details from the first Hard Knocks episode

off the net from ADonaldBeast

We destroy things, we are nasty, we have a chip on our shoulder, WE WANT TO F $$$ YOU UP!!!!

How many of you got chills when you heard this. Wow. Mike Waufle is officially my favorite ram coach. That was awesome. Watching this over and over again

off the net from bluecoconuts

Loved the extra work by Goff on the fades, he really showed off his redzone skills in the end.

Donald getting upset about Ping Pong was pretty funny.

My favorite line was about Goff taking snaps from under center. “Your knuckle needs to be in his icehole, get in there” with Kush responding “That’s what I told him!”

off the net from Ramsblood

Loved the Hard Knocks show tonight.

Our D- line, and shout out to coach Waffle, is going to strike fear in most any offense. Can’t wait for Donald-newfreak, Quinn, Hayes and company to destroy teams.

Gurley’s frikin hilarious and super talented.

The UDFA’ s need to learn how to swim.

That yoga instructor is HOT!!

Jeff Fisher needs to invite me to his Montana Ranch in between camps.

Donald is yolked. Can play a mean ping-pong.

off the net from A55VA6

high praise from Mike Singletary on Aaron Donald: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid like 99. I’ve NEVER seen a kid like him.”

Also, the bit we saw of Gurley – he looked freaking quick. He has a chance to be scary good this year. And Goff threw a few beautiful balls in that goal line drill

HBO's Hard Knocks: 12 best moments and takeaways from episode one

It’s finally here. HBO’s Hard Knocks with the Los Angeles Rams began on Tuesday night, and even though it was the first episode there was still plenty to take in from the action. Let’s jump into it with the best moments and key takeaways.

1. Jared Goff must have made a pretty nice first impression
The rookie QB ordered 60 (yes, 60) fans for the offense and offensive coaches to use during training camp. Obviously, this was a pretty huge deal at first, as the dorms didn’t have air conditioning or fans at first. Fortunately, the team wound up ordering each player and coach personal air conditioning units.

2. Eric Kush is convinced there is such a thing as ‘going out tanks’
I’m not really sure I can get on board with the fact that there are tank tops that are specifically good for going out.

What's @EricKush64 philosophy on life? You can NEVER have enough tank tops. #SunsOutGunsOut #Hardknocks pic.twitter.com/Emzr5c0NNd

— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) August 10, 2016

3. Deon Long was cut for having a female visitor in his room
When Fisher released Long, we weren’t exactly sure why. Thanks to Hard Knocks, we found out it was due to Long having a female in his room, something that Fisher made clear was not allowed when explaining the rules of training camp. Long didn’t look completely shocked, and it was a short conversation, capped with Long thanking Fisher and then going on his way.

4. Goff’s personality showed up way more
He was sarcastic, outgoing and essentially sought out conversations with teammates and coaches. Best of all, he was majorly interactive with the fans. This seemed to be a different player from the mildly-quiet quarterback who we saw after he was drafted No. 1 by the Rams this offseason.

5. Every Rams player came to camp in shape
Early on in the show, Fisher and the coaches put the players through a conditioning test. While it was apparently pretty grueling, the good news was that each player passed the test, showing that the team came to California ready to roll.

6. Aaron Donald is awesome at ping pong. Eugene Sims? Not so much
As good as Donald was at ping pong, Sims did let his teammate down a bit, as the two wound up losing their game against two UC Irvine students. Maybe we’ll get a rematch at some point in the coming episodes.

7. We got an update on Tavon Austin’s cramps, and it involved two bananas
For those who are curious, Austin did eat lunch the day that he cramped up. Unfortunately, his lunch consisted of exactly two bananas. That explains it pretty well.

8. Aaron Donald’s got really good hands
Donald joked at one point, stating ‘who has the best hands on the team?’ after making multiple catches, including a one-handed grab. In all honesty, though, watching him catch passes was actually really impressive.

Here’s a quick sneak peak of Donald catching passes, via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport:

Odell who? That's what #Rams DL Aaron Donald would like to know pic.twitter.com/J6K09zRnKi

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 8, 2016

9. Defensive line coach Mike Waufle is down-right intimidating
If not a single one of his multiple speeches to his defensive line gave you goosebumps, then you might not be human. The guy is just all in, all the time, and it’s awesome.

10. Goff and Keenum’s budding friendship seems like the real deal
The two slowly seemed to get closer, from a quick pat on the back to joking about Goff’s interest in Taylor Swift. This heated training camp competition isn’t likely to be one that turns sour quickly, as both QBs seem more than happy to support each other.

11. Kenny Britt and Kush had no issue staying after practice with Goff
While much of the love went to Goff for staying after practice to get extra reps in, both Britt and Kush were more than happy to stick around and work with Goff for what seemed like an extended time after practice.

12. Tavon Austin drove around UC Irvine’s camp catching Pokemon
Pokemon Go is taking over, and Austin made sure to get on the train. He spent one night riding around learning the ins and outs of the game, while also getting super excited about the Pokemon he wound up catching. It was pretty enjoyable to watch overall.

‘Hard Knocks’ lesson No. 1: Rams coach Jeff Fisher will not be 7-9 (again)

By ESPN.com

http://www.espn.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/29996/hard-knocks-lesson-no-1-rams-coach-jeff-fisher-will-not-be-7-9-again

At his first training camp meeting with his team, Los Angeles Rams coach Jeff Fisher laid out the rules.

1. Be on time.

2. No visitors to the dorms at the University of California-Irvine.

Cut to the next day. Fisher calls wide receiver Deon Long, who broke rule No. 2, to his office. Fisher cuts Long from the team so beginning another season of “Hard Knocks,” the HBO reality series which will follow the Rams through training camp.

Rams coach Jeff Fisher has emphasized early in training camp how not following the team’s rules can prevent it from excelling.
After letting Long go, Fisher uses him as an example. He says that kind of behavior will lead to a subpar season.

“Little things are important, you follow me?” Fisher said. “I am not f—ing going 7-9 or 8-8 or 9-7, OK? Or 10-6 for that matter. This team is too talented. I am not going to settle for that, OK? I know what I am doing. We had some 7-9 bulls— this morning. Now, Deon’s gone. That is 7-9 bulls—. We don’t need it.”

Fisher knows what 8-8, or worse, feels like. In 16 seasons as a head coach in the NFL, he has six winning seasons, the rest were .500 or below. Now, he is leading the Rams back into Los Angeles 21 seasons after they left for St. Louis.

Fisher will do it with rookie quarterback Jared Goff, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft out of Cal. If the first episode of “Hard Knocks” is any indication, Goff will be one of this season’s stars.

Since the dorms at training camp were not air conditioned, Goff sent 60 fans to the offense and offensive coaches. Fisher was less than impressed.

“So the offense has fans and the defense doesn’t?” Fisher asked. “Great way to start off.”

Goff also struggled on the field. The rookie never called plays in the huddle in high school or college. His confusion with the pro-style offense showed with a variety of fumbles and incompletions. Later, in the quarterbacks’ room, assistant coach Chris Weinke let Goff have it.

“Your expectation is up here,” Weinke said, raising his hand to the sky. “I know you are a rookie; I don’t give a f—, to be honest with you. Everybody’s watching what you do. You can’t f—ing hide; you can’t. It ought to give you chills. You know how many football teams there are in the NFL?”

“Thirty two,” Goff answered.

“You know how many starting quarterbacks there are?” Weinke asked.

“Thirty two,” Goff said again.

“There’s 32, and you are wired to be the starting quarterback of this football team,” Weinke said. “But how does that happen? It doesn’t just happen through osmosis and ‘I am No. 16, so I am going to start.’ That ain’t f—ing happening. I am going to tell you that right now. It’s up to you. Some people can’t handle it. Some people can’t handle the position you play. They definitely can’t handle the position you’re in.”

Goff proves to be an intriguing, perhaps naïve character. He admits to coaches he does not know where the sun rises — “East,” he tells a teammate later. “Apparently it’s well known” — and his love for pop star Taylor Swift.

Here are some others with star potential for the final five episodes:

Tavon Austin: The receiver fails to eat lunch — he had two bananas — before practice and cramps up. Fisher berates Austin’s behavior during the 7-9 speech. At the end of the episode, Austin shows his playful side, taking a golf cart around the Cal-Irvine campus to play Pokemon Go.

Aaron Donald: The defensive tackle is billed as the best player in the NFL you have never heard of. He didn’t show a ton of personality, but gets plenty of admiration from coaches and players for his athletic ability.

Todd Gurley: The second-year running back does plenty of trash talking and is called “lippy but lovable.” He is also doing commercials for California burger joint Carl’s Jr.

Eric Kush: As the Rams’ center, Kush tells Goff how much pressure to apply to his rear end to make it clear he is ready for the snap. He also walks viewers through his wardrobe of tank tops and 36 pairs of socks. “The key is to never have to wash socks at training camp,” he said.

Mike Waufle: The former Marine is the defensive line coach. “We are going to blow up the NFL,” he told his linemen during a colorful speech.

Isiah58 wrote:

I enjoyed the episode immensely, as I knew I would as a fan of the show. But for some reason I was very unsettled by Goff not knowing where the sun rises. I can’t imagine Andrew Luck (or even Carson Wentz) not knowing this? Does that strike anyone else as strange?

Isiah 58

I wasn’t disturbed by it, more amused (though I didnt watch the episode, as you see I just gathered info on it to post here).

Let;s just say that 20-somethings never cease to amaze me. Very sophisticated in some arenas, and dirt ignorant in others.

Just be glad they didn’t ask him any questions about the constitution or things like that.

The top 5 quotes from the Hard Knocks season premiere

Chris Vannini

http://www.coachingsearch.com/article?a=The-top-5-quotes-from-the-Hard-Knocks-season-premiere

The latest season of Hard Knocks kicked off Tuesday night, featuring the Los Angeles Rams in their new home, and there was no shortage of angry coaches.

Here were the top five quotes from the premiere:

– Jeff Fisher cut wide receiver Deon Long for having a girl in his room after curfew. Fisher told Long:

“I’m sorry, but this is our world, man. We’ve got rules and we’ve got to abide by them. It’s not the first time I’ve done this for this particular violation, but I thought I made myself very clear, what we do. It’s not that hard. We’ve only got a couple rules. I wish you the best. Good luck to you.”

– Later on, Tavon Austin left practice with cramps, because he only had two bananas for lunch. Fisher lit into the team.

“How many times have you heard me talk about the little things and what impact the little things have on the bigger things. How are you feeling, Tay? You good? Just cramped? What did you have for lunch? Two bananas. We were two receivers down before practice started. Then Coop has a quad and we shut him down, that’s three. You have two bananas. That’s four. Four receivers down, so what happens? I start cutting reps. Then you guys that deserve the reps don’t get it, because — I’m serious — he had two bananas for lunch.

“Little things are important, you follow me? I’m not f*cking going 7-9 or 8-8 or 9-7, OK? Or 10-6 for that matter. This team’s too talented. I’m not going to settle for that. I know what I’m doing. We had 7-9 bullshit this morning. Deon’s gone, that is 7-9 bullshit. We don’t need it. You guys take ownership of this thing, OK? You take your ownership and you trust that I know what I’m doing, and we’ll be just fine.”

– Quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke made it clear Jared Goff has to step up his game, after struggling with long play-calls and working under center.

“Your expectation is up here. I know you’re a rookie. I don’t give a f*ck, to be honest with you. Everybody’s watching what you do. You can’t f*cking hide. You can’t. It ought to give you chills. You know how many teams are in the NFL? There’s 32. You know how many starting quarterbacks there are? There’s 32, and you are wired to be the starting quarterback of this football team. But how does that happen? It doesn’t just happen through osmosis and you saying, ‘I’m No. 16, I’m going to start.’

“That ain’t f*cking happening. I’m going to tell you right now. It’s up to you. Some people can’t handle the position you play. They definitely can’t handle the position you’re in.”

– Defensive line coach Mike Waufle is a former Marine and is intense as they come. In a position meeting, he laid down the law.

“Don’t f*cking challenge me. I don’t want any bullshit. I don’t want any f*cking body language. When I say jump, you say how f*cking high. We’re going to f*cking work. You could probably f*ck me up and have a good time trying to do it. I ain’t scared. … We destroy things. We are nasty. We have a chip on our shoulder. We want to f*ck you up. There’s a bomb in this f*cking room. We’re going to blow the NFL up. We’re going to blow the f*cking NFL up.”

– Mike Singletary has seen some talented defensive players in his day. So when he says Aaron Donald stands out, that really means something.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid like 99. I’ve never seen a kid like that.”

Mike Singletary has seen some talented defensive players in his day. So when he says Aaron Donald stands out, that really means something.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid like 99. I’ve never seen a kid like that.”

Different version:

SunTzu_vs_Camus

I loved what new coach Singletary says about ADonald….in that 5 sec. clip..”I have not seen a DT… EVER….do what that kid that does!!! ”

wow. Now that is some praise.

Yeah some people don’t even get that it wasn’t the GERMANS who bombed Gettysburgh Harbor. It was the British few gawdsake.