This year’s “Hard Knocks” featuring the Los Angeles Rams is understandably going to feature quarterback Jared Goff, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft, and the other recognizable Rams.
Like Todd Gurley. And Aaron Donald. And...
Yeah.
Considering that Goff isn’t yet the team’s starter and that his preseason debut last weekend was cut short after he took a big hit, the “Hard Knocks” producers had their work cut out for them in the season’s second episode, which aired Tuesday.
We got the standard montages of Goff hamming it up for the cameras, of teammates and coaches being asked about Goff, and even 30 or so seconds of Goff throwing lasers followed by the obligatory soundbites.
“We’re seeing the competitiveness,” Rams quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke said of Goff. “He wants to be great. His physical skills, they flash every day.”
After one pass, cameras caught Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams say, “that was a f-----g NFL throw right there. He hummed that one.”
The cameras caught Rams coach Jeff Fisher twice muttering to himself, “Get up Jared, get up Jared,” when Goff was hit during last Saturday’s game vs. the Cowboys. Fisher took Goff out of that game as a precaution, and he should be fine.
The show is going to be fine, too, despite a lack of real stars or known characters. Defensive Line Coach Mike Waufle can string F-bombs and other obscenities together with the best of them, defensive end William Hayes seems pretty hellbent on convincing his teammates that dinosaurs never existed, and Fisher’s son, defensive backs coach Brandon Fisher, introduced an interesting acronym, NAF. Or, non-athletic f---.
Yep.
For the second straight week the cameras and producers struck a little TV gold when they first caught Fisher telling his players to be careful with their bikes, golf carts and other vehicles on the UC-Irvine campus, then caught wide receivers Kenny Britt and Brian Quick driving fast before turning over and falling out of something that looked like a dune buggy.
Fisher later called them “Dumb and Dumber” in front of the team, drawing laughs.
Expect more chuckles -- and a bunch more Goff -- in the three episodes to come.