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From one perspective, that may have been made worse.
Owners approved a measure Tuesday that would allow the league to choose the focus of HBO's award-winning series Hard Knocks, with a few exceptions:
- Teams with new coaches (assuming it means new head coaches)
- Those that reached the playoffs in one of the previous two seasons
- Those that appeared on "Hard Knocks" within the preceding 10 years.
The Steelers missed the playoffs in 2012, and assuming they are committed to head coach Mike Tomlin, a second straight season without January football would put them in the show's crosshairs - something that fits the traditional franchise as naturally as Warren Sapp promoting weight loss.
It's almost like a natural way to ensure teams don't tank the season for draft picks. Making the playoffs ensures you a two-year break from being featured in the yearly circus of cameras and added opportunity for players to look like jackasses in front of a captivated audience.
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- Thomas to receive more playing time with the Steelers base defense
- NFL Week 6 Power Rankings
- NFL 2014 Mock Draft: Steelers fill a hole
- Report: No pick involved in Levi Brown trade
- Brown says Todd Haley 'isn't necessarily in my corner'
- Autopsy of Mike Webster 'one of the most significant moments in the history of sports'
- Ryan Clark thinks Steelers will make the playoffs
- Steelers Injury Report: Markus Wheaton out for Week 6 vs. Jets
- Increasing snap count of Cameron Heyward may jolt sluggish defense to life
- Le'Veon Bell begins the first week of the start of his career