Pinch me. I must be dreaming. No way HBO locked down Mike McDaniel and the 5-2 Miami Dolphins for their in-season version of Hard Knocks this year. HOW!?
Anyone who’s been underwhelmed by the NFL documentary series lately is about to get a real shot in the arm.
This is a textbook “third time’s the charm” scenario for Hard Knocks In Season after slogging through the Carson Wentz-led 2021 Colts and the sh*t show that was the Arizona Cardinals last season.
Where do you even start to outline all the compelling storylines that are going on in Miami right now? The pure entertainment value of the Dolphins’ head coach will be worth watching alone.
We haven’t seen much of McDaniel behind the scenes with his team, save for brief locker room speech clips following victories. How does he motivate and get along with his players behind the scenes? What are practices like when they’re practicing that crazy pre-snap motion? Is he that freaking funny 24/7/365? Whatever the answers are, my popcorn is already ready.
It’s too bad the HBO camera crews weren’t around to capture whatever happened on Sunday Night Football when the Dolphins lost 31-17 in Philly. Miami got as blatantly screwed over by the refs as any team I’ve ever seen. Zero penalties called on the Eagles all night. Zero. It was a joke.
(That’s not actually Mike McDaniel on X. Sorry for any confusion. @MikMcDaniel ain’t wrong, though.)
Oh well. Whatever. The Fins’ Week 10 bye is coming up, and right before that, they play the Chiefs in Frankfurt, Germany. Exciting times ahead for this team.
Good recommendation here from The Athletic‘s Ted Nguyen:
I fully endorse George Kittle on the Dolphins. Maybe McDaniel’s ties to Kittle from his time in San Francisco can make that deal happen. I’ll pray for it.
Other subplots we’ll see play out in real time: Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in pursuit of an MVP award. Tyreek Hill possibly becoming the first single-season 2,000-yard receiver in NFL history, not to mention premium angles of Cheetah’s exotic touchdown celebrations. All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey’s Dolphins debut. Electrifying rookie tailback De’Von Achane’s comeback from injured reserve.
Those are just broad-stroke, big-name players I’m focusing on. What makes Hard Knocks so great is its ability to mine human interest stories from all kinds of unexpected players. That might be easier in training camp when guys are fighting for their livelihoods and one of the last roster spots. On the other hand, Hard Knocks should help shine a light on some of the more underrated Dolphins, so I can’t wait to see what that looks like.
Thanks to an electrifying offense and the most unique coaching personality in all of sports, I feel like this Miami Dolphins team has already endeared themselves to America. Hard Knocks is only bound to help that.
Against all odds, it’s quite possible that Miami, not Buffalo, becomes the next team from the AFC East division to play in a Super Bowl.
