Hard Knocks Season 11, Episode 4 Recap

First and foremost, Aqib Talib ain't shit....

We finally got some more airtime for Los Angeles Rams Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Rock Gullickson. This guy is intense as all hell at the scouting combine year in and year out, but it took four weeks for HBO to realize this. Someone needs to be fired. I kid, I kid.. However, the timing makes a lot sense, considering his role in collecting playbooks. There's no bigger reality check these young players have had in life than that long walk to the head coaches office with your dream on the line.

Rookie franchise QB Jared Goff called a play and didn't know what it was. That's not what bothered me.

What bothered me was Offensive Coordinator Rob Boras took the blame saying that he should have been in the huddle with him. To hell with that. Did we draft him to coddle him? What happened to the expectations of learning the damn plays? When was saying "I don't know the plays" a good enough excuse to get the coach to say I should have been there holding your jock strap? How about you ask someone in the huddle what the play is, or will you get in a game and call a play and not know where you are going with the ball?

WR Tavon Austin -- one of the smallest players not only on the team but in the league -- continues to have one of the biggest personalities on the show. His mouth coupled with his tough guy demeanor keeps the cameras on him regularly. This time pretend fighting with DE William Hayes.

But when you are four weeks into camp and emotions are high, and you have LB Alec Ogletree on your team, pretend fights eventually become real ones. Tree absolutely lowered the boom on RB Benny Cunningham for no reason other than boredom. That caused Cunningham to immediately charge him sparking a team brawl. Moments later, RB Todd Gurley being the good teammate and friend he is went after Tree on his next rep. Tree didn't take it too kindly sparking an even bigger brawl. However, Head Coach Jeff Fisher didn't stop practice on the first brawl, but clearly Gurley, who isn't be touched, caused a delay. Who can blame him...

The bright side to the brawl is we found out that you should never expect Jared Goff to have your back in a brawl...though that's probably a smart career move.

DE Eugene Sims has no clue how to spell fajita, which was awesome considering how comfortable and confident he was in his error.

You have to love to see Austin embrace Rams Owner Stan Kroenke before the game against the Denver Broncos. It was a surreal moment as you realize just how much playing this game can change a guys life. His appreciation was evident, and he even said as much during the embrace telling him, "Thank you. You changed my life."

That's what this show is all about. Showing the stuff that goes on when the helmet is off that you don't always catch during the game.

Random Stat of The Week:

DT Aaron Donald finished his college career with 66 tackles for loss and 315 yards, as well as 29 sacks.

Now only two years into the NFL -- yes, the NFL...you know, the game's highest level -- he already has 38 tackles for loss (good for second best in the NFL over the last two seasons), for 166 yards, and 20 sacks. Granted you play more games in the NFL than college, so lets look at the game totals. He played 51 games in college which breaks down to 1.3 tackles for loss a game and .56 sacks a game. But in the NFL, the elevation in talent has not slowed him one bit. In fact it looks like it has made him even greater. In 32 games he has averaged 1.2 tackles for loss and .62 sacks a game. And from a year to year basis, he has improved on each by 6 for tackles for loss, and by 2 for sacks. By my count, the world should be expecting a huge year from Mr. Donald.

So I leave you with this..