The fourth episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks, featuring the Cleveland Browns, took place Tuesday night. Let’s recap the major storylines that were on display. The Return of Josh Gordon It was expected that the return of Browns WR Josh Gordon would be a major storyline in this week’s episode. And although he was featured a little bit, it was easy to forget about him. The most notable part was probably the cameras catching Gordon looking through the offensive playbook and saying that not many new plays had been added since he was last with the team, so he feels like he’s ready-to-go. Josh Gordon FINESSED da Browns sounds like he didn’t come to training cuz he ain’t feel like it ✌ #HardKnocks pic.twitter.com/OaeLoxCRpu — BLACK SPORTSCENTER (@VersaceBoyEnt) August 29, 2018 The Rookie Show Cleveland’s rookies were in charge of putting on a filmed comedy/parody show of sorts for the rest of the players, coaches, and staff in Berea. The highlight of the segment was when WR Blake Jackson, a longshot who isn’t going to make the roster, voiced over WR Jarvis Landry’s rant from a few weeks ago, complete with some other footage mocking the fact of playing with injury: The #Browns recreated Jarvis Landry's training camp speech and it is absolutely brilliant. pic.twitter.com/G9pRWLJzb3 — NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) August 29, 2018 Seeing GM John Dorsey laugh as QB Baker Mayfield parodied his sweater, gum-chewing, and other mannerisms was amusing as well. Tape it Up, Let’s Go Hard Knocks captured a lot of audio and behind-the-scenes stuff when QB Tyrod Taylor hurt his hand against the Eagles and was led to the back. You can hear him screaming in pain as he enters the blue tent, and then his relief when X-rays are negative in the back. Once he tries catching a football once, he’s ready to go back out there. Tyrod Taylor was still mic'd up when he went to the injury tent during the #Browns preseason game vs the #Eagles pic.twitter.com/FfhA0awBRP — Rob Lopez (@r0bato) August 29, 2018 Haley Yells at Landry , Makes Amends Cleveland was frustrated offensively against the Eagles, and it was clear that it wasn’t the best day for WR Jarvis Landry. You can hear offensive coordinator Todd Haley riding Landry on several plays, including not fighting through on two fades at the goal line, and then stopping on a deeper route later (which Landry complained that the pass sailed out of bounds). Haley later had a complaint about the effort by young WR Derrick Willies. He pulled Landry aside and apologized to him for yelling earlier, while also giving him a pep talk about how he needs to give effort on every play so these younger guys see that and follow his lead. Earlier in the episode, we do see rookie WR Antonio Callaway taking the lead from Landry in the film room: Learn from da GREATS to become a GREAT Antonio Callaway was soaking up KNOWLEDGE from Jarvis Landry #HardKnocks pic.twitter.com/jjC3TNRs9M — VERSACEBOYENT (@VersaceBoyEnt2) August 29, 2018 Myles Garrett ’s Music Isn’t for Bob Wylie Hard Knocks knows they have gold with offensive line coach Bob Wylie now, and they are milking it. It started with DE Myles Garrett getting to have some softer music play over camp...and then this: Other Notes The beginning of the show talked about how things are starting to slow down for QB Baker Mayfield , which included several slow-motion effects, as well as a super slow motion of a long spiral being thrown to WR Rashard Higgins . The segment was a bit of a waste to me. , which included several slow-motion effects, as well as a super slow motion of a long spiral being thrown to WR . The segment was a bit of a waste to me. Former Eagles LB Mychal Kendricks gave the scoop on his former team, pointing out weaknesses of QB Nick Foles , TE Zach Ertz , and their left tackle: Former Eagles linebacker Mychal Kendricks DISRESPECTS former teammate Nick Foles arm strength n calls Zach Ertz SOFT AF #HardKnocks pic.twitter.com/UeQf3vxq40 — BLACK SPORTSCENTER (@VersaceBoyEnt) August 29, 2018<doc-sep>Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images The Cleveland Browns got a glimpse of the end goal during Tuesday's episode of HBO's Hard Knocks. The Philadelphia Eagles had a losing record two years ago but enter the 2018 campaign as the defending Super Bowl champions. A quick turnaround is well within the realm of possibilities in today's NFL, and a Browns team that was 0-16 in 2017 prevailed against the champions in the preseason contest featured in the penultimate episode of the Hard Knocks season. That type of turnaround is going to require game-changing playmakers, and Episode 4 started with the return of exactly that in wide receiver Josh Gordon. Gordon tweeted on Aug. 18 he was coming back to the Browns after he tweeted on July 23 he was going to miss the start of training camp as part of his treatment program. The Baylor product has played a mere 10 games since he led the NFL in receiving yards in 2013 thanks largely to suspensions for violating the league's substance abuse policy. He made it clear he can't wait to get back on the field even though he understood he won't immediately be a starter, and the idea of Gordon playing alongside veteran Jarvis Landry and the potential of Antonio Callaway surely has Browns fans looking forward to an explosive aerial attack after going 0-16 last year. Video Play Button Videos you might like Any questions about which quarterback will be throwing to those weapons were cleared up during Tuesday's episode, considering head coach Hue Jackson insisted there will be no first-team reps for rookie Baker Mayfield with Tyrod Taylor learning a new system. Mayfield may be the backup on the depth chart, but he was a featured part of the rookie show where the young players had some fun at the veterans' expense. The No. 1 overall pick poked fun at Carl Nassib's financial advice and affinity for Taylor Swift but also stole the show imitating general manager John Dorsey. He wasn't the only one drawing laughs, as wide receiver Blake Jackson acted out Landry's speech imploring players to fight through injuries and remain on the practice field. The lighthearted moments of preparation led to the seriousness of the game against the Eagles, as players looked to make impressions with cuts looming. Cleveland won a defensive slugfest 5-0 that saw Myles Garrett tally two sacks as an unblockable force and the defense intercept reigning Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles two times, but injury scares with Taylor and No. 4 overall pick Denzel Ward took center stage. The Ward setback made headlines, as defensive coordinator Gregg Williams blamed the rookie's "stupid" tackling form, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. Jackson responded, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, "Gregg does not get to do just what he wants to do. We will work through all of that. ... We do not need to do all of that stuff in the media." Fortunately for the Browns, Taylor returned to the game after X-rays on his hand were negative, and Cabot noted an MRI revealed no structural damage with Ward. With the team able to breathe a collective sigh of relief on the injury front, attention turned to Hard Knocks favorites Devon Cajuste, Nate Orchard and Nassib fighting for roster spots. Cajuste impressed with his blocking from the tight end spot, while Orchard and Nassib helped the defense shut out the Eagles. That is more than Mayfield can say after the quarterback's struggles against the Eagles—including an interception—were on full display. He wasn't alone on the offensive side in a five-point effort, as even Landry caught flak for his lack of effort. Concerns about preseason wins and losses will turn to worries about cuts in the final episode of this year's Hard Knocks next week, but the Browns still earned the opportunity to celebrate a victory over the Eagles. Even if it was an ugly one at times.<doc-sep>After last week’s… let’s say unusual… 5-0 win over the defending Super Bowl champs, the new-look Cleveland Browns have improved to 2-1 in the NFL preseason. With only one game left to play before the start of the regular season, fringe players hoping to make the team are battling for a spot on an all new episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks. The first three episodes have been an enthralling peek behind the curtain of a team that’s only managed one regular season victory over the past two seasons. In Hard Knocks Episode 4, star wide receiver Josh Gordon finally returns to the Browns. You won’t want to miss a minute of the action. When will Hard Knocks be on HBO GO? Where can you find a Hard Knocks Episode 4 stream? Here’s everything you need to know. WHAT TIME DOES HARD KNOCKS COME ON TONIGHT? WHAT TIME DOES HARD KNOCKS AIR? An all-new episode of Hard Knocks airs tonight (August 28) at 10:00 p.m. ET on HBO. WHAT TIME DOES HARD KNOCKS COME ON HBO GO? According to the HBO website, the Hard Knocks live stream will be available beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET on HBO GO and HBO NOW. Hard Knocks Episode 4 will be available on demand beginning Wednesday, August 29. HOW CAN I WATCH HARD KNOCKS EPISODE 4? HOW CAN I FIND A HARD KNOCKS EPISODE 4 STREAM? If you have an HBO subscription, you can watch Hard Knocks Episode 4 on HBO GO or via HBO NOW. No HBO? You might want to try signing up for the one-month free trial of HBO NOW, which will allow you to stream Hard Knocks for free. How can you stream Hard Knocks if you don’t have HBO? You can enjoy a one-week free preview of HBO via Hulu, but be advised you’ll be charged $14.99 a month after your free trial if you don’t cancel your subscription. You can also add HBO to your Sling TV account for $15 a month. CAN I FIND A HARD KNOCKS STREAM ON PRIME VIDEO? CAN I WATCH HARD KNOCKS EPISODE 4 ON AMAZON? Yes. You can add HBO to your Amazon Prime account for $14.99 a month. The best part? You can sample HBO on Prime with a 7-day free trial. WHERE CAN I FIND A HARD KNOCKS EPISODE 3 STREAM? You can stream the first three episodes of Hard Knocks on HBO GO! Where to stream Hard Knocks<doc-sep>No hard-knock life is harder than that of the Cleveland Browns. Coming off the second 0-16 season in NFL history, the Browns drafted one of the most exciting QB prospects to enter the league in years and added veterans they hope will change the culture. The team is giving an all-access look at their progress for Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Cleveland Browns, and we’ll be breaking down each episode with what you need to know. Episode MVP: Mychal Kendricks “[Zach Ertz] is the best receiver on the team,” the former Eagles linebacker tells the Browns ahead of their preseason game against Philadelphia. “Notice how I said ‘receiver.’ When it comes to blocking, you fucking hit his ass over and over. He doesn’t want any smoke.” (Note: He earned his MVP honors before he was indicted Wednesday on insider trading charges.) Kendricks won the Super Bowl with Philly in February and signed with Cleveland after he was released. We always hear about players moving to new teams and giving “scouting reports” on their old teammates; seeing Kendricks give the lowdown on the Super Bowl champs is what makes Hard Knocks great. He also suggests cornerbacks play Nick Foles’s deep ball a hair slower than they would normally and shares that left tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai “doesn’t trust his feet at all. You get on him, his confidence will go down.” It was good advice. The Browns defense walloped the Eagles in a 5-0 win, Foles threw two interceptions, Ertz caught just four passes for 26 yards, and Browns defensive end Myles Garrett had two sacks while using Vaitai as a blocking sled. The best scouting is good, old-fashioned espionage. Most Interesting Thing We Saw: Josh Gordon Fewer than five minutes into the episode, Gordon returns to the building after missing the first three weeks of training camp (or, as Hue Jackson tells general manager John Dorsey, “the big fish is in the building”). The camera cuts to Gordon at his locker, who is looking over plays on his team-issued tablet. “Not too many new plays!” Gordon says. “Good for me. I’m low-key surprised, though. … Pretty much like the same shit. Y’all been doing this for a month? Two months? [Laughs.] I pretty much know all of these, so I’m straight.” Gordon, who reported late to training camp to focus on his mental health and sobriety, attended Browns OTAs and minicamp, so perhaps he is referencing Cleveland’s progress since June, when new offensive coordinator Todd Haley presumably began installing the new system. Still, Cleveland’s best player taking one look at the playbook and laughing, then watching the offense score just three points in Week 3 of the preseason, does not bode well for the 2018 season. Baker Mayfield Update of the Week: Tiger After the Browns beat the Eagles (I know it’s the preseason, but it’s still wild to type that), Philadelphia defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz tells Baker, “I never played, but if I did, I wish I played like you.” That’s really sweet. The true highlight of the week, however, comes when Jackson roasts Baker for posting an underwear ad on Instagram. First of all, Mayfield looks like Derek Zoolander with the sun in his eyes. Second, I hope this is Photoshopped, because tiger bites would almost certainly void Baker’s guaranteed money. Between these photos and the “Earn your stripes” preseason slogan, the Browns are identifying way too frequently with tigers. There’s already an NFL team associated with tigers, in Ohio, that wears orange. The Browns need to find a new alpha predator from a different biome. Animals aside, another highlight comes when Baker flips the tables with his impersonation of John Dorsey, which was released on YouTube a week ago. Watching Dorsey watch the impersonation of him wearing the exact same outfit and chewing his gum in the exact same way truly highlights Baker’s attention to detail. If Baker can recognize Dorsey’s specific way of walking down the hallway, he’ll have no problem identifying complicated blitz coverages on the field. Athletes, They’re Just Like Us: Carl Nassib’s Alien Conspiracy Theories “Aliens are real,” Carl Nassib says about halfway through the episode. “I don’t know that they are, but I think that they’re real.” Defensive end Nate Orchard is skeptical, but Garrett agrees. “How could you think that in all the universe there is not another intelligent thing of life?” Garrett says, offering a reasonable, measured response. Nassib nods and quickly says, “Well, this is what I say. This is what’s fucked up …” At this point, Garrett either gets pulled into another conversation (unlikely) or senses he’s on camera and invents a reason to remove himself from this conversation (very likely). Nassib walks to the other side of Orchard and begins whispering like he’s got a new theory about the JFK assassination. “So the Canadian prime minister of defense, who is equivalent to our secretary of defense, it’s just a different name, came out publicly and said that the United States is in contact with three different alien species,” Nassib says. “This fucker is like one of the top admin officials, and he went on record saying this shit.” Orchard is not convinced. “Why are you lying, Carl?” Carl is not lying––Nassib is referring to Paul Hellyer––but he gets the basic facts wrong; Hellyer claimed that four different alien species have visited Earth, not three, and he’s been saying it for decades. Also, Hellyer was the minister of national defense in the mid-’60s, not the prime minister of defense. Get your facts straight, Carl! Later in the episode, Nassib wanders around a museum, looking at dinosaur bones, and you can all but see the conspiracies forming in his mind, like in that Zach Galifianakis meme. Nassib is your friend who falls down YouTube algorithm–generated rabbit holes and is “just asking questions.” I don’t know Carl, but we all know a Carl. Quote of the Week<doc-sep>
Hard Knocks is back! You know what that means: Football season is nearly upon us. To celebrate the return of America’s favorite sport (sorry, baseball) we’ll be recapping each and every episode. This season features the Cleveland Browns. Here’s what we learned in the fourth episode… 1. Baker Mayfield’s John Dorsey impression may have been the worst part of the rookie show The Browns were really pushing Mayfield’s Dorsey impersonation, plastering it all over social media before it aired on Hard Knocks, but it was kind of corny. The best sketch from the rookie show was clearly the receivers mocking Jarvis Landry’s speech about practicing hurt… The #Browns recreated Jarvis Landry's training camp speech and it is absolutely brilliant. pic.twitter.com/G9pRWLJzb3 — NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) August 29, 2018 Mayfield’s other sketch, a short spoof of Carl Nassib’s expletive-laced financial presentation, was even better than his Dorsey impression. Baker Mayfield makes fun of Carl Nassib’s financial advising at the Browns’ rookie show 😂 pic.twitter.com/zhPbr1LdLA — CS Nation (@_CSNation_) August 29, 2018 2. Hue Jackson should not have let Tyrod Taylor play hurt Taylor was in all sorts of pain after falling awkwardly on his wrist during the preseason game against the Eagles. While it’s commendable that he wanted to play through it, it’s pretty obvious why that was the case: Taylor knows Mayfield is on his heels and doesn’t want to give the team any reason to turn to the rookie. Of course Taylor is going to say he wanted to get back in there. But he was still hurt and it was a meaningless game. “My pinkie came out of place, and my left wrist is messed up,” Taylor told Jackson. Most coaches would hear that from their starting quarterback and end their night. Not Hue… I legit have no idea the logic used by an NFL Head Coach to go from decision #1 to decision #3 in this video. How do you possibly arrive at #3, in a preseason game for your valued starter? 😳 pic.twitter.com/tO1wsm2Nbn — Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) August 29, 2018 3. Myles Garrett should take better care of his body Seriously, this guy should really get in better shape. If I did push-ups for like a week straight, I’d look just like that. I swear, guys. 4. Mychal Kendricks should be a scout The former Eagles linebacker was asked to do a mini scouting report on his former teammates. He did not have nice things to say about them… On Nick Foles… Playing against Nick Foles, I realized on his long balls, he has like a teardrop effect. He’s tall and he likes to drop it literally from the sky. So corners, the timing is just a little slower on that ball coming in. On Zach Ertz… 86, I think, is the best receiver on the team. Notice I said receiver. When it comes to blocking, you f—ing hit his a– over and over — he doesn’t want any smoke. On Halapoulivaati Vaitai… Big V. Vaitai. He’s so big his size allows him to do what he does. But he doesn’t have the quickest feet, and he’s not the strongest. He doesn’t trust his feet at all. You get on him, his confidence will go down. Sure enough, both Big V and Foles played dreadful games against the Browns last Thursday night. 5. Aliens are real, according to Carl Nassib Nassib, Garrett and Nate Orchard had a discussion about aliens at practice. Nassib and Garrett seemed to agree that aliens are definitely out there. Orchard seemed a little skeptical so Nassib told him about a former Canadian minister of defense alleging the U.S. government had been in contact with three separate alien species. Orchard accused Nassib of lying, but Paul Hellyer really did say something to that effect… Via The Express: The ex-minister of National Defence for Canada said at least four species of aliens have been visiting Earth for decades and claimed top authorities are constantly in discussions with extraterrestrial beings. Paul Hellyer, who was the Canadian Minister of National Defence in the 1960′s during the Cold War, claims to have inside information that top governments are in cahoots with aliens. “The supreme allied commander was very concerned and was about ready to press the panic button when they turned around and went back over the North Pole,” [Hellyer said.]