Hard Knocks Hits Rochester: Bills Insider Scoop with NFL Director Pat Harris + James Cook Top 100

Hard Knocks Hits Rochester: Bills Insider Scoop with NFL Director Pat Harris + James Cook Top 100

Being from Western New York, what does it mean to you to to cover a team that is so impactful here in our in our small NFL market? There’s an extra special to like make sure we do it right, make sure we do Rochester right. I think the Bills fans are as unique as ever and I’ve tried to tell people that like this training camp is going to be different. [Music] This is the Buffalo Plus podcast brought to you by Connors and Ferris. All right, welcome back to the Buffalo Plus podcast presented by Connors and Ferris. Mike Catalana, Dan Fates with some veteran vacation. I am Jenna Katrrol. Please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and share. This episode we’re going to talk a little bit about James Cook, Josh Allen, and some ESPs. But we also have an awesome interview with Pat Harris, a senior director at Hardnox, a Western New York native as well. We’ll get to him in a little bit, but a very cool interview coming up about Fiser and the Bills being at at back here and Hardox being here. Speaking of being back, how’s it feel to be back? Wow. I feel rest and refreshed and honestly was a magical weekend. Little mini moon in Cape Cod. It was amazing. So, thank you to everyone. I thought it was a little much that you wore your veil into the TV station when you came into the podcast studio. Yeah, you know me. Yeah, she’s coming in throwing flowers as she walks by. No, everyone was so sweet and so kind. So, thank you so much. And my parents probably watched the podcast of us doing the recap of the wedding about 17 times. So, it made sure every family function was like, “We got to watch it. Hey, Jenna, I queue it.” Of course, they struggle with the technological side. So, it was me trying to queue it up and then walking out of the room because I By the way, speaking of that, I don’t even think I told you about Did I tell you about your uncle? Which one? John? Yeah. About no him talking about the podcast. So, her uncle comes up to me and Dan and I are there and Donar, one of our news anchors, retired news anchor at the pre-wedding, the welcome drink. It was great. We’re sitting there talking. He comes up. The man has a very very slight New England accent. Yeah. Heavy. Yeah. Like he is right. He’s that guy. Yeah. Like it’s I don’t understand him. Yes. Half the time. Patriots fan. Mhm. Fine. He’s from New England. Yeah. Uh and he is telling me how talented Jenna is. So we’re like, “Yeah.” And then he says, “This is the best.” He goes, “The best thing she does is that Buffalo Plus.” So, we start laughing and I’m like, “Yeah.” I go, “Except you got to work with those two idiots.” I don’t know if he knew for sure Dan and I were the two guys on the podcast with you. I really don’t know if he did. Honestly, I could I could see I could honestly see he’s just locked in supporting. He’s my god. He’s my godfather, too. He is definitely team Jenna. Like, it was big. It was very nice, but I joked about us two. Maybe he was like, “Yeah, these are two idiots. You should do it by herself.” So, anyhow, it was cool. No, that’s very funny. Um, yes, the wedding was so much fun. So, thank you everyone for the kind wellw wishes and all that stuff. We had a we had a great time. But, all right, let’s talk some Bills. I can’t believe training camp is coming up, but today or the news kind of this week, the NFL top 100 being some of the names being released. James Cook at number 89. Yeah, I think that’s a good first of all, making it in the top 100 is huge. Yeah. For him to be recognized that way. Yeah. Um I Jeremy Fowler, uh ESPN does this bit. It’s a good one with he interviews coaches and GMs and scouts. Um and they rank players in positionwise. I think James Cook was eighth for running backs. You know, when you look at that list, there’s some pretty good players there. It it kind of fits to make the top 100. He had 16 touchdowns last year. He had a really good year. The Bills know he’s a really good player. This doesn’t help or hurt him in negotiations one way or the other. It’s good for him. The Bills already know he’s a good player. He thinks he’s a good player. He should. Yeah. It’s kind of cool for him to get recognized. Absolutely. Like being a top 100 player is a big deal. It’s his first year being in the top 100. And I think one of the things that we’ve talked about going back to last season was just the development that we saw from him. have like he is a talented player and I think it’s pretty cool and you’re right like there are a lot of very good running backs in the NFL and to have him be you know top 10 on that list I also think is what you’re talking about with the Jeremy Fowler stuff. So for me I wasn’t like oh my god he needs to be in the 20s but I also was like good for him. Yeah, I mean if you think about the position it has been upgraded recently in terms of you know I was joking the last show I think we talked about Saquon was like 86 or something the last time he’ll be in the top 10 this year. Yeah, I would imagine. And you know there have been Derrick Henry obviously having great years and you still have Jacobs and you have still have Christian McCaffrey and those players. So running backs have moved up but that makes him a top 10 running back. No question. Right. So, so I think I think everybody’s aware of that. I don’t know what impact it has. And it it gets real now. We talked about this. Showed up at mandatory camp, practiced, did everything. Now, we’ll see. And we do talk to the uh director of uh Hard Knocks about it. You’ll hear that in a little bit. But it will be interesting to see how James Cook is. Well, what is what is the approach from him? What is the approach from the Bills? And how does this all play out? Like we have talked about all spring long, will he come to mandatory camp? What will that look like? He did. He showed up. He did practice. And now this is the next step down the line of what will this look like as the Bills and James Cook figure out what the next contract will look like? Will he be on the team in 2026? We don’t know that yet. But this is the next portion of where we’re going in terms of and for me it’s like ah you really hope it’s not a distraction and the thing is not in the building nobody’s in the building at this time but everybody’s taking their time off but I wonder if there has been negotiations or is it just sort of like they’ve kept it at a certain place I you know and then there’s different negotiations Jenna is there negotiations to I’m going to play it out this year leave it at that he’s going to play. I mean, he’s taking a risk being on the field in the final year of his deal, but he also wants to get $5.3 million, at least what he’s scheduled for this year. And then whether the Bills would want to still try to work out, I don’t know if they would want to make a different one-year deal. Causes some other issues with in terms of compensation later. Um, but at the same time, or do they still have conversations about a longer term deal? That will be one of the first questions we ask at training camp. Oh yeah. Is did you talk to James Cook over the summer or after mandatory camp? What were those conversations like? And we love James. Yeah. They’ll say they love him. His options are show up and play like he did. Don’t show up. You find show up and not practice. To me, I actually think that’s for the team. That’s maybe the worst of the three. Oh yeah. Yeah. But you’re there, but you’re not there. So, we have no indication yet. So, we’ll see how it plays out. Yeah. All right. Another thing to note, a little interesting, the SB is coming up. Yeah. Josh Allen nominated for two awards. Best NFL player and best male athlete. Yeah. I mean, best male athlete, that’s kind of cool to get nominated for that. I Best male athlete. Yes. The is Yeah, that’s a big one. Yeah. I’d have to look at the list to see who’s in there. And then at the same time, best NFL player. I mean, he did just win league MVP. That’s a that’s a different voters. People vote on the ESPs, but yeah, it’s it’s cool. Hey, listen, it’s the ESPs. It’s doesn’t really mean anything, but it’s cool when Josh Allen gets recognition like that. So, yeah, I think it’s one of those things that like after winning the MVP, the Bill’s going to be on Hard Knocks. like everything is ratcheting it up in terms of the spotlight on Buffalo. And so I think it’s it’s yeah, it’s not nothing. Let’s put it that way, right? And like the fact that again it maybe just call me like naive, but to be talking about the SB’s best male athlete, best NFL player, be talking about a Bills player in that position is still pretty wild to me. Well, you mentioned Hard Knocks. We might as well get to it because it’s good if we do say so. All right, let’s toss to our interview with Pat Harris, senior director. All right, a very, very special guest joining us. Pat Harris, senior director, Hard Knocks. Pat, we want to thank you so much and I want to let everyone know as well, very special because you are a Western New York guy, Penfield native. Thank you so much for joining us here today. Thank you both for having me. No, I’m very excited. Very excited to uh be starting training camp very soon. All right. And I know for you, like you’re from this area. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your fandom of an NFL team? Obviously, growing up in Western New York, like what is this opportunity like coming home and also doing this for Hard Knocks at your job and so many Bills fans we know are looking forward to this. It’s to be honest, it’s very surreal. Um I’ve done Hard Knocks, this will be my 10th year in the directing role. Um I’ve always kind of had this pipe dream maybe it would happen. I’d get to go and just be a part of camp. But the fact that uh this is my first year as a senior director going back home to Rochester. My dad and grandfather went to Fiser. I grew up going to camp. So I’m sure I’ve had different moments leading up. I’m sure once I actually get there and I’m on the field, it’ll be kind of a very surreal moment. U but I’m super excited. I think it’s an incredible team, incredible organization. It’s a kind of a fun year to uh to do this with them. So Pat, a lot of people were a little surprised that the Bills were picked based on the way the rules used to be and where they were and they get picked. Were you like the guy in the back of the room or calling up Roger and saying, “Hey, this would be a good year for the Bills because I’m ready to go home and and do this for Hard Knocks.” I I wish I had that uh seat at the table. Um because I’m sure plenty of years I’ve said they’d be great. You know, things are looking good all throughout, you know, my time doing it. Um, and I couldn’t tell you why this was outside of I think the Bills are very prominent team and people just want to know more about them. So, I wasn’t privy to the the actual conversations that went on, but you know, from my somewhat in the know perspective, you know, they’re they have a lot of intrigue to them and I think they’re just going to be a fascinating team to follow for the summer. So, let’s talk a little bit about the intrigue in terms of storylines. Now, here we are a little ways out before camp actually begins. Are there already storylines you guys think you have or you know you have or does it develop as you start to get content when the camp starts? It’s a little bit of a hybrid. Like we’ll do kind of our homework, you know, we’ll we’ll research, you know, social medias and kind of get familiar with the team, with the players, coaching staff. So, we kind of come in with, hey, there’s some intrigue here or there, whether it’s a position battle, a player, a new piece, an old piece. Um, but a lot of it, too, I think, especially being the directors, once we get there, you want to meet people. You want to see what’s happening. We don’t want to be kind of pigeonholed to say, well, no, we saw three weeks ago that this was a story. we have to cover it if it’s not a story anymore or if a person jumps out with a great personality or something unique happens, we don’t want to shy away from doing that. So, I think it’s you want to come in and do your homework and do your research, but ultimately you just kind of get there and just kind of see what unfolds. We are kind of, you know, we’re covering training camp and it’s kind of documenting what happens. I know it’s a living breathing thing and you’re right, I can imagine like you have ideas going in and then from there things change with just covering the team and seeing what evolves. But for you, like being from Western New York, knowing what training camp means to the area, knowing what the Bills mean to the area, and having the background of knowing that, what does it mean to you to to cover a team that is so impactful here in our in our small NFL market? I think there is like a different level of pride. Obviously, I want to put out a good product. Every year I do this, it’s I love doing it, but there’s an extra special to like make sure we do it right, make sure we do Rochester right. think the Bills fans are as unique as ever and I’ve tried to tell people that like this training camp is going to be different like the people that show we’ve had other years where okay the the hard knocks allure uh kind of brings in additional people like that’s not going to it’s going to be any different this year there’s going to be tons of people every single practice um so I’m trying to convey that to them and figuring out what’s a special way or like a unique way we can kind of show the fans in Rochester and then ultimately show you know the the the Buffalo side but I think there’s a little bit of a different variable there with their home. Uh people aren’t going to be coming to practice once they get to Buffalo. I know like for fans too there there won’t be I can’t imagine anyone jumping off of tables at the parking lots in Fiser. But for you like how do you approach that fan aspect? Because like you said, you know, also with the Bills being away for training camp at Fiser and just having the crowds that they have always had, does that add an extra element to how you prepare for production-wise things? It’s definitely like an additional character. Um I think That’s that’s something we’re factoring in to figure out, okay, what is I can at least give insight of what I know of how it happens, how fans get to practice, what it looks like, where they’re standing. I can give that insight from personal experience, but I think it’s it’s an additional character that we’ll probably introduce in one of the earlier episodes to say, hey, you know, Bill’s Mafia is this and it’s, you know, it shows up like this for game day, but here’s training camp. You know, a lot of people haven’t seen what that’s like, haven’t seen, you know, the all the shuttle buses coming in, the people parking in the parking lots, all that stuff. So, I think it’s nice knowing ahead of time to figure out, okay, how can we show this in like an artistic way as well and not just, hey, here’s a camera, here’s a bunch, here’s a big wide shot of a lot of people. Um, let’s find some cool unique ways and whether it’s getting to know some more fans on a more personal level. You know, I’ve got the chance to work with a few of the iconic Bills fans um over the year and more recently. But I think it’s it’s thinking of it like that instead of let’s just be there and just documenting. Let’s let’s try to put a little bit more creative element to it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, one thing fans have worried about at least talking to us like Hard Knocks is coming and if anything happens, you know, maybe even the James Cook situation, whether he’s at camp or he’s practicing or whatever it happens to be, um the way it actually makes it on the air. So, if I have this correct, the team does have a final say. And how does that process work? They do. Um, it’s something we’ll sit down and watch with them and we kind of, you know, we we all know what’s going on. We’ll show them the show and a lot of times because it’s a partnership, we all kind of know what’s going on. There’s conversations that are going on before, after, during. So, nothing we really don’t want anything to be a surprise when we show them the show ultimately on Monday. Um, so it’s not that that much of a challenge. I think it’s more talked about as like a huge concern. And I think from experience being a part of the show I’ve said and on the meetings with coach and GM and PR people with previous teams a lot not a lot has changed. I think it’s certain people are more mindful or certain teams are more mindful of stuff whether it’s you know calls or cadances or things like that. Um and and ultimately we want to do right by the players like we’re we’re not looking to make people look bad and um almost be like a TMZ type show. That’s that’s really not our brand, not our style. So I think it it’s never been an issue uh before, but the team ultimately will sit down and watch with us um usually that Monday morning um before the show goes to air ultimately on Tuesday. So the team watches with you. Is that like Shawn McDermott, Brandon Bean, the Terry Pugula? Is it do teams normally have like a I would say a representative, maybe Pete Gwy, somebody from the team? How does that normally work? And can you tell us how that would work with the Bills? I I don’t know for sure what they want to do yet. Um, I think that all you know that Sean and Brandon will watch in some capacity. It’s it’s kind of different for each team. You know, we’ve sat in I’ve watched stuff with coach and GM in previous years. Other times coach didn’t really watch and he knew his assistant would watch and tell him. So, um, obviously PR is a huge uh, piece in that and huge partnership with everything. But I think it’s still TBD of of who actually will be in there, but I think a lot of people will get eyeballs on it. It really helps in today’s modern world. used to be we get a a deck a hard drive that we have to set up here and that fear of is what I’m plugging in actually going to work real uh now it’s very much you get the links it’s much easier so there’s not as much of a concern but it makes me feel a little older knowing I’ve seen that whole process yeah because you’re really old you too that’s what I got to hear about right we love to make fun of Mike’s veteran experience no for you like when you show the teams something if they were to say hey this we don’t really like like what is the turnaround time for you and your team to edit things and make it different because I would imagine that also adds an element of stress in there a little bit too. Yeah, I mean it’s it’s we’re cutting stuff in real time. I think the we usually try to say we keep it as relevant as we can. It’s a lot different now in the social media world. You kind of have to be um but we try to say you know at a certain point we have to say all right we can’t keep putting stuff in if something happens Tuesday. Really try to avoid putting that in the show just because the logistics get into play. Yeah. The latest we’ve put something in is when Antonio Brown showed up to Raiders camp. I think it was Tuesday morning and that was West Coast time. So that was literally here’s the clip. Here’s the two shots of it. Here’s where it is. Boom. It’s in the end of the show. So we kind of have like a rough eyeball of our cut off time and kind of see what’s going on within the week. Uh, but like games and stuff that’ll play on Sunday night, we will have a whole army of people working through the night to get that logged, edited, get in front of the team to to take a look at, and that’ll be in the the next show. Yeah. One of the things I love about what you all do at Hard Knocks is like you obviously focus on the main characters and I’m sure there will be a lot of talk about, you know, Josh Allen and his off seasonason, what he brings, but I also love how you find some of the kind of un underbelly guys who maybe you don’t hear about the guys trying to make the roster, the training camp darlings. Like what goes into finding those players and how does that kind of evolve for you? like because I feel like everyone obviously has a story that makes it to the NFL, but there’s some really interesting players that you guys have been able to highlight over the seasons. A lot of times like we might have a little bit of an idea, some of that pre-prep research I was talking about. A lot of it’s once we get to camp and whether it’s building a relationship with a guy or you start to gather elements from people that aren’t him, whether it’s players, coaches, meetings where people are talking about him, good, bad, anything where it’s all of a sudden you kind of say, “All right, we have a a segment, we have a pod, we can build off of this guy.” And then I think it’s a lot of times just what players are comfortable with. We’ve found in recent years players obviously are familiar with the show. So they kind of see some of the benefits that they can have from it and are more willing to be open with us um knowing that we’ve we’ve had guys that have been cut and they found that being a part of Hard Knocks helped them get a additional piece. So they wanted us to continue that story. So it’s all different each year. You know again we come in with an idea but I think we see what players kind of pop you know in all different elements um to kind of make them characters. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I think about these moments that have happened in Hard Knocks all the years watching it. Guys involved with the Bills like 7-Eleven, always open, uh, Rex with the snacks, all these guys that ended up here. Are you guys bummed that M. Holland isn’t with the Bills anymore? Yes. Uh, we had Adrien Colbert last year who again was a no-sh on the field guy. Um, so just from that alone, like he was very compelling and an incredible person with our crew and I sounds like Mac would have been the exact same, but he became Adrian last year became friends with almost everybody on our crew pre-practice and everything. So, you always love guys like that and and they certainly are unique like they’re they’re mustd in a lot of ways. So, that leads me to my next question. Are there guys like pushing to be like, “Hey, hey, I I’m a good story here, right? Are they just being friendly?” because we know there’s going to be media people doing that with you guys. Oh yeah, we can make it because everybody wants to be on HBO, but like are can you do you think the players sometimes are like, “Hey, I got a good story here. Come follow me.” You definitely can sense the guys who want the attention. And it’s it’s crazy how it always works that when we know you’re a little too thirsty and want it, we we usually shy away, but ultimately never plays up because they’re like staring right at the camera trying to like make a joke or act and that’s not, you know, they’re not they’re football players, not actors in a lot of ways. So it never comes across as genuine. But we’ve had guys over the years that definitely uh didn’t shy away from the camera. Uh, so that’s that’s that’s really cool. I love Yeah, I can imagine that. It almost you’re like you you want to go to the players that open up to you but in an authentic way. That makes total sense. Are there any spots for you that you’re like being from a being like a Rochester guy that you’re like, “Oo, I want to highlight some of the local spots like like you said the shuttles, but is it like Pittsford Dairy when the team all gets ice cream together?” Is there anything like that kind of that stands out in your head? No question. I think that’s the stuff I want to see like Pittsver Darius and knowing enough I’ve had family members run into Bills players there. So finding ways to say all right let’s highlight some of the places they’re going to be. Um you know I had I put one of my friends to work with giving our crew food recommendations you know and it’s been a bit since I’ve like lived there and seen what’s changed. So for me with our crew I obviously want to show them you know all the positives and stuff within the area and all the new stuff that’s come up that I don’t even know about. But there’s definitely I think just trying to and even highlight the campus. I think just seeing different pieces of the campus and the area. Um even I think some of the B-roll stuff we get at least helps knowing uh some of the areas to go and kind of capture some of that that nice footage. Yeah. I you you seem like a very humble guy. Um your family must be thrilled that you’re going to be back. Like what has that been like kind of their their love and their excitement? Because I can imagine like for you, you know, it’s coming back home and doing a job that so many people are excited about. Like what has that aspect been like? It’s fun. Like it’s I certainly I mean both my mom and my dad I think if they could show up every single day and follow me around they 100% would. Um that has been brought up many times. Um and it’s it’s been fun for my friends I think because they’re all fans of the show. They know what I’ve done for the past few years. So it’s cool in that sense. Um it’s I think going to be figuring out like the work life balance of okay we’re have long days and I want to see them. So figuring out like that right blend. But it’ll be nice to just even cuz I haven’t been at home for a summer. Uh my son was born and I was off that one. But basically I started in Houston. I’ve been going ever since. So I’ll kind of have a bit of a hybrid and you know pop over to a family party or something if I can. Um so I think that’ll be really cool. But it it’s I’m hoping to get them out to camp a few times and then I think friends I’ll put in for tickets. Uh so it’ll be fun to just like be out on a random Wednesday and I see somebody that I haven’t seen in 10 years. I think that’ll be fun. Yeah. Celebrity. Yeah. Exactly. You know what I did want to ask you about? I when I have seen it, even though I’ve been in a lot of training camps going back to Fredonia, there are parts you guys get to that we never would any media person. We don’t get it there. Even the team media people don’t. Um, how does that work? Is that are you guys you’re not in the room with the GM or when they’re having the meetings or are you maybe at times you have the cameras there getting whether it’s an individual conversation or maybe a group setting and then are you watching that in real time when that’s going on? So yeah, we we have a whole um sea of robotic cameras uh that’ll just sit up in the corner and we install we did like a whole scout figure out where logistically we want them and then we they’re all you know human operated so we have somebody that has a big display that have joysticks where they’re controlling them. So that’s that’s where we record those m moments. Um hit or miss if if I’m there listening in real time you know it kind of depends on what we have going on but a lot of times somebody will be sitting there to know kind of what’s going on and how we want to capture it. Um, but that’s I think the the benefit of the show. I feel very lucky to kind of be in places that most people aren’t. I think that’s what we want the show to kind of look like and take you in a place that, you know, a team media or another show might not be able to take you. Um, just to add that unique element to it. You know what I was thinking of is that you’ve had because of the way the rules were, the type of team that was in there, like you know, when you were looking at the quarterbacks, um, usually it’s teams that haven’t had that much success is the way it maps out for this. Josh Allen is, you know, MVP of the league, massive star. Now, I know a lot of times the quarterback becomes a big thing. Is there a way you think you need to not make it too much about Josh? Does that make any sense at all? Because people do know some about him, but the way he is at training camp, you’ll see like he is the happiest guy in the world to be a Fischer. He loves, it seems like he loves every part of it, but he is as big a superstar as you probably would have on a training camp not. No question. I think we’ve had those conversations that not only is with him, but with the team itself. We’ve we probably never could probably say, I guess the Ravens the year after they won the Super Bowl, like the first show, but in in recent memory, they’re by far the best team we’ve had. You know, I think the only equivalent is when we had Aaron Rogers and the Jets and just the caliber of player that he was. Going back and re-watching those shows, I think you see just the sheer football footage we’re able to capture when it’s an elite quarterback, offense, defense. like you’re going to get some incredible plays that I think we we can’t forget about. And some years it’s a quarterback controversy or a battle or you know the receivers are trying to get chemistry. So it’s hit or miss if you get incredible footage every single day. I think we are going to get that every single day. So it’s it’s the balance of letting the person who doesn’t know much about Josh get to see a new side of him, but also saying, “Yeah, this is a team and I think there’s lots of people to highlight. We don’t want to make it, you know, the entire Josh Allen um episode, but he it’ll be a big focal point as as he should be. I’m sure Josh wouldn’t want that either. No, like knowing that type of leader that he is, he wants everyone else to get some shine. But he might say, “Follow me to kill when he gets to off day.” That might when he says that. You know what? I I would say this. I And I really do love I’ve always loved this show. And even though we’re covering training camp, it’s kind of cool to see the other places. It’ll be really fun for us. I think of we’ve been joking about the iconic shots you get and if you guys think of him that we think of the sprinklers going off, right? The players walking in just they it just has that feel. Also, Liv Shriber’s voice Yeah. is now it’s so connected with it. Do you guys think about that or do does is everything like I joke that about the sprinklers, but it feels like you see something like that in in almost every one of your uh of your training camp shows. We definitely keep it in the back of our heads a lot of times. You’ll capture something and you’re like, I don’t know how this makes sense with this, but we’ll write something. It’ll it’ll when it’s said in that voice, anything can seriously it’s great. So that’s a nice it’s almost like a crutch in a way that you have that you can lean on that. Um in terms of shots like we try to you always need those like segue shots and the stuff that doesn’t really mean anything but you know it’s happening and it figure out ways all right if we did this last year how can we make it look different or cooler this year. So for a lot of times I feel like we almost got away from some of the sprinklers because like you’re doing it and now we’re like we haven’t done it in a while maybe there’s a good Yeah. you don’t want to lean away from kind of your bread and butter in a way, but we’re always trying to like almost one up what the the previous year did and what operators always want to try new things and now we have new toys and uh new drones and all the stuff like that that we can say all right let’s make this extra extra awesome. Yeah. Um Pat, we really appreciate your time. Just a couple more questions and I know you just talked about the new toys like for the people who are watching at home like what is the size of the crew? How many cameras? like if if you know kind of the details of like the behind the scenes because I think people are also really interested in how you do capture this part of of the preseason. Yeah. So we our crew will be about 35 people um all different variations from you know production coordinators to camera assistants, PAs, everybody. So we’ll have in terms of practice we have uh about eight cameras that’ll be on the field in some capacity. Um, you know, we have crews that’ll have camera and audio paired up together, usually doing a lot of our wires, and we’ll have, you know, a top camera, an endzone camera, an action camera. So, we always say it’s it comes out between that, the meetings, the robotic cameras. It’s usually about 300 hours of footage we shoot for every one hour that makes air. Oh my gosh. So, and then I say that 35 is on-site, I would say. I mean, I don’t even know if we’re we’re getting into the 100 to 200 people back here in terms of all the different audio, visual loggers, you know, people actually putting the show together. There’s a whole army back at NFL Films um in Mount Laurel that basically get all that footage ingested in. We do a very diligent job logging everything. So, you can search for that shot of Josh’s touchdown to Coleman from week one, uh, that you want to put in to do as a flashback, whatever it is. So, it’s it’s it’s a big big lift, big effort by far. One of the busiest projects we have. Um, it used to be the busiest and then we decided to do hard knocks of 14 season. So, that kind of trumped everything there. Um, but it is I mean it’s it really does take an army and I think it’s it amazes me every time we sometimes shows out and shoot a game Sunday night and somehow it’s airing in the show on Tuesday. I Yeah, as someone who does a little like we obviously shoot our own stuff. I just can’t imagine. I mean it’s the video in itself is incredible but then just the amount that you have and the precision in which you edit it with it is really impressive. I think my last question is just like with the fact that the players, you know, are staying in the dorms and that much more I would imagine contentwise because you have the interactions that they have and and normally speaking when some guys would be back at home or whatever. Like how do you look at that because there is I’m sure just so much of an angle you can take with just the camaraderie aspect in a way that’s you know a little bit different than most other NFL training camps. Yeah, I think I think culture is a big thing that helps being a Bills fan. Knowing that’s a big importance to them. Every team says it, I think they really lean into it. So, we want to convey that as much as we can and knowing that the easiest way to do that is is seeing what it’s like to go away to a college campus. I think from what I think Brandon Bean said in a meeting that only like eight or nine teams do that. So, it’s pretty unique. It’s been a while since we’ve had this. So, I think that’s one thing we’re that’s different about this camp. We want to lean into it a little bit to say this is this is kind of how this team built this culture by going away for a little bit and and figuring out some of the organic ways of what that means to the average person and it’s not all on the football field. It’s different pods away, you know, a meeting here, sitting on the quad there, you know, all that different stuff. I think we want to be as many places as we can to kind of capture all that camaraderie that’s that’s building. All right. And last thing for me, we talked about having a team like the Bills in it. I don’t know all trivia from Hard Knocks, but I don’t believe, have you ever had a team win the Super Bowl when they’ve been on Hard Knocks that year? I don’t believe so. It kind of stems back to what you said of uh the circumstances previously, but we’re due. So, if it happens with your bills, they’re going to all be lining up to be on Hard Knocks. You won’t have to worry about it. Like, everybody’s going to say, “Call us next.” Right. That’s the hope. I I pray that that is the case for all all of you. It’s a good personal uh work. It would be the best of both worlds. Um but let’s let’s hope we’re trending in that way. Awesome. Pat, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Pat Harris, senior director, Hard Knox, Penfield native, coming to Western New York for Bill’s training camp at Fiser this summer. Pat, thank you so much for your time. Awesome. Thank you guys. Enjoyed doing it. Thank you. That was awesome. I feel I feel bad. I think we maybe took up more time than I just I could have asked two billion questions, honestly. Yeah. And there are individual questions, but I do think the main thing, the way he said it was like they don’t want to go in there going, “We’re going to do a story on this guy. We’re going to see how it plays out. They want to see how the players interact.” Now, they’ll know some stuff. They may have an idea of some young player. Might be Maxwell Haristston. He’s number one pick, but that’s kind of obvious. in a way, unless there’s something about it. That’s what the thing they have in this show is they’re going to get Josh Allen. They’re going to get Shawn McDermott. They’re going to get those things. They can pick people and say, “No, this is this is the guy I like for this.” It’d be easy to say, “Just pick the best players.” I think they can always talk to the best players, but I think they they’re going to find those other things. And be ready fans if you’re at camp because, you know, those cameras are going to be out. I feel like Bills fans always bring it. Yeah. like with the signs or whatever, but I think it’s going to be fever pitch this season with all the cameras. I did think it’s cool like a lot of cameras. I was just about to say that. You didn’t interrupt me, but you read my mind. Sort of did. I just I just sort of It was like merging traffic there. Say we’re just falling. It’s Yeah, it’s everything’s normal. No, I will say I think it’s just going to be so cool. And to have a guy like Pat being from here is just to me it’s like next level cool. So he’s from Penfield, which when you’re at training camp and where we are, he’s it’s right down the road. Like he’s it’s close to Pittsver, it’s Rochester is where it is. And you know, we asked him beforehand like, “Are you” and he’s like, “Oh yeah, Bills fan.” Yeah. And went to games. Dad had season tickets. Like they’re all in. And he’s excited that everybody knows because he’s this is the Bills that he’s covering. So it’s cool. Like he we’ve all been in this spot, too. There’s there’s being wanting a team to do well. There’s people who are fans, but when it’s work, like and this guy’s going to be busy. Oh, yeah. Like this is 300 hours for every one hour shot that they put on. Yeah. That’s an insane amount of like raw footage to go through. And it is they have a team of people, but there still has to be a vision from the main idea. and they and they got to do all this and then get it approved. I shouldn’t even say approved. I don’t think it’s like no, yes, no. Can you, you know, I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s the team looks at it and says we don’t like that part. Can you take that out? I don’t think it’s contentious. Like they’re not going to be yell because if the team says take that out, they’re going to take it out. I I think these guys know enough. I think it’s more collaborative. Yes. and they just want to make sure somebody doesn’t come across not authentic to, you know, maybe, you know, there’s certain things they don’t like. They don’t like fights. Yeah. If there’s a fight at camp, they may go, “Can you cut that down a little bit? You can show a few seconds of it. We don’t need 40 seconds of the guys swinging at each other.” Those kind of things like the things they restrict us from doing. Yes. At least we’ll get Yeah, we’ll get to see them on film that they do. And I’m I cannot wait to see the stuff. Oh, no. Absolutely. And we our plan is to do a recap of each episode on the Buffalo Plus show. Makes sense. Yeah. I didn’t know that was our plan, but I think we talked about it before. Maybe we talked about I was a little busy. Say I don’t. But I mean, it makes total sense. Yeah. Why not? Because we’re going to be like, “Oh, cuz we’re there the entire time, but we don’t see this stuff.” No, some of the stuff some of the access is they are in the building. They are in they’re in the damn building. Well, they do have NFL in their name. That’s fair. NFL Films, which is awesome. Like NFL Films does a Yeah, tremendous work. So, I just And probably some spotlight on Pitts for Dair. Yes. Love that. Yeah. I’m excited. I’m so excited. This is so cool. It’ll be fun. I think it’ll be fun. Now, and hold on one thing. you met me, we had talked about it in our interview, but like the Bills are an excellent team and Hard Knox is getting to cover them. A lot of people are like, “Oh, the curse of Hard Knocks.” It’s like Hard Knocks has traditionally covered the teams that obviously by nature were struggling. Yeah. Whereas this is a totally different franchise. And even the players like, yes, he’s right. It was Aaron Rogers, but it’s like this version of Aaron Rogers at at the at the end. He’s still a starting quarterback, but he’s at the end of his career where you get Josh Allen, prime MVP, superstar. More commercials. I I bought that sleep aid. Did you really? I did. I did. It didn’t do anything. But also, I took it the night before. I took it the night before the wedding. Oh, for God’s sakes. That’s the night you tried it. That’s why I feel like I need to give it another Are you going to tell Josh it didn’t work? I was a little anxious that night. Not anxious, but like excited. Okay. But yeah, I did buy it. This would be something I want to ask you though. My daughters were telling me what, Carly, about spraying is it lavender? Magnesium. Yeah. Oh, magnesium or lavender on your feet? Oh, I I don’t know. I’m allergic to lavender, so I don’t do that. But who’s allergic to lavender? I don’t know. I get like a rash on my like wherever. Yeah. So, they were telling about that. Also, hold on. Funny story about that. It just irritates my skin. And for the longest time, my mom would buy like soap for the bathrooms. Always lavender. I was like, “Mom, I told you that it bothers my skin.” She’s like, “It’s fine.” Val didn’t care. Uh, so Josh’s stuff doesn’t work is what you’re saying. I did not say that. I tried it once and it did not work. But it was probably because I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. And he’s doing the Snickers stuff now. Oh, I didn’t see. He’s a Snickers guy. Yes. Really? Yes. That actually is. No, I’m more of a Twix person now. Actually, I the Snickers used to be my favorite for a long with Josh. You’re now 0 for two on what he’s And I do not believe you own a car from West Her. West her. No, but I would be interested. Wester. My lease is coming up so might need to check them out. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know. I You know, this might go out on a limb, but I don’t think I’m going to tell Josh that I didn’t have success. Yeah. Yeah. I think I’ll probably keep that close to the vest. So that product for Josh, that product is successful when the check clears. That’s like the old saying about a surgery. It was an old Bill Walton line. Well, you know it’s successful surgery when the doctor gets paid. So in his case, Josh is like, “Oh yeah, this stuff is great. I’m going to try it again. I’ll give a maybe on the non night before your wedding.” Afterwards, I was like, “That was probably pretty stupid. I just What if they knocked you out the whole day?” You’re like drowsing my I can’t already keep my eyelids. You read you read the directions, you’re like, “Oh, I took way too much of this stuff.” Honestly, they were really tasty. I will say you’re supposed to only have one and I take two cuz And it still didn’t knock you out. No. But again, I think I was just so excited. Okay. It was Yeah. So, it works great unless you’re excited. Unless you’re getting married the next day. No, I will I will give an updated review. But very tasty. I got the Well, that’s good. It’s always what you want first. For me, it’s always the food. Okay. All right. This went This went sideways. I can’t say I’m shocked, but All right. We’ll save credit to me for next week when Dan is back. Yeah. When Dan is back, which is good because I did not prepare a a credit to me. Yeah. Well, it’s been a lot about you anyhow. Yeah. That’s way too much about me. Truly, there’s that. Okay. All right. Thank you so much for joining us here on the Buffalo Plus YouTube channel for my Catalana and Dan Fates who’s enjoying vacation. I am Jenna Katrrol. Please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and share. We will catch you next time here on the Buffalo Plus channel presented by Connors and Ferris. [Music] This is the Buffalo Plus podcast brought to you by Connors and Ferris.

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Pat Harris, Senior Director of Hard Knocks, lifelong Bills fan, and proud Western New York native, joins the Buffalo Plus Podcast to share behind-the-scenes insight on the show’s upcoming trip to Rochester.

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