HBO Hard Knocks: Dolphins Will Benefit from Less Drama on Reality Show

Thanks to the Chad Johnson saga that played out on Hard Knocks last week, the bar has been set incredibly high for the Miami Dolphins this week. Fortunately, there is no such drama that requires immediate attention. 

The Dolphins were always an interesting choice for the HBO show just because they didn't have the kind of charismatic individuals like the New York Jets, nor were they a team that had a strong following even in their own state. 

Leave it to the television cameras to bring out the drama in Miami, but there are certain times when that is a bad thing. For a franchise like the Dolphins, which hasn't had a winning season since 2008 and does not have many superstars, having something like Johnson being released was not what anyone needed. 

By comparison, the most exciting thing that we could see this week is Ryan Tannehill being named the starting quarterback for the team's season opener on September 9 against Houston. 

That is hardly the most riveting way to follow up a player being released on national television, but the Dolphins don't need anymore big stories to follow them around this preseason. 

The Johnson situation went well beyond anything that happens on a football field. Now that the Dolphins have gotten rid of that headache, they can focus on just building their team for the 2012 season. 

For a franchise that is trying to rebuild in so many ways, the Dolphins need to keep things light and geared towards the start of the season. These are important days for this franchise as it tries to figure out who it is where it stands and where it wants to go. 

Stability and leadership are two things this franchise desperately needs right now. HBO is doing its best to chronicle the Dolphins' journey toward respectability this preseason, but there are certain ways for this franchise to get there without needing to steal headlines to do it. 

For their own sake, hopefully, the Dolphins remain drama-free for the rest of the preseason. We certainly don't expect much to happen on tonight's episode of Hard Knocks. 

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