Winners and losers of 'Hard Knocks' with the Jets: Aaron Rodgers, Robert Saleh stand out

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Winners and losers of 'Hard Knocks' with the Jets: Aaron Rodgers, Robert Saleh stand out

Jim Reineking, USA TODAY · USA TODAY Sports

Wed, Sep 20, 2023 ·

10 min read

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"Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets " is in the books.

Head coach Robert Saleh's "All Gas No Brake" training camp has given way to preparation for the team's rather big season-opening game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium (a.k.a. "JetLife Stadium," per Aaron Rodgers) on Monday night.

There were many Rodgers highlight montages. He was front and center for nearly the entire season, whether it was getting acclimated with a new set of teammates after 18 seasons in Green Bay or sneaking a UFO story into the season finale (because, of course).

Saleh also was one of the key characters of "Hard Knocks," delivering speeches littered with f-bombs to Jets players, such as this gem from the season finale: "One of the biggest pet peeves I have as a coach, is when you're on a team that's not doing very well and the opposing coach, whose team is doing well, walks up to you at the 50-yard line and says, 'man, you guys play hard.' (Expletive) you! I don't want to (expletive) play hard, I want to (expletive) you up. That's the mindset."

Here are the highlights, and lowlights, of this season's docuseries on HBO:

WINNERS

Robert Saleh

The man likes to give a speech and drop f-bombs, and perhaps not in that order. When he delivered a monologue on "Hard Knocks," it was entertainment, whether it made sense or not (normally the latter). The opening episode featured an analogy involving crows and eagles . Then, he dropped an expletive-laden rant ripping the offensive line . The season finale included a speech about how it takes two months to journey to the peak of Mount Everest ("We just got to base camp, man"). His "four levels of competitor" included a level that was ... "competitor."

As frontman of the team that at first didn't exactly embrace its "Hard Knocks" role , Saleh appeared very comfortable in front of the camera and was always quick with a quip.

There is a lot of pressure on Saleh — who has an 11-23 record in two seasons as Jets head coach — to deliver a winner this season. The first few weeks of the team's 2023 schedule are daunting: the Jets host the Buffalo Bills on "Monday Night Football" in Week 1 , visit Jerry World in Week 2 to face the Dallas Cowboys , host Bill Belichick's New England Patriots — who have won 14 straight against the Jets — in Week 3 before the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs come to town for a "Sunday Night Football" showdown in Week 4 . In Week 6 , the Jets host the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles .

Saleh and the Jets better hope things don't go south early, or this season will be a disaster.

Quinnen Williams

Just when it seemed this season of "Hard Knocks" was basically going to be "The Aaron Rodgers Show," Williams stepped in to steal the spotlight. Fresh off receiving a four-year, $96 million contract extension that made him the second-highest paid defensive tackle in the league behind the Los Angeles Rams ' Aaron Donald , the 2022 All-Pro nicknamed "Q-Ball" was an offensive game plan-wrecking machine during a joint practice with the Carolina Panthers . Williams was constantly pressuring rookie quarterback Bryce Young , registering an unofficial tally of 10 sacks (there technically aren't sacks during training camp since quarterbacks aren't allowed to be tackled).

Williams will anchor what is expected to be one of the NFL's best defenses this season.

Garrett Wilson

The Jets might have signed some of Rodgers' pals from the Green Bay Packers — Allen Lazard , Randall Cobb — but it will be Wilson who should receive the majority of targets from the future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, who called the 2022 offensive rookie of the year "special." When Rodgers finally did play in a preseason game, it was Wilson who was the recipient of his lone touchdown pass . Rodgers-to-Wilson will be fun to watch this season, and could remind Packers fans of the dynamic Rodgers-to-Davante Adams connection.

Sauce Gardner

The opening "Hard Knocks" episode featured a segment showing Gardner (as well as former NBA All-Star Nick Van Exel) attending the University of Cincinnati commencement ceremony to receive his degree. Gardner's one-on-one matchups with Wilson in practice were fervid, and Rodgers told Gardner that he could be a Hall of Fame player. When Ralph Macchio visited Jets camp, Gardner heckled the "Karate Kid" to get him to drop an f-bomb.

Liev Schreiber

A fourth wall break occurred during the opening "Hard Knocks" episode when Schreiber — who has narrated all but one season of the show — attended a Jets practice. Schreiber arrived in style via a helicopter and narrated his own arrival ("Full disclosure: I wanted to drive, but the producers thought a helicopter might be more dramatic"). Rodgers goes full-on fanboy and repeatedly refers to Schreiber as "the voice of God." Schreiber gets a gold star for name-dropping John Facenda, NFL Films' original "voice of God."

Charcuterie boards

Nobody had "charcuterie boards" on their "Hard Knocks" bingo card . Well, it wasn't exactly pronounced appropriately. It all started when defensive end/theater aficionado Solomon Thomas said he'd like to take his teammates to a Broadway show . Teammate Tanzel Smart responded, "I want to go to a Broadway show. I want to eat a car-coochie board." Thomas is quick to correct his teammate, "charcuterie." Three weeks later , Smart was sporting a "I want to eat a car-coochie board" T-shirt on the show. It was a big month for fans of both the NFL and charcuterie boards , a winning combo for any football game viewing party.

Broadway musicals

The Jets apparently love a Broadway musical. The "Hard Knocks" season finale featured a lengthy commercial for "MJ the Musical." After the show, which the team seemed to thoroughly enjoy, defensive lineman Solomon Thomas learned the Moonwalk.

There were many other Broadway musicals that got name-dropped during the fourth episode — "Shucked," "Hamilton," "The Book of Mormon," "& Juliet" "The Lion King" — with one that stood out for receiving the most enthusiastic reviews from Jets players: "Back to the Future."

"That (expletive) was incredible," tight end C.J. Uzomah raved. "OK, that was unbelievable."

'LET'S GO EAT A SNACK!' 18 most memorable 'Hard Knocks' moments

LOSERS

Rookie 'talent' shows

The Jets rookies were so bad during their first "talent show" attempt — it involved scanning a QR code to play some sort of game — they were forced into a do-over. The second chance was bad, too, until undrafted rookie receiver Jerome Kapp took the mic and brought down the house performing Eminem's "8 Mile." Even Marshall Mathers himself was impressed .

The training camp tradition of rookie talent shows has been a "Hard Knocks" staple through the years. Some have been amazing — see 2001 Baltimore Ravens and 2018 Cleveland Browns — while some others just feel like filler.

Body shaming

During a joint practice between the Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers , Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans had some rude words for Quinnen Williams .

" Mike Evans called me fat. He called me fat, bro… I lost weight in the off-season," said Williams, who the Jets have listed at 6-foot-3, 303 pounds.

A teammate then described Williams more diplomatically as "not skinny."

It's probably not wise to trigger Williams.

NFL Films and HBO

This is no knock on the talented, hard-working people at NFL Films, who do amazing work turning around hours of video and sound material for each week's show. The bare minimum of cooperation on this season's "Hard Knocks" from the Jets — hyped on-air as "the most compelling team" in the NFL — really showed. The Jets hamstrung NFL Films and HBO by not allowing access to head coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas as they made personnel decisions and cut players.

This new precedent goes against how the show has operated in every other season prior. The month-long on-screen drama of on-the-fringe players striving for precious NFL roster spots, and the emotional punch of seeing said players get cut, was a valuable journey for the audience. Sadly, now it appears that feature of "Hard Knocks" barely exists anymore, removing any sort of conflict from the show. The extent of the coverage of roster deadline cutdown day was either showing to-be-released players entering the team's Florham Park, New Jersey, facility, or already-waived players leaving.

Cameras were, however, allowed in to show the roster's fringe players making the team, which always is heartwarming. But, the roster-bubble players received negligible air time during this season's "Hard Knocks."

Jihad Ward

It's not wise to get into a war of words with Rodgers , who keeps receipts. The Giants linebacker was caught on camera getting into a verbal kerfuffle with Rodgers during the two teams' preseason finale. Rodgers went all Don Draper on Ward, saying, "I don't even know who you are, bro."

The two teams meet again in Week 8 .

NEITHER WINNER NOR LOSER, BUT SOMEWHERE INBETWEEN

Aaron Rodgers

As expected, there was a lot of Rodgers on "Hard Knocks." His offseason trade to the Jets immediately made the team the front-runner to be on HBO's annual docuseries over other non-descript candidates such as the Chicago Bears , New Orleans Saints or Washington Commanders .

Rodgers — the four-time NFL MVP — arguably is the league's most compelling player and made "Hard Knocks" a must-watch. He's clearly uber-talented, yet flawed with off-field behavior ranging from comical to ethically questionable . Rodgers was omnipresent on "Hard Knocks," so much so that for a while it seemed the show would be nearly entirely about Rodgers with some other Jets stuff sprinkled in. Whether you like Rodgers or dislike him, your opinion about the future Hall of Fame quarterback likely went unchanged based on what you saw on this season's "Hard Knocks."

One thing is certain: Rodgers is going to help the Jets win games. Will it be enough, though, to help the Jets end the NFL's longest playoff drought?

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hard Knocks with Jets winners and losers: Aaron Rodgers, Sauce Gardner

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