The third installment of HBO's "Hard Knocks" season with the Texans aired last night, and it offered windows into the "decisions that go into assembling an NFL roster and the circumstances that players and coaches face off the field," according to David Barron of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. The series, which has focused on coach Bill O’Brien as a "hard-driving, hard-talking taskmaster," also looked at "O’Brien the family man with his wife, Colleen, and sons Jack and Michael." For many viewers, the "pictures of O’Brien at a birthday celebration for his son, Jack, who was born with a genetic disorder but has lived years past the life expectancy that doctors gave the family, may outlast anything they see from NFL Films of O’Brien’s on-field demeanor." But on the "cuss bucket front, O’Brien led with about two dozen words you can’t print in a family newspaper" (CHRON.com, 8/25). In Dallas, Barry Horn wrote the series through two episodes had been "pedestrian." It offers its "usual stellar work, but the subject matter hardly has been compelling." Horn: "Maybe that’s because the Texans are middle-of-the-pack bland." O'Brien "pretty much has been the star of the show" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/22). In Boston, Ben Volin wrote the show "has been mostly enjoyable, but each episode feels about 20 minutes too long." Volin: "Could maybe cut down on the gratuitous slow-motion shots of [DE] J.J. Watt, and do we really need to see [DT] Vince Wilfork scrubbing the dead skin off his foot?" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/23).
