Hopefully the Steelers remain ineligible for HBO’s Hard Knocks

There are two lines of thought when it comes to the HBO reality series “Hard Knocks”.

• It’s a distraction for the NFL team who is chosen
• But it’s really awesome to have those behind-the-scenes looks at the team

Even if you aren’t a fan of the team which has been chosen, watching almost seems mandatory for fans of the NFL. However, the distraction piece of the discussion always dominates any type of conversation.

Wednesday the NFL announced the New York Jets would be the team featured on Hard Knocks this season. It wasn’t like the Jets were raising their hands to be the team on Hard Knocks, instead the NFL forced them into it.

One thing people seem to forget is the league has set forth criteria for a team to be featured on the HBO show. Here the criteria for teams who can NOT be selected:

• They have a first-year head coach in place.
• They have a playoff berth in the past two seasons.
• They have appeared on “Hard Knocks” in the past 10 years.

When you look at those criteria, if the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t make the playoffs in 2023, they would be eligible to be on the show. And don’t think for a second the NFL would hesitate to name them the team to be featured. The NFL would love a global brand like the Steelers to be on the show, and HBO would jump at the opportunity.

Luckily for the Steelers, all they have to do is punch their ticket to the playoffs to keep their name off the list of teams who could be featured in the reality show.

But what would you like? Would you want to see the Steelers with cameras everywhere, getting that behind-the-scenes look, or would you rather them not? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!