‘Hard Knocks: Los Angeles’ Episode 2 Superlatives

Best moment: Helmets come on

The episode didn’t show the team in full pads yet as it lags slightly behind what’s going on in real life, but the intensity ratcheted up a notch when the players put on the helmets and went to more of a full-speed 11-on-11 tempo in the final scene. Also, it was pretty cool to see the players choosing visors and asking questions about the new face guards that can go inside the facemask to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Hopefully the end of the episode leads to a more intense third chapter of the season next Tuesday night.

 

Worst moment: Jalen Ramsey house shopping

It wasn’t mentioned, but Ramsey had a good week on Hard Knocks last week while standing his ground against pushy questions from the media when he already gave his answer. To no fault of his own (aside from his abs-made-of-steel comment), he is part of the worst moment this week. Most average people probably aren’t going to care about a millionaire going house shopping in Los Angeles, especially during a global pandemic. It felt like filler content in what was a relatively weak episode.

 

Funniest moment: Discussion on fish

The Chargers were pretty funny at times in last night’s episode, including when wide receiver Mike Williams forgot his tracking device and had to run inside for it. But the discussion on favorite fish between some of the defensive lineman was a highlight funny moment. Melvin Ingram said that his favorite fish is branzino and that he eats the head—but he will not mess with the eyes despite its potential additional nutrients.

 

Underrated moment: Clay Johnston during walkthrough

Seventh-round rookie linebacker Clay Johnston is a guy that will almost certainly be on the roster bubble, but he was featured prominently last night. Johnston appears to have no trouble communicating and looks comfortable out there, but he admitted that things were moving fast and one mistake after a handful of plays started to cause things to unravel. There were numerous exclamations of “FUDGE” from Johnston when the offense got the upper hand on the defense during the drill, which alone was funny. Tracking Johnston was also an underrated moment because viewers got a look at the rookie linebacker asking for tips from his more experienced teammates. As Rams head coach Sean McVay said while highlighting Aaron Donald helping coach up the players in his position group, teammates are doing a nice job of coming together during camp.

 

Best quote: Sean McVay

“Football is fun.”

 

MVP: Everyone

Again, last night wasn’t an exceptional episode of Hard Knocks, but the MVP goes to everyone for the fact that there have been no more positive COVID-19 tests. There was a scare with offensive assistant Seth Ryan (the son of Rex Ryan), but it turned out to be a false-positive. Everyone is doing a good job of looking out for each other and not doing anything stupid so that no one else gets sick and we can have a full NFL season.