The Ravens are back on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” for the first time since the venerable series’ 2001 premiere season, this time sharing each hour with their AFC North neighbors.
The sixth episode of this in-season look at the division debuted Tuesday night, placing a spotlight on Ravens coach John Harbaugh as he motivated his team for a division-clinching victory over Cleveland, processed Zay Flowers’ knee injury and delighted in Michael Pierce’s valedictory interception.
From now until the end of the season, we’ll recap each episode, highlighting striking moments, memorable characters and tasty Ravens-related nuggets.
Key Ravens scene
Harbaugh opened the episode with a bit of NFL fire and brimstone as he prepared his team for its regular-season finale against the Browns.
The Ravens might have been favored by 20 points, but he wasn’t about to let them forget they lost to Cleveland, 29-24, on the last weekend in October. Biblical vengeance belongs to the Lord, Harbaugh began in the team auditorium. “But I do believe in football, you play a team in the division twice for a reason. Would you agree? So if we play ’em twice for a reason, and they beat us the first time, vengeance is yours, man. We are going to put the gas, the pedal down. We are going into this game to win everything. Win every play, win every series, win every catch, win every throw, win every interception. Win everything.”
It was the fullest glimpse in the series to date of Harbaugh as motivator, and he kept it up later in the week.
“Can you imagine how terrible, how disastrous, how awful it would be if they came into our stadium and beat us and took our championship away?” he told players as game day neared. “You can’t even fathom it. It sucked enough the last time when they embarrassed us.”
He did not want the Ravens taking anything for granted with a second straight division title so close to their grasp.
“And then,” Harbaugh said, “the real season starts.”
Other Ravens tidbits
The episode delivered a closeup of Flowers clutching his knee and gasping in pain after he went down at the end of a catch and run in the first half against Cleveland. “Aw [crap]. He’s hurt,” Harbaugh said into his headset. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“It’s his right knee, but I think the big ligaments are OK,” team physician Dr. Andrew Tucker said after quickly examining Flowers on the field. We know now that Flowers is day-to-day, with his availability for the Ravens’ playoff opener against the Steelers in question.
“Hard Knocks” captured the terrible juxtapositions of NFL life, because two days earlier, Flowers had embraced general manager Eric DeCosta after learning he’d made his first Pro Bowl.
“The first time I ever saw you, I knew you would,” DeCosta told Flowers.
Cornerback Marlon Humphrey, meanwhile, made his fourth Pro Bowl, bouncing back from an injury-marred 2023.
“You said you believed in me,” he reminded Harbaugh as they chatted mid-practice.
“Did I text you that?” Harbaugh replied. Humphrey nodded.
“Now, all of a sudden you’re in the Pro Bowl, and everybody believes in you,” Harbaugh said. “Remember who’s been with you since the beginning.”
“I do,” Humphrey said. “I do.”
We saw teammates joking with running back Derrick Henry about turning 31 on the day of the Browns game. Ancient as that might seem to some of them, Henry seemed unperturbed. “I feel like I’m 25 years old,” he said.
In the late stages of the Ravens’ win over the Browns, Harbaugh said it might be time to sit Henry if the offense picked up another first down. On the next play, the future Hall of Fame running back sprinted 43 yards for a touchdown. Problem solved.
Lamar Jackson shared his deep respect for Browns defensive end Myles Garrett. Asked by a coach which edge defender gives him the most trouble with zone reads, Jackson did not hesitate, laughing as he demonstrated a few of Garrett’s mind-bending moves. “He’s different,” Jackson concluded.
In a Ravens-heavy episode, “Hard Knocks” also profiled tight end Mark Andrews, showcasing how he manages his Type 1 diabetes and interacts with young fans dealing with the same condition. We also saw plenty of Andrews’ telepathic connection with Jackson, which has developed over seven seasons. “Just getting started,” Andrews said.
Best non-Ravens scene
With the Ravens and Steelers already in the playoffs and the Browns long gone from contention, the Bengals were the team left to sweat out the last weekend of the season.
They had already won four in a row to give themselves an unlikely chance at the No. 7 seed. They needed to beat Pittsburgh. They needed the New York Jets to upset the Miami Dolphins. And most improbably of all, they needed the Kansas City Chiefs, resting all their key players, to knock off the Denver Broncos.
“Hard Knocks” captured the ecstasy in the Cincinnati locker room after the Bengals did their part with a gritty win over the Steelers.
“All you guys did was dig deep, lean into each other and put yourself in position, man, to sit on your couch tomorrow, watch like a fan and pray to God that we get into this thing,” coach Zac Taylor told his players. “Because you deserve it.”
You just knew the episode would conclude with scenes of the Bengals watching their fate reside in others’ hands. Taylor viewed the games on a big screen in his office. Wide receiver Andrei Iosivas and tight end Mike Gesicki gathered with a few friends and loved ones, expressing genuine hope that the Chiefs, with nothing to play for, would show some fight.
Both the coach and his players fell silent, the life draining from their faces by the minute, as they realized it wasn’t meant to be. The Bengals had created compelling football theater and convinced plenty of people they were the team No. 2 seed Buffalo wouldn’t want to see in the wild-card round. But that spot would belong, instead, to the Broncos.
The episode ended without a final comment from Cincinnati, because what else was left to say?
Episode MVP
With so many Ravens scenes in the episode, Harbaugh served as the touchpoint, delivering his big speech to open the show and commenting on all the twists and turns of an AFC North championship week.
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