“Hard Knocks” is coming to Miami, and Xavien Howard isn’t happy about it.
The Dolphins cornerback didn’t hide how he felt when asked about his team being documented by HBO’s film crew during the regular season. The show — which documented the Jets earlier this year but only during the preseason — will begin following the Dolphins after their Nov. 5 game against the Chiefs in Germany.
“‘Hard Knocks’ is bullshit, especially during the season,” Howard said, via The Palm Beach Post. “No, I’m serious. I’m not a fan.”
Howard, who didn’t like the timing of the news (it came after the Dolphins lost, 31-17, to the Eagles on Sunday night), feels the show will create an unneeded distraction for the Dolphins, who are currently 5-2 and atop the AFC East division standings. He also doesn’t think Miami has done anything to warrant such attention.
“I feel like being around cameras and stuff like that — I feel like we’ve got to do better,” he said. “We’ve got to beat teams with good records. So I feel like before we get all the little fame that’s coming right now, I feel like we’ve got to put in work.”
Several other players had similar responses when asked about the situation. A general worry amongst the players was that things won’t be the same once cameras are inside the facility.
“It’s impossible not to feel a camera in front of you, right?” said wideout Braxton Berrios. “The thing is we want to make it as organic as possible. We want to make our building as normal as possible. So obviously there’s a fine line. … We’re not here for a TV show. We’re here to win games.”
When asked about “Hard Knocks,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said he prefers to go about his work in a private manner. He added the team will have to figure out how to adjust to the cameras.
“This isn’t something that’s for me. This is something for the entire team and the entire team has to figure out how they go about that as well,” Tagovailoa said. “So I know having conversations with some guys in the locker room that for them, it’s going to be tough as well.”
Head coach Mike McDaniel acknowledged that “Hard Knocks” could be a possible distraction, but he doesn’t expect it to create a negative situation. He’s also confident any sort of issues that arise between the team and the production team will be worked out before it goes to air.
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The Dolphins will be the third team to be showcased on “Hard Knocks” during the regular season, following the Colts (2021) and Cardinals (2022). After a 9-6 start, the Colts failed to quality for the playoffs that season after losing their final two games. Last year’s Cardinals squad started 3-4 before losing nine of their final 10 games.
Arizona’s 2015 team, however, had success despite cameras being inside the facility during the regular season. The first team to allow cameras to document an entire regular season as the subject of the first season of “All of Nothing”, Bruce Arians’ team went all the way to the NFC Championship Game before falling to the Carolina Panthers.
