I Think It's Safe To Say This Year's Hard Knocks Is Going To Be Much Different

Honestly, if you have shown me that clip at any point of Sean McVay's tenure as Rams coach before last season, I would have thought that he had figured out the best way to hold meetings was to hold smaller meetings with as little oxygen transferring between players as possible, thus ensuring peak production on the field any given Sunday/Monday/Thursday/occasionally Saturday. Instead, it was a preview of how different this year's Hard Knocks will be, which is fine with me. Because while I would never disparage Hard Knocks since hearing that beautiful music is like hearing Auld Lang Syne as we ring in a new football year, it is always very formulaic. You have the NFL head coach who is more relatable (either good or bad) than you would have imagined, the assistant who steals the show whenever he's on screen, the young player with a wife and daughter trying to overcome the long odds to make the team (SPOILER ALERT: He doesn't), and the rookie talent show that usually has more show and over-the-top fake laughs than talent. 

But this year will clearly be a very unique Hard Knocks with some more memorable scenes as guys are masked up, reacting to other players opting out, and all the other weird shit that comes along with this coronaworld. I doubt if it'll even be better because I imagine all the safety measures that come with social distancing will prevent most of those brouhahas from breaking out that always made for an exciting couple of minutes and the preseason games we got to relive a week later with the behind the scenes of everything are now gone since the preseason is cancelled. But maybe we'll get some funky stuff from the Rams, and if time permits, the Chargers as they try to figure out how to not spread a super contagious virus running rampant in their backyard while also playing a sports built on contact. No matter how good or bad the #content is the next month or so, I can guarantee that the world will go back cumming itself over everything McVay did to prepare his team during a pandemic if the Rams are good this season.