To no surprise, Buffalo’s Hard Knocks debut was blah.
Nothing significant or memorable or remotely viral happened during the first episode of the training camp edition of the show. It was so basic that it could have been created by AI — and for all anyone knows it was.
It’s no surprise. First, the Bills didn’t want to do it. Second, Bills G.M. Brandon Beane witnessed the turmoil that former Bills assistant G.M. Joe Schoen endured after his current team, the Giants, served as the Saquon centerpiece for the one-time-only offseason edition of the franchise in 2024.
Things happened during the episode, but not much. It was more “show about nothing” than anything worth watching.
And it steered clear of any topic that would have been remotely controversial (or, in turn, interesting), such as running back James Cook’s discontent with his contract and the team’s decision to circle the wagons around first-round cornerback Maxwell Hairston following the filing of a civil sexual assault lawsuit against him.
Again, it’s no surprise. The Bills surely insisted on the ability to cut whatever they wanted to cut, and they presumably scrubbed the episode backward and forward for anything that could be problematic for the franchise. (Along the way, multiple people missed the clear and obvious mistake in Liev Schreiber’s script regarding the month during which the Scouting Combine occurs.)
One thing, other than the Combine supposedly happening in April, caught my ear. The new stadium has been designed to minimize if not eliminate wind. Which dovetails nicely with the manner in which the team designed the final cut of Hard Knocks to minimize if not eliminate scrutiny.
The next episode will include the practices that Cook has boycotted. It will be interesting to see whether his absenceis mentioned and, if so, whether it includes anything more than the most basic description of the situation.
