The Top 10 Hard Knocks Episode 4 Moments
The fourth episode of the "Hard Knocks" in-season series on the Miami Dolphins once again featured heavy doses of Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa (very little Tyreek Hill this time) but there also was a lot of screen time devoted to running back Raheem Mostert, fullback Alec Ingold and linebacker Duke Riley.
We count down the top 10 moments, from this vantage point:
10. THE SOD STORY
The behind-the-scenes story of how the grass surface is put on at Hard Rock Stadium actually was interesting, including how the Dolphins are the only team in the NFL to own their own sod farm, though kind of peripheral to the team itself. One cool moment came when the team's grass guru informed Tua it's the same surface used at the University of Alabama, prompting this reply from Tua, "It's winning grass."
9. THE WILLIAMS INJURY
This was a very brief scene — there wasn't nearly as much time to delve into it the way "Hard Knocks" did with the Jaelan Phillips injury on Black Friday — but it did lead to a great line narrated by the great narrator Liev Schreiber: "The Dolphins are learning the replacing the turf is simpler than replacing their center."
8. GOING INTO OVERDRIVE
Toward the beginning of the episode is a scene from a team meeting where McDaniel is addressing his players following the Week 13 victory at Washington and pointing out the 45-15 victory at Washington was the team's biggest victory margin in a road game since 1978 (a 42-0 victory at Baltimore. He then added this gem: "We've taken everything we've done and we're putting that sh*t in overdrive."
7. THE QB CODE PHRASE
Tua's appearance on the Manning Cast for the Week 13 Monday night game got a little screen time, but it centered on his interaction with fellow QBs Mike White and Skylar Thompson and the challenge given to Tua to inject the phrase "Tropic Thunder" during his conversation with the former NFL quarterbacks. And, sure enough, Tua found a way to work in it as a shout-out to his QB room partners.
6. THE MONDAY NIGHT REACTION
Dolphins fans knew how the episode would end after the Monday night collapse against the Tennessee Titans, and before we heard McDaniel's postgame speech urging his players to use the disappointment as extra motivation moving forward, we Mostert and his wife with two reactions that said it all. After Tennessee scored to make it 27-21, the running back was shown on the sideline saying, "We're making it too close." After the game ended, there was a shot of his wife Devon in the stands with her family as she said what every Dolphins fans felt at the time, "Is this real life?"
5. RILEY'S RISE
With Jerome Baker sidelined with a knee injury that eventually landed him on injured reserve (which was not covered in the episode beyond narration), Riley stepped into a starting role at linebacker that included the green dot and the duty of relaying the defensive calls to his teammates on the field. One cool moment in this storyline involved McDaniel telling Riley at practice to take charge, kind of the way Tua has taken charge on offense. For Riley, this is an opportunity he's intent on maximizing. As he said, "If you're staying ready, you ain't gotta get ready."
4. TITANS SCOUTING REPORT
This is always one of our favorite segments, watching Dolphins coaches talk to the players about the upcoming opponents, and for the Titans, the message was to expect a physical game ("They are trying to be bullies") with McDaniel throwing in as a side note how much he liked their throwback uniforms. WR coach Wes Welker mentioned how they want to do things the New England way, considering that Mike Vrabel came from that organization — Welker and Vrabel were teammates with the Patriots. The segment ended with OLB coach Ryan Slowik telling his players about defending Derrick Henry and talking about the "3 MFer rule," meaning three players tackling him every time he has the ball.
3. SIELER'S MOMENT
The last three episodes have featured segments on a defensive player scoring a touchdown, and after Jevon Holland and Andrew Van Ginkel, it was Zach Sieler's time. The best part of it came after Sieler got back to the sideline and referenced the team's tradition of awarding players a cake for "ball security." Sieler made clear his position on the matter, though: "I don't like cake. Let them eat cake."
2. FAMILY TIME
The episode opened with a shot of the beach as Mostert, his wife and their three children went to the ocean and that was followed by McDaniel, his wife Katie and their daughter spending some time together at the Baptist Health Training Complex. Those scenes always score big here, so props for that, and loved watching Mostert sing the Dolphins fight song to one of his kids. Mostert grew up in New Smyrna Beach along the East coast of Florida. "That's how you learn to be fast," he said, "run away from the waves."
1. INGOLD IS THE "MAN"
Ingold being selected as the Dolphins' nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award always figured to be a storyline for this episode, and "Hard Knocks" did it justice. We already had seen Ingold watching the video put together by the Dolphins' in-house crew, but there was the added material of his wife Alexa indicating she had known for three weeks he was getting the nomination. And then we love hearing McDaniel telling his players in a team meeting "there were a couple of murmurs" it would be Ingold before he made it official, a nod to Ingold's great work with family organizations and foster children. The game footage with this leaping a defender after a catch or his blocking (and apologizing to Mostert after a long gain to the 2-yard line) was just icing on the cake.
