Hard Knocks Working Hard To Top Itself

After a one year lockout-forced hiatus, the best reality series in the history of television has returned in a big way. Let's face it, while most reality shows offer some level of staging, an NFL camp is hyper-reality.

I remember the first season of Hard Knocks when the defending SuperBowl champion Baltimore Ravens were featured, and Brian Billick taking the call in his kitchen that the team's leading rusher Jamal Lewis was out for the season.

In 2010, we witnessed ground-breaking TV when Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum gave QB Kellen Clemens the option to accept a demotion and a pay cut, or accept his release. The very last scene of the 2010 season had All-NFL cornerback Darrelle Revis striding back to camp after ending his holdout, calling his teammates in for a 1-2-3-Jets!

In 2012, Hard Knocks visits South Florida, and mashes the glitz and babes of Miami with the sweltering heat of summer into the best opening title sequence yet.

This year HBO and the Dolphins seemed to have no designs toward additional drama, until we saw Dolphins coach Joe Philbin's sit-down with troubled receiver Chad Johnson.

It was the day following Johnson's arrest on a domestic dispute, and the moment was so real it made me  feel uneasy to be in that room. Johnson was as we had never seen him. He wasn't the usual self-promotinal blowhard with 3.7 Million Twitter followers. He was contrite and humiliated after the worst day of his life.

And Philbin handled it professionally and gracefully. As a man who lost a son this year, he showed all the human qualities of a leader. You could see it was hard for him to say the words "part ways." But the Miami Dolphins weren't going to be on board with the drama. The cameras followed as a silent and tattered Johnson was escorted from the facility. Now that's reality.

Now what else could be bigger on a training camp reality show than that? How about a real-life quarterback competition? Check.

The 3-way battle is between last year's starter Matt Moore, veteran David Garrard, and rookie 1st Round pick Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill is obviously the future, but he could be the present as well.

I thought it was strange after Tannehill rocketed up the charts before the draft, that the commentators thought he still needed to be groomed into an NFL starting QB. Here was a guy who was smart enough while at Texas A&M to:

1) Play wide receiver at a high-level for 3 years after not winning the QB job.

2) Move right into the QB spot in the middle of his junior year.

3) Graduate with honors in molecular biology.

4) Marry Lauren Tannehill.

OK, so part four isn't really part of the equation for being the starter. But having your college head coach, Mike Sherman, as your NFL offensive coordinator is. Especially when your NFL head coach Joe Philbin, was hired by Sherman for his first NFL assistant job with the Green Bay Packers.

As a lifelong Jets fan, I have hated the Dolphins. But for the next few weeks I am devoted to them.

The Breakout Star of Hard Knocks: Mike T

My new favorite Jet doesn't wear a number, but he sure can crunch them.

The 4th episode of HBO's Hard Knocks 2010 featuring the New York Jets may have been the most ground-breaking hour in the history of reality television. The training camp football behind-the-scenes of who makes the team and who gets cut, and the big personalities - are always eye-catching. But it's the candid contract negotiations headed up by GM Mike Tannenbaum that yields unprecedented access.

When Mike T gave 3rd string QB Kellen Clemens a calculated business offer to take it or leave it, that's when I hit the rewind button and watched the same scene several times in a row. Did that just happen? Was that on television?

Did an NFL quarterback have to decide his own future right there on the spot? No, but pretty damn soon. And a man who started 9 games at QB for the Jets in the last 3 years took the minimum salary to stay with the team. Hey, at least it's guaranteed.

And the cut-throat decision-making involving veteran team leaders WR Laveranues Coles and FB Tony Richardson were handled with tact and a personal touch.

And there was the outright lambasting of ESPN's Tim Cowlishaw who reported that holdout all-everything CB Darrelle Revis' arrival at Jets camp was imminent, which of course was a fallacy.

And is it any wonder that after an episode that showcased how Mike T and the Jets do business, that Team Revis ended their holdout and came to camp at a much lower number than they were floating?

Mike T handled players' coach Rex Ryan the same way with the same incisive, clinical thinking he operated with players and their agents.

That's the side of football that isn't reflected in a Fantasy Football draft or a 3-hour TV broadcast, the complicated and fascinating business side. And the business of Jets football is in great hands.

Hard Knocks Ready To Take Off

It's T-minus one week to the Season Premiere of HBO's Hard Knocks, and I can't remember a higher-profile training camp than the beloved New York Jets, bunking in Cortland, NY in August 2010.

There are plenty of reasons that GM Mike Tannenbaum and Head Coach Rex Ryan should be looking up. But the real hard knocks have begun already with the holdout of Darrelle Revis.

Clearly the Jets brain trust anticipated this situation with their all-world corner, and signed an accomplished cover guy Antonio Cromartie from SD (10 picks in '07) and drafted a major playmaking corner in Kyle Wilson from Boise.

Rex Ryan's attack defense requires outside guys to take care of their island while he throws everyone else at the quarterback. The Jets may be set up there with or without Revis. So the Jets actually have some measure of leverage against the NFL's king of coverage.

From Revis' standpoint, he is living off the 6-year, 30-million dollar deal he got as a 1st round pick in '07. The one player in the League that is equal or better than Revis at his position, the Raiders' Nnamdi Asonugha, got a 3-year, 45.3 million extension in March of '09.

Whether or not the Raiders overpaid for the #1 ranked player in Madden 2010 is a matter of historical debate. But Revis feels he's entitled to that sort of deal, and that has been backed up by the Jets' brass, who said last year that he'd be taken care of.

While the Revis situation has vaulted to the #1 headline in an August that will be filled with them, HBO will still have plenty to enjoy.

> Rex Ryan: Year 2

> Mark Sanchez: Year 2

> LaDainian Tomlinson: Career 2

> Kris Jenkins return from torn ACL

> Moving Targets up top: Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes

> Pass rusher Jason Taylor: Can he still bring it?

> Pass rusher Vernon Gholston: Can he ever bring it?

Plus there's hard news: QB Erik Ainge has checked into rehab for drug dependency. And there's the collateral tabloid damage that's developing from the Jets situation with Brett Favre in 2008.

Most importantly it's the Jets' most anticipated season maybe ever. Let's hope it doesn't peak on pay cable.