Candid conversations captured in ‘Hard Knocks’ season finale
The cold reality of the Miami Dolphins’ playoff elimination in Kansas City was documented in the season finale of HBO series “Hard Knocks” covering the team in-season.
While the episode carried a lot of game footage from the 26-7 wild-card round playoff loss to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night that eliminated the Dolphins, candid conversations and heartfelt moments between players and coaches were captured.
Coach Mike McDaniel, in part, told his team after the game: “We didn’t deliver, so we’re going to figure out how to f—ing doing that, because there’s championship s— all over this team.”
Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, in the locker room, told players to take the feeling of the loss into the offseason as motivation, relaying a message Tyreek Hill shared with the media postgame.
Fellow defensive tackle Zach Sieler, exiting the field: “Man, this sucks. Man, that’s not how you want to go out.”
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, in the late stages of the game, was filmed telling Hill: “Defense did all they could do. We just didn’t put up points. This s— annoying as f—. We’re too talented to be doing (that). If anything, defense should be struggling. They got 11 new players.”
Tuesday’s finale was the only episode that started with scenes from the game as the Dolphins got suited up in the locker room and then warmed up on the field at Arrowhead for the game in subzero temperatures before flashing back five days to the start of the week.
The talk inside Dolphins facilities was shown, with McDaniel and various position coaches getting players mentally prepared for the environment they were about to face.
An interesting practice nugget that shows some of McDaniel’s process with injured players, he was seen, at specific points in practice after seeing each Waddle, Hill and running back Raheem Mostert complete plays in Thursday’s practice, cutting them loose and telling them to call it a day.
The new outside linebackers room was featured with veterans Justin Houston and Bruce Irvin joining the team after injuries to Andrew Van Ginkel and Cameron Goode last week, which followed the season-ending injuries of Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips. Cameras even followed Melvin Ingram, who signed a month prior, to a dinner on South Beach with a former college teammate as he shared his perspective in a conversation.
A humorous practice scene showed Hill telling fellow speedsters Waddle, Mostert and De’Von Achane that they all had to race one day while wearing tight singlets.