1) I think there will be two runaway stars on Hard Knocks this year: Bill O’Brien and Ben Jones. O’Brien is a colorful, candid coach who famously got into a sideline screaming match with Tom Brady when he was a Patriots assistant. When I covered O’Brien at Penn State, he was thoughtful and cared deeply about his players, and he’s always had a fierce desire to win. As for Jones, the team’s center: he’s been known to drink cold tub water and eat cockroaches (the linked sound clip of him explaining his preference for certain insects—such as a cricket instead of a praying mantis—is tremendous).
On Clay Matthews Singing ‘Bootylicious,’ Cam Newton’s Payday and Questionable Taste Buds
