Tim Benz: Ignore presumptions to the contrary, Mike Tomlin and Steelers will be in the ‘Hard Knocks’ spotlight

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As soon as it was announced that the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to be part of an all-AFC North season edition of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” a wave of predictable responses emerged.

“Uh, oh!” Mike Tomlin is going to hate this! All these extra cameras following him and his team are going to drive him crazy.

Of course, Tomlin laid the groundwork for everyone to assume his disdain for the “behind the scenes/all-access” HBO show after the 2019 season. That’s when the Steelers qualified for be the subject after a second consecutive non-playoff campaign.

A reporter asked Tomlin if he planned to be the team’s featured team in 2020 training camp during his 2019 end-of-season press conference.

“I don’t,” Tomlin replied.

What if HBO and the league asked for it, Mike?

“Request?” Tomlin deadpans.

Turns out no one asked after all.

But come on. Who are we kidding? When has the national media ever made Tomlin look bad before?

Never.

The show is scheduled to begin airing on December 3. Presumably, this means teams are likely starting the coverage timeline with the slate of AFC North games from the previous week. For the Steelers, it will be in Cincinnati for Game 12 of their regular season.

The Steelers might come into this game 0-11, and the HBO team is still going to make Tomlin look like a star. The editorial team will highlight every Tomlinism, focus on every motivational speech, zoom in on every emphatic emotional response, include every quiet man-to-man moment with a young player who made a mistake on the sideline and s be sure to include Every tough, tough, hard-jawed coach succinctly answers a press conference question he doesn’t like.

Tomlin will be happy about it.

Of course, there will be a few extra annoying cameras around the facility. Big deal.

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Even if Russell Wilson’s experiment were to backfire, the team goes into the tank, and Tomlin’s heralded “never had a losing season” streak is about to end, the team HBO will sanitize, support, position and make Tomlin the national star. they still want him to be for the duration of this series.

And, dare I say it, what if the Steelers were actually good?

What if the Steelers were 8-3 heading into this series? Tomlin’s fanboy sidekick routine is going to be unbearable. The HBO team is going to have Tomlin cast as Vince Lombardi, dipped into John Wooden, and rolled into Casey Stengel by the end of the series. You’ll think this guy invented football.

I mean, we’ve seen NFL Films sculpt Tomlin’s image on hot mic shows a million times before. Do you really think this “Hard Knocks” experience is going to be any different? Winning record or not?

Here are some other things you can expect to see during the show:

• At least one strangely unwatchable, but impossible to turn off, “Mr. Unlimited» kind of moment from Wilson.

• A minimum of two…no…three pushes from George Pickens on the sideline because he didn’t recover the ball enough.

• Week 1 opening sequence including shots of the Slope, Point Fountain, Rooney Statue, Primantis and Yinzer Pope.

• Weekly tight shots of a radio’s digital display in a moving car with audio of callers on the Steeler Radio Network postgame show ripping into new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

• If Cam Heyward has a new contract by then, several clips of him saying he would never leave Pittsburgh and would have retired if he didn’t get a new contract.

• If Heyward doesn’t have a new deal in place by then, multiple clips of him saying he doesn’t want to leave Pittsburgh, but will if it means having to sign a deal elsewhere.

• Najee Harris being fun, affable and engaging behind the scenes and off-camera on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

• A brutal montage and the cameras go off before Najee Harris is invited to speak with local media.

• An in-depth feature on Joey Porter Jr./Joey Porter Sr..

• Lots of Danny Smith gum cuts.

• Patrick Queen as a featured player heading into the Dec. 21 game against the Ravens.

• Various appearances from alumni Jerome Bettis, Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu and more.

• A still shot of the “The Standard is the Standard” sign…presented without irony, I’m sure.

• TJ Watt often looks bored and bothered by all the extra cameras going around all the time.

• Long montages of Watt welcoming all his brothers and their families for Christmas, before the Chiefs game.

• Over/under 16.5 minutes of Taylor Swift iso-cam footage from this match.

Good viewing to all.

If the first three weeks of December this year go like they did for the Steelers last year, the “Hard Knocks” will be a lot more enjoyable than the games themselves.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets may be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise noted.





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