I’d like to imagine that the decision-making process behind signing a player like Incognito was fraught and complex, and that the team is making a concerted effort to attend to his various health issues. He’s also been to the Pro Bowl four times in the last five years he played. The very first thing we hear during the premiere of this season’s Hard Knocks is Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden growling at his players to rethink their goals and expectations. A few months later, he was arrested in Arizona for threatening employees at the funeral home where his father’s remains were being held, and police found two pistols and three rifles in his car. You’ve run out of free articles. Hard Knocks is only comfortable when it’s laboring to convince us that roster moves are the most profoundly important decisions in human history. That’s unavoidable given that the NFL, which co-produces the series with HBO, is obsessed with protecting its own image. Nothing that they didn’t already know. The Dolphins then suspended Incognito after ESPN revealed the contents of a racist voicemail Incognito left on Martin’s phone. Left unmentioned are any details of Incognito’s “ugly” “history.” The offensive lineman “went unsigned” after the 2014 season because he hazed and threatened his Miami Dolphins teammate Jonathan Martin to the point where Martin left the team. The league’s training camp reality series has always been propaganda. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. By joining Slate Plus you support our work and get exclusive content. But what if the Raiders were the Hard Knocks team this year? When Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland told cornerback Vontae Davis that the team was trading him in 2012, we watched a shocked Davis ask to call his grandmother. The Carr-Jon Gruden dynamic is super interesting if only because of their diverse personalities, but it works for the most part. It would have followed players’ moves into their new homes and would have been with them out on the town in their free time (now that Vegas is opening up ...) It would have been cool. Wide receiver Antonio Brown of the Oakland Raiders warms up before the NFL preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on Aug. 15 in Glendale, Arizona. The third episode also had plenty of room for an extended Frank Caliendo impersonation of Gruden, though I’ll give the producers the benefit of the doubt on that one and chalk it up to “character development.”. I wish he was here.” I wish he was too, coach! Hard Knocks would have crushed this storyline. But rather than adapt the series to highlight the Raiders’ peculiarities, Hard Knocks has intentionally obscured what makes the team fascinating. First, he couldn’t participate in practice because he didn’t protect his feet properly in a cryotherapy chamber and got frostbite. And you'll never see this message again. Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. During the season’s second episode, the cameras cut away to an NFL Network clip that highlighted Brown’s Instagram photo of his messed-up feet. As Michael Silver revealed in a viral Twitter thread, Brown repeatedly tried to play “with his old helmet, which he had since had repainted with colors approximating—but not completely mimicking—the Raiders’ silver-and-black design.”. That’s what all the swearing is for. Derek Carr, Henry Ruggs II and Johnathan Abram would be TV gold on the HBO series. He went unsigned in 2014 and quit the NFL altogether last year. The Raiders will begin play at Allegiant Stadium this season and will hold training camp at their new facility in Henderson, Nevada. Vegas, baby: This is a historic time for the franchise. The highlight would be on first rounders, receiver Henry Ruggs III and cornerback Damon Arnette and third-round skill-position players Lynn Bowden Jr. and Bryan Edwards. He’s been one of the best QB’s in football so far, Nelson Agholor finding his way with Raiders, Former first-round pick has been nice free-agent addition for Raiders, Report: Raiders had trade interest in Le’Veon Bell, Standout running back could end up in AFC West following release from the Jets, Johnathan Abram Gets Roasted for Mispronouncing "Salmon" (Ditch the Playbook), 2020 debuts of 8 Raiders we’ve spent a lot of time talking about, Raiders cuts tracker 2020: Updates on NFL roster cuts, Raiders fullback Alec Ingold makes history with first Las Vegas TD at Allegiant Stadium. Legitimate news stories, meanwhile, are handled with the confidence of a teenager using his older brother’s ID. When you bring in a guy like Richie Incognito, you are getting a veteran with more than 10 years’ experience who can deliver right away.”, The show did, thank heavens, find time for two recitations of “The Autumn Wind,” a Raiders-themed poem written by NFL Films boss Steve Sabol in the 1970s. Watch "Hard Knocks" with the Oakland Raiders, as Nick Mascolo shows us head coach Jon Gruden's "Knock on Wood" catch phrase getting an incredible remix, airing every Tuesday at 10 pm ET on HBO. Hard Knocks still wants you to think it’s raw and real, though. Johnathan Abram: He was a Hard Knocks darling as a rookie. “Everybody right now has dreams,” he says. What would the top storylines be? Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Oakland Raiders is Streaming on HBO. Hard Knocks promises to provide insider access. But apart from a few fucks and shits, the show is lighter than a fairy tale. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. But all we can do is imagine it, because all we see, again, is a brief NFL Network clip. When Incognito retired in 2018, he told reporters, “My liver and kidneys are shutting down. Nick Greene is a Slate contributing writer. The group, for the most part, shined during the regular season and gives big hope for the future. In previous seasons, Hard Knocks used its access to create memorable television moments. It was officially announced Thursday that both the Rams and Chargers will on the show as HBO follows both Los Angeles teams’ journey into SoFi Stadium. Brown, whom the Raiders traded for in the offseason, has been a one-man news cyclone this summer. Once again, the news was presented to viewers via recycled NFL Network segments (this time superimposed onto TVs during b-roll of the Raiders cafeteria). The quarterback: It’s always about Derek Carr. You can cancel anytime. Perhaps HBO and NFL Films missed the boat by a year when it comes to subject matter for Hard Knocks, the award-winning behind-the-scenes series that chronicles an NFL team through training camp each summer. My liver and kidneys are shutting down. While coaches and players were mic’d up throughout camp, the NFL didn’t want us to hear what they actually thought about Brown and his helmet. The Raiders were the Hard Knocks team last season, and with all credit to the Raiders — it wasn’t one of the most compelling versions ever. Later in training camp, he refused to take the field because the league had outlawed his favored helmet, which had been deemed obsolete and unsafe. Watching them work to fit into Paul Guenther’s defense would have been a Hard Knocks thrill. Please try again. The stress is killing me. Silver Minings: Grading the Raiders at the bye. Raiders safety Johnathan Abram is still getting roasted for how he pronounces “salmon” It’s not surprising that Hard Knocks, which purports to give a behind-the-scenes view of training camp, doesn’t actually go behind the scenes. For Brown, the foot snafu was just a prelude. But when personnel moves aren’t front and center, the show’s kid gloves become all thumbs. I’m into fucking nightmares.” It’s a rousing speech, but the show that follows floats past in a dreamlike state, one that says very little about the NFL but reveals a lot about what the league does and doesn’t want us to see. Here’s the full quote featured on Hard Knocks: “This signing doesn’t come as too much of a surprise if you take a look at the needs the team is addressing. This class seems to have a lot of personality and it would have been fun to watch the group go through camp. Slate relies on advertising to support our journalism. All rights reserved. But rather than adapt the series to highlight the Raiders’ peculiarities, Hard Knocks has intentionally obscured what makes the team fascinating. Defensive additions: The Raiders spent big on defense, highlighted by the signings of starting linebackers Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski.
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