knocks” has hit many of its most-used beats. It sheds a spotlight on several of the team’s best-known superstars, with behind-the-scenes looks at contract negotiations and the like. NFL and HBO have also identified several players lower on the roster to follow through training camps, such as nose tackle Uso Seumalo and wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr.
To be sure, “Hard Knocks” was given a shot of energy by the fact that it’s following the defending Super Bowl champions this year. That alone ratchets up the intrigue of the show, but film crews have done a good job of capturing the quandary that every championship team faces: how to avoid a letdown, and what’s left to shoot for now that they’ve reached the top of the mountain?
NFL Films is really feeling itself on this season of “Hard Knocks,” as well. Its production crews can — and do — make a shot of a sprinkler rising out of the ground look interesting, but the shots so far this year have felt a cut above. Seeing wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba split into six different versions of himself as he runs a route in practice is an incredible way to illustrate what could be a difficult aspect of football’s subtleties to explain.
Cameras have also captured Seahawks executives as they go through the motions of one of the more unsavory aspects of the NFL — signing a player under a cloud of significant criminal accusations. Fans have been able to follow along with Seattle’s decision to sign former Detroit Lions defensive back Terrion Arnold, who was cut by that team after being charged with kidnapping and armed robbery in Florida.
That saga will continue to play out in front of “Hard Knocks” film crews, as will the journey of a team hoping to break through to the rarefied NFL air of being back-to-back champions. I’m not a Seahawks fan, but this season of “Hard Knocks” does what the show has always done best: make me passionate about the game of football again, no matter my feelings about the team on the screen.
Viewers will be able to watch new episodes of “Hard Knocks” on HBO Max on Tuesday evenings at 9 p.m. ET. Sign up for HBO Max starting at $11 per month for its ad-supported plan, or browse ad-free tiers and bundle options when subscribing.
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