Hard Knocks: Dolphins star in NFL soap-opera on Sky Sports

HBO’s in-season Hard Knocks is back, with the Super Bowl-chasing Miami Dolphins the chosen team thrust into the spotlight for the all-access docuseries – with all episodes available to watch on Sky Sports.

The Dolphins follow in the footsteps of the Indianapolis Colts (2021) and Arizona Cardinals (2022) in allowing access to the HBO cameras to chart their fortunes during the grind of an NFL season.

Owning one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses – under the unique tutelage of head coach Mike McDaniel – and with a leading candidate for league MVP in Tyreek Hill, Miami should make for a fascinating watch.

When and where can I watch?

Every episode of Hard Knocks: Miami Dolphins will shown on Sky Sports NFL, starting with a double-header covering Episodes 1 (9pm) and Episode 2 (10pm) on Thursday, November 30.

The rest of the series will then be shown on the following days:

Thursday, December 7 – Episode 3
Thursday, December 14 – Episode 4
Thursday, December 21 – Episode 5
Thursday, December 28 – Episode 6
Thursday, January 4 – Episode 7
Thursday, January 11 – Episode 8

How are the Dolphins doing this season?

Very well.

The Dolphins are currently top of the AFC West with an 8-3 record through the first 12 weeks of the season, having most recently trounced the New York Jets 34-13 in the first ever NFL game played on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Jevon Holland was the star of the show, scoring a remarkable 99-yard interception return for a touchdown off a Hail Mary attempt from Jets quarterback Tim Boyle to end the first half.

Miami boast the No 1 total offense in the NFL, posting on average 430.5 yards per game, while they are ranked second – behind only the Dallas Cowboys – in terms of scoring, putting up 30.8 points per game.

A slight criticism levelled at the Dolphins, however, has been that they’ve generally feasted on the weak. They’ve yet to beat a team this season with a winning record. Their three defeats, meanwhile, have come against the Buffalo Bills, the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs – the latter two having been last year’s Super Bowl finalists.

Players to watch out for in Hard Knocks

There’s so many to choose from, but you simply have to start with star receiver, and potential league MVP in 2023, Tyreek Hill.

A former Super Bowl winner with the Chiefs, Hill is into his second season with the Dolphins since his blockbuster trade in the summer of 2022 and has racked up a frightening 1,324 yards already in 2023 – to go with 10 touchdowns, eclipsing his tally of seven last season.

Raheem Mostert fronts Mike McDaniel’s ground game with 785 yards and 13 scores, while rookie De’Von Achane flashed with multiple highlight-reel plays early in the season before being sidelined to injury.

Christian Wilkins and Jaelan Phillips top the Dolphins defense for sacks in 2023, with 6.5 each, while Bradley Chubb has a more than respectable six to his name.

Meanwhile, Jalen Ramsey – back from a knee injury that saw him miss the first seven games of the season – has had quite the impact since his return, registering three interceptions in his first three games for the team, including a pair of them in the Week 11 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Tyreek Hill: The best NFL receiver of his era?

Sky Sports’ Cam Hogwood:

Tyreek Hill. The cheat code or cheetah code, am I right? Well, so that’s what a few hours in the company of Mike McDaniel can do.

There is a fun game to play on an NFL Sunday. It’s called ‘Where is Tyreek Hill on the field when Tua Tagovailoa releases the football?’. For those already gazing 20-plus yards downfield, rein it in ever so slightly. Try 10 yards shorter, or 15 yards shorter, where the Miami Dolphins receiver is still staring down his covering defensive back with a ‘trust me, I’ll be there’ glint to him.

The next part of the game: what happens next? And where will Hill eventually wind up? Now you can push your eyes 20-plus yards downfield, by which point he has already bypassed his soft coverage corner and the scrambling high safety, delayed by Tua’s eye-hold and the spread chaos elsewhere, to pierce open grass.

Somewhere in that process there is a rhetorical pondering of ‘Why is nobody covering the most dangerous man in the game?’. They are trying to, truly.

The next game is this: how many defenders are around Hill when he makes a catch on an in-breaking route? Three? Four? Five? Here is your ‘what happened next?’ conundrum. The optics point to a simple swarm-and-tackle for the well-staffed and well-positioned defense; reality entails an afterburner-switch like no other and a Looney Tunes act of Road Runner defiance. Hill is gone before those tasked with stopping him have had a chance to react. *See his touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders.*

There is nobody in the NFL that can do what Tyreek Hill can do. There might be few in history that can do what Tyreek Hill can do.

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