The third episode of HBO's "Hard Knocks" with the Browns aired last night, and assistant coach Bob Wylie "finally gets his moment in the sun," according to Jim Reineking of USA TODAY. Viewers learn Wylie "isn't a fan of stretching," and a stretching session "somehow turns into a discussion about soldiers in World War I and II." Wylie said, "Do you think they were worried when they were running across Normandy about (expletive) stretching?" Later, Wylie "gets into zoology" and "shows his players pictures of animals that would be great offensive linemen." Wylie later in the episode "pulls up in a Mazerati" and tells the valet, "No Ferris Bueller (expletive) now with this thing, OK?" (USA TODAY, 8/22). NBC Sports' Peter King said, "How about the Bob Wylie show?" NBCSN's Mike Florio: "I was not aware of what a colorful personality he is, and apparently HBO wasn't either because it took them three episodes to find him" ("PFT," NBCSN, 8/22). THE RINGER's Danny Heifetz writes every second Wylie was on camera, he was "working his magic." The first thing viewers "heard from him is about how players in the 1940s didn’t get to play music at practice." Wylie’s sense of humor is "colorful" (THERINGER.com, 8/22). NFL.com's Dan Hanzus writes Wylie was "likely playing it up for the cameras, but do the Browns really want a key member of their coaching staff outing himself as a Stretching Truther?" (NFL.com, 8/22).
DEZ COMES TO TOWN: PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Charean Williams wrote receivers have "stolen the show in all three episodes" of "Hard Knocks." Free agent WR Dez Bryant‘s visit to Cleveland during last night's episode "highlighted the show with Josh Gordon‘s return also featured." Bryant "arrived with his agent," Roc Nation's Kim Miale, and was "shown shaking hands and hugging nearly everyone in the building" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 8/21). In Akron, Nate Ulrich notes Browns coach Hue Jackson was "shown giving Bryant a full-blown sales pitch" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 8/22).
