It’s a Hard Knocks life

This week after the Texans walked all over the Dolphins; JJ Watt who had a dominating game went on Pro Football Talk and told them “It’s something you can really pick up (from) just about any TV copy. But I watched that, and that’s one thing I picked up. I used that a little bit.”

Watt claims that he was able to pick up on snap counts from watching the always entertaining Hard Knocks and use it to his benefit Sunday. He later backtracked a bit saying “Once the game gets going, you pick it up anyways, so it wasn’t a huge advantage, but any little thing can help,” he told PFT.

While Watt’s comments just add to the long laundry list of reasons why the Dolphins shouldn’t have allowed HBO to walk into their facilities, his comments are perhaps a little overblown and most likely not even 100% accurate.

More Hard Knocks news came out this week as training camp cult hero “7-11” was recently cut. Hard Knocks this season came with the Chad Johnson drama, the Vontae Davis’s Grandma story and even president Obama mocking the Phins. (Note Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is a big Republican and Mitt Romney supporter)

The Dolphins went on Hard Knocks with the intentions of being more transparent with their fans as well as attempting to help their public image with the national media. I would say that both resulted in an EPIC FAIL. The laughing reel on the Dolphins has not slowed down, and coming out of the gates with a 30-10 loss which featured 4 consecutive turnovers probably doesn’t help.

Dolphin’s players all most all conclusively said they were happy when the camera’s left Davie, Florida.

With that being said, Hard Knocks should not shoulder the blame if the Dolphins don’t succeed. Despite the cameras being in everyone’s face and HBO featuring stories that most teams would want hush hush, the program usually leads to quite the success rate.

2010 – New York Jets – Despite featuring Darrell Revis’ holdout and players eating McDonald right before practice the team finished 11-5 and made it to the AFC Championship game.

2009- Cincinnati Bengals – Despite the “ Child Please “ and “Kiss The Baby “ drama created by Chad Johnson and TO, the team managed a 10-6 record and wildcard appearance.

2008- Dallas Cowboys – Nothing to write home about but finished with a 9-7 record

2007 Kansas City Chiefs – Were one of the few to post a losing record

2001 Baltimore Ravens – Finished 10-6 and won a playoff game but they were also coming off a Super Bowl championship

As you can see Hard Knocks has usually led to success, therefore if the Dolphins find themselves 3-13 by the seasons end they will have no one to blame but themselves.

About Shane Clemons

Shane Clemons came from humble beginnings creating his own Jaguars blog before moving on to SBNation as a featured writer for the Jaguars. He then moved to Bloguin where he briefly covered the AFC South before taking over Bloguin's Jaguars blog. Since the inception of This Given Sunday, Shane has served as an editor for the site, doing his best not to mess up a good thing.

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