By Ben Koo on

Traditionally, Hard Knocks and the HBO show White Lotus have shared two things in common.

One, it’s about an hour long. And two, the series finale pays off weeks of intrigue in a memorable episode that often dominates social media, sports radio, and what we used to call “watercooler talk.”

Tuesday night’s episode of this Buffalo Bills-focused season did absolutely none of that, and capped off an abysmal showing for one of the most storied sports documentary franchises around.

Clocking in at under 37 minutes, it’s clear that even NFL Films felt they didn’t have enough material to fit into the regular one-hour episode, perhaps a nod to potential friction over limited access (my conjecture).

Staples of the show, such as coaches and the front office discussing the cut bubble, were completely absent this year. Players being told they made or didn’t make the team was also totally non-existent. The most reliable source of drama, tension, empathy, and human emotion that Hard Knocks usually delivers was entirely stripped away.

Instead, I can tell you the off-field hobbies of about half the football team (horses, dirt bikes, line dancing, and drifting).

What usually fills the bulk of the finale and anchors the entire season was essentially glossed over with a few sentences from a handful of players and coaches. Sure, we got some gravitas from the NFL Films music, editing, and Liev Schreiber’s voice, but to a seasoned Hard Knocks viewer, this episode was as hollow and fluffy as a LinkedIn influencer post.

Most of the finale centered around players making the practice squad, which is fine, but is so much more impactful AFTER you’ve seen them go through the emotional journey of being cut, processing it, and eventually getting a second chance to settle unfinished business.

Instead, this mayonnaise sandwich of an episode was filled out with players speaking glowingly about how glad they were to be back in Buffalo, where things are vaguely “different” and “better,” compared to other teams they’d played for.

We also got Josh Allen answering a barrage of boring questions while the Bills’ social media team ate spicy Buffalo wings. All the while, I kept thinking something interesting was going to happen in this penultimate scene of the final episode. Absolutely nothing did. They could have cut that out and made the episode 32 minutes, and I think we’d all be better for it.

Restrictive access by the “participating” team has long been the most significant factor thwarting Hard Knocks , and boy oh boy, the Bills were about as forthcoming as an unemployed, four-time divorced, three-time felon who just matched on a dating app.

I spoke to a source formally involved with Hard Knocks to see if I was being overly critical of this season. Their read was not far off from mine.

“I suppose the Bills couldn’t wait to say goodbye to the cameras,” my source told me. “For virtually the entire existence of the franchise, NFL FILMS was adamant: we don’t want to force a team to participate.  That’s why we never saw the Patriots. Never saw the Eagles. Never saw the 49ers. Now participation is largely mandatory. This is what can happen when there is no cooperation and trust.”

Even Buffalo fans weren’t that impressed. One Bills fan I spoke with said the season was “very vanilla.”

Now, you could argue that NFL Films burned a lot of trust in their Hard Knocks: Offseason version with the Giants, which featured the infamous Saquon Barkley front office discussion, amongst other questionable moments.

But I think more than anything, teams would rather produce their own documentaries for their own platforms and have total creative control. Much of the league is already doing this. This is what this year’s season felt like. NFL and college football access documentaries and docuseries have been evolving into extended promotional pieces and tools for the teams being covered. That doesn’t automatically mean they’re bad, but it almost certainly makes them less interesting, especially to anyone outside of that specific fanbase.

This year’s Hard Knocks was really devoid of any social media chatter or viral moments. It was all carefully crafted to put the team and players in a positive light. Gone are the days of Antonio Cromartie struggling to name all his kids, Vontae Davis’s shock reaction to being traded, Browns coaches dysfunctionally discussing how much to play players in preseason games, and Jeff Fisher’s rant about going 7-9 (above).

Showing some of the inner mechanics of the business, genuine human emotion, and letting us see the process of building a roster are what make this a must-watch TV series. It’s what captivated football-deprived viewers who needed a fix before the regular season started.

I’m not sure if we’ll get that back, and I’m unsure whether it’s HBO’s or NFL Films’s fault. They play the hand they are dealt, and sometimes the best they can do is fold after thirty-seven minutes.

About Ben Koo

Owner and editor of @AwfulAnnouncing. Recovering Silicon Valley startup guy. Fan of Buckeyes, A's, dogs, naps, tacos. and the old AOL dialup sounds

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