Battle For AFC North To Be Featured On In-Season “Hard Knocks”
Credit: Sam Greene-USA TODAY Sports
The AFC North race is ripe for drama, with all four teams having good reason to think their squad is capable of coming out on top. If you had any doubts about that, ESPN’s Field Yates has confirmed that the division at least has the attention of the executives at HBO.
Hard Knocks in-season will debut on December 3rd, covering the entire AFC North: pic.twitter.com/SxXl9XtvLU
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) June 17, 2024
The docuseries isn’t a stranger to the AFC North, as the original “Hard Knocks” season featured the Baltimore Ravens in the season following their Super Bowl XXXV win. The series returned to the division in 2009, covering Chad Ochocinco’s Cincinnati Bengals, then again in 2013 to watch Andy Dalton prepare to lead the Bengals to an 11-5 season. The 2018 Cleveland Browns also got the Hard Knocks treatment with Baker Mayield entering the NFL.
Those seasons of “Hard Knocks” all featured training camp, whereas this season of will feature each team within the season — the first time the show has covered multiple teams at once, let alone an entire division. The reason why? “Last season, the AFC North became the first division ever to have all four teams finish with a winning record,” Keith Crossrow of NFL Films explained. “[That makes] it the perfect place to launch this new approach to ‘Hard Knocks.'”
Of course, there’s a fair bit of star power in this division to cover, as well. Reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson will feature, as will reigning AP Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. TJ Watt took the Defensive Player of the Year Honors back in 2021, the same year AP Offensive Rookie of the Year Ja’Marr Chase’s connection with Joe Burrow carried Cincinnati to a Super Bowl appearance.
Not that these teams (or their fan bases) need any extra incentive to circle their calendars for in-division games, but these will surely carry heightened drama as we see both squads preparing for each other. The first AFC North match takes place in Week 5, between the Ravens and Bengals, and each of these teams will play each other once by the time “Hard Knocks” debuts on December 3.
The drama only intensifies from there. The Steelers will play the Browns and Ravens in Weeks 14 and 16, respectively. The Bengals and Browns face off for a Week 16 showdown of their own. Then, on Week 18, the match-ups between the Ravens and Browns, as well as the Bengals and Steelers should have massive playoff implications. “Hard Knocks” will also cover these teams through the playoffs, so you know any AFC North grudge match is going to be extra juicy. We’ll have to wait for December to see these fireworks going off, but this appears to be more than worth the wait.
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