December premieres that don’t involve the spirit of Christmas are rare in the world of television, and I’m all the more grateful this year in particular for them. And since I’m already a fan of HARD KNOCKS, the HBO and NFL FILMS collaboration that has turned teams and personnel into a de facto real time reality show for more than two decades, the fact that we’ve gotten another in-season cycle of the series is about as welcome a holiday gift as I could hope for.
That gift was dropped under subscribers’ trees last night in supersized form, with this winter’s episodes being devoted for the first time to an entire NFL division–the AFC North. Four cold-weather teams, three from the Rust Belt, two with legitimate playoff aspirations and one that will emerge with the title. That also means four times the potential storylines and deep dives into the lives of players and coaches that has made the show so enjoyable and informative.
With that much more of a robust array of characters to select from, we get more familiar faces up close and personal, as THE BIG LEAD’s Joe Lago teased yesterday:
While insights on the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns will be interesting, the main attraction will be the Pittsburgh Steelers and the mystique of their longtime head coach Mike Tomlin. Pulling back the curtain on the methods of Tomlin, the NFL’s longest-tenured current head coach, should be fascinating to football fans, and HBO’s sneak peek provided a glimpse of what to expect when “Hard Knocks: In Season” debuts Tuesday. 
“Are you thriving or surviving?” Tomlin asks during a team meeting. “When s— gets difficult in practice or in games, do you thrive or survive?”
“You’ve got your head buried in the sand if you don’t think there’s tangible reasons why these things happen. And if you’re lacking in that mental toughness area, if you are a survivor, then your ass better grow and grow quickly.”
And as THE CINCINNATI INQUIRER’s David Wysong told his readers, most of whom are ardent fans of arguably the league’s most underperforming franchise this year, there was reason to get a tad more excited about the stretch run:
“I’m excited to see what they’re dropping,” Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase said Tuesday afternoon at the Boys & Girls Club on Washington Avenue, where he hosted a shopping experience for 100 local youths. “I think it’ll be cool to see all the actual stuff that goes on in the actual film room, the meetings, practice. I think it’ll be exciting to show the outskirts of what it’s actually like in the NFL.”
But in true HARD KNOCKS fashion, it’s the storylines of folks you may be less familiar with that are the most enjoyable and broadest appeal elements. An extended profile of a pair of brothers on the Steelers, 35-year-old veteran defensive tackle Cam Heyward and his younger brother (by ten years), emerging tight end Connor, was both poignant and revealing. With cameras at Cam’s Thanksgiving table, we learn how their bond has grown as they have become teammates in the NFL, all the more necessary because we learn their dad passed away when Cam was 17 and Connor was seven. It makes the fact that this team is leading the division in surprisingly convincing fashion all the more satisfying when one considers that these are the kind of men who are reaping the benefits.
It’s yet another reminder of how groundbreaking in all forms of storytelling NFL FILMS has been, a point that was driven home in detail by THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s Alex Weprin in a piece that dropped yesterday:
NFL Films, which was founded in 1962 by Ed Sabol and his son Steve, can be credited with helping to create the sports doc format that we know today (not to mention things we now take for granted like instant replay). But the company — which operates as a league-owned Hollywood-quality production studio — has no qualms about breaking with its own traditions.
Steve Sabol’s office is now a conference room, but his desk is still there, just as it looked right before he passed away from brain cancer in 2012. Inside is a note from Sabol, which Ken Rodgers, executive producer at NFL Films, occasionally steals a glance at. It implores those at NFL Films to “keep tradition alive by breaking with tradition,” Rodgers says.
“I think he was talking about format and courage,” he adds. “There’s a very easy instinct to copy past successes.”
HARD KNOCKS and its multiple iterations are only part of their evolving portfolio. They’ve provided a home base for Bill Belichick’s redemption tour, where, as Weprin wrote, (t)he coach has his own office and conference room, but his studio functions as a multi-purpose production hub for his podcasts, his appearances on the Manningcast and The Pat McAfee Show and other media hits.
And next month, they will provide ESPN with something neither of them have tried but has all the potential to bring in an entirely new audience:
In January, it will produce its first late night show, They Call It Late Night, which will be hosted by Philadelphia Eagles legend Jason Kelce. NFL Films co-produced Kelce, the documentary film about the former NFL star that landed at Prime Video last year. Keith Cossrow, vp and head of content for NFL Films says that the company built a relationship with him through that film, and that when Kelce began talking to networks about an NFL analyst role, he always had the late night idea in the back of his mind.
“[He said] no matter where I go, there’s one thing I want to do: ‘I want to make a late night show,’” Cossrow recalls. “’I grew up watching Conan [O’Brien] and [David] Letterman, and they’re my heroes, and I love what Bill Maher does with the panel on Friday nights on HBO, and I want to have a late night show about sports, and I want to do it once a week, and I want to have a live band with horns. It’s got to have a horn section. And I want to shoot it in Philly, and I want you guys to produce it.’ We were like, ‘we’re in, we’ll figure this out.’ I got goosebumps.”
Incidentally, the show’s scheduled time slot is 1 AM Eastern, and with no other original late night talk show episodes airing on Fridays, it’s all the more welcomed. Original content in an otherwise desert landscape is a gift no matter what time of day or year it is.
Courage…