The second episode of HBO's "Hard Knocks" last night portrayed the "tough circumstances facing this year's crop of rookies," according to Emmanuel Morgan of the L.A. TIMES. NFL training camps are "slowly increasing the intensity and the amount of physical contact," and this episode showed that by "starting with walkthroughs and ending with practices in helmets." Chargers offensive quality control coach Seth Ryan "registered a positive test, which forced him into quarantine," but the test "was false positive, and after a retest, he was able to re-enter the facility" (L.A. TIMES, 8/19). NFL.com's Dan Hanzus notes Rams OT Andrew Whitworth shared a "sobering tale of how coronavirus ripped through his home, infecting five adults and four children, including himself." But the Whitworth family recovered, and NFL camps across the country have had "excellent success keeping COVID-19 at the door so far" (NFL.com, 8/19). SI.com's Nick Selbe goes with the header, "'Hard Knocks' Recap: Normalcy Returns as Justin Herbert Gets His Feet Wet" (SI.com, 8/19). THE RINGER lists 5 takeaways from last night's episode.
