Hard Knocks discussion (thread might have spoilers)

[mroby85]

I'd like to see Pressley make the team too, but I can't see them cutting Vakapuna after spending a draft pick on him, and having more potential upside. I don't want to see Dorsey or Leonard cut, but of the two, I think i'd let Dede go! The drill towards the end of Andre pulling the the guy across the field was hilarious, he looked like a teletubby.

[Reds Fanatic]

Bengals have announced their final cuts. All 4 runnings backs made it and they are going with only one fullback:

For veteran running backs Brian Leonard and DeDe Dorsey, yes. For free-agent rookies Tom Nelson and Quan Cosby, also yes as the Bengals cut a 22-player swath through their roster Saturday to get to the maximum 53 players.

For veteran safeties Marvin White and Corey Lynch, no. And for rookie fullbacks Fui Vakapuna and Chris Pressley, also no.

At least for now, the Bengals opted to with four running backs and just one fullback (Jeremi Johnson) while also going with 10 defensive backs in a field that counts Nelson as well as special teams ace Kyries Hebert at safety.

Here are the 22 roster moves the Bengals made in in reaching the NFL limit of 53.

Placed one player on the Reserve/Injured list:
--WR Antonio Chatman (seventh-year player; ankle)

Terminated the contracts of three veterans not subject to waivers, releasing them to free agency:
--LB Darryl Blackstock
--LB Jim Maxwell
--DT Langston Moore

Waived the following 18 players:
--S Marvin White (third-year player; Texas Christian)
--G Andrew Crummey (second-year player; Maryland), injury settlement
--S Corey Lynch (second-year player; Appalachian State)
--G Jason Shirley (second-year player; Fresno State)
--DE Chris Harrington (first-year player; Texas A&M)
--RB James Johnson (first-year player; Kansas State)
--TE Kolomona Kapanui (first-year player; West Texas A&M)
--WR Maurice Purify (first-year player; Nebraska)
--WR Freddie Brown (rookie; Utah)
--TE Darius Hill (rookie; Ball State)
--DT Ventrell Jenkins (rookie; Kentucky)
--DT Clinton McDonald (rookie; Memphis)
--CB Rico Murray (rookie; Kent State)
--T Augustus Parrish (rookie; Kent State)
--FB Chris Pressley (rookie; Wisconsin)
--LB Dan Skuta (rookie; Grand Valley State)
--K Sam Swank (rookie; Wake Forest)
--FB Fui Vakapuna (rookie; Brigham Young)

[Playadlc]

Great read...

Sabol: Best Hard Knocks ever
GEOFF HOBSON

Posted 27 minutes ago

Steve Sabol, the heart and soul of NFL Films, had to be feeling on Wednesday a little bit like Spielberg after Jaws and Ken Byrnes after The Civil War.

Thanks largely to the open arms, not to mention the open minds, of the Bengals Sabol called his seventh Hard Knocks series with HBO the best one yet after gauging ratings everywhere from hard numbers to Tuesday night's cocktail party with the highest NFL officials.

With the series wrapping up with the fifth show on HBO at 10 p.m. Wednesday, Sabol cited the Bengals' "unprecedented access and honesty," for ratings that were measured 45 percent more over last year's first four episodes with the Cowboys.

Sabol said the Bengals never once prohibited the NFL Films crews from shooting something and only once in all five episodes did they ask something to be edited out.

"It was a play in the huddle with Jordan PalmerPosted Image in the Rams' game," Sabol said. "Marvin was afraid it gave away something with their audibles and so we cut it. But, yeah, that was it."

Sabol said you can see the result in more than numbers.

"I heard 'Child Please,' at several intervals last night," said Sabol of Chad OchocincoPosted Image's slang that has become a national catchphrase and could be heard during the party. "Not from the commissioner. The commissioner didn't say it, but he's loved the show and wants to make sure we keep doing it. Ratings wise and critical acclaim, the best yet."

The last episode focuses on the final cuts and Sabol says get ready for an emotional scene with the mother of one of those released, rookie fullback Chris PressleyPosted Image.

"The editing room fell silent," Sabol said. "It gives you chills."

It's not the first time that's happened there the past month. The scenes that have lasted with Sabol are like that, such as when tight end Reggie KellyPosted Image found out his season was over with a ruptured Achilles' tendon and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer called in defensive tackle Tank JohnsonPosted Image for a heart-to-heart talk about life. And there have been about 15-20 requests from high school and college football programs for a copy of head coach Marvin Lewis' impassioned plea for professionalism after the sloppy 24-21 loss to the Rams.

A big reason why the Bengals asked for just one edit is because Sabol already has a pretty good idea what teams find objectionable. But Sabol also said it's because Bengals president Mike Browns runs a pretty straightforward ship. He got a visit from former NFL quarterback and current broadcaster Phil Simms on Tuesday and Simms raved about the reality.

"He felt it really peeled back the layers and you saw the way it really was for the Cincinnati Bengals," Sabol said. "He said there was none of the B.S."

Sabol said he was taken aback by the negative reaction in Cincinnati out of the first episode in which Brown led a personnel meeting. It hit the raw nerve locally that Brown chooses to own the team and have the final say in football matters despite the team's failure to win consistently.

"What we got from the outside from bloggers and on Face book was almost the exact opposite.," Sabol said. "They said it's nice to see a guy that doesn't sell cars or anything else who has been in football his whole life taking an interest like that. I think (the show) put the entire organization in a good light. I think Mike said it all in that first meeting when he said last year was an embarrassment and they needed to win their fans back. I think that kind of honesty hit home."

When you focus on guys like Kelly, you can't help but get positive play. It turns out that Hard Knocks discovered the Bengals have a lot of good guys.

"What a great guy Reggie Kelly is. We found a lot of good guys. And the leadership is spread out with guys like Carson, Dhani, Whitworth," Sabol said. "I'll tell you, there are 300 new Bengals fans here at NFL Films."

And they had their own drama to deal with as the series shut down Friday night. The show's producer, Keith Cossrow, was called away when his wife delivered six weeks early. Yeah, bad timing because that weekend they were putting the show to bed for good, but Sabol told him to forget it. They'd do it without him.

But son Josh was doing just fine and his dad had his laptop in the hospital. So suddenly Keith Cossrow was splicing it together via cyberspace hooking him to the editing room from the neo natal unit. They were up until 1 a.m. Monday grinding like a coaching staff and one of the images sent over the weekend was tiny Josh Cossrow wearing an even smaller Bengals key chain around his neck.

"That shows you how into it all of us were," Sabol said.

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-...c-c8c8e20c0040

[GIDP]

Id die for the NFL to be way more open with this type of stuff. I wish the Bengals did this show every year. I loved every second of it.

[Caveat Emperor]

It was just well done, from top to bottom. I came away liking a lot of the Cincinnati Bengals players (and this is coming from a non-fan) and I'll definitely be paying closer attention to see if guys like Nelson and Pressley get involved at any point.

I'm disappointed the season is over. Kudos to the Bengals organization for doing the show -- a rare PR win for a team that seems driven to stick as many feet in their mouth as possible.

[bucksfan2]

It was one heck of a show and HBO did one hell of a job. It captured my interest for the entire 60 minutes and even had me rooting for players during the preseason games. HBO's way of depicting individual players and battles is top notch. Kudos to Marvin and the Brown family for giving full access to HBO Sports.

[GIDP]

There should be a show like this for every sport honestly.

[BigPoppa]

This is the first season I have watched Hard Knocks, and I really enjoyed each episode. A few of them I watched more than once on On Demand.

Really entertaining, and informative show. I'm now a Marvin Lewis fan, and have already had all the Andre Smith I'll ever need.

I LOL'ed at the segue from Chad going thru a grueling, intensive sparring session then cut to Tank leisurely punching a tackling dummy.

[mroby85]

This is the first season I have watched Hard Knocks, and I really enjoyed each episode. A few of them I watched more than once on On Demand.

Really entertaining, and informative show. I'm now a Marvin Lewis fan, and have already had all the Andre Smith I'll ever need.

I LOL'ed at the segue from Chad going thru a grueling, intensive sparring session then cut to Tank leisurely punching a tackling dummy.

That was hilarious the way they tied those scenes together, lol. Tanks seems like a really cool guy.