Hard Knocks 2012: Dolphins' Season Proves It's Still Nothing but a Distraction

Hard Knocks is awesome for the fans. It's fun to see what professional teams are like behind the scenes, before the pressure is on, when their identities have yet to be formed and all the players are giving everything they have in order to keep their jobs.

It gives us a backstage glimpse that we'd never get otherwise, but this season—when the HBO series chronicled the Miami Dolphins—was just another indication that when a team has been in a perpetual state of struggle for the better part of the last eight years, it's not a good idea to give that team a reality TV show.

Well, it's a good idea for us, the people who like to watch the drama unfold. But these players, and these coaches, have plenty to focus on that doesn't involve a camera crew and the necessity to watch everything they say and do to make sure it won't come off the wrong way on TV.

The Dolphins need a winning season more than they need the attention that comes from Hard Knocks. They need a good draft and a quarterback that can lead this team for the discernible future and a defense that finishes the season better than 15th in the league.

Once they have some, if not all, of those things, they can focus on making good TV. But starring on Hard Knocks and then proceeding to miss the playoffs kind of makes you wonder why some of these teams even bother in the first place.

Of course, we don't know yet that the Dolphins are going to miss the playoffs. But given their preseason performance, it doesn't look good, especially in the AFC East. Making the playoffs should be the priority, not making Hard Knocks. 

Some of the most recent Hard Knocks teams have done well in the aftermath of the show. In 2010, post-Hard Knocks, the Jets went 11-5 and made the playoffs. In 2009, the Bengals went 10-6 and also made the playoffs.

But rumors swirled this summer that the Jets were being courted to star in the show once again, and if the rumors were true, New York made the best decision of its season by saying no. Seeing Tim Tebow and Mark Sanchez battle it out in documentary form would have been awesome for the fans to see, but it was the absolute last thing the two of them needed.

There was too much at stake for the Jets this summer. They knew they couldn't afford to have the Hard Knocks cameras around. 

The Dolphins should have made a similar decision. They went 6-10 last season and had losing records in the two seasons prior. They have a rookie quarterback whom they let embarrass himself on TV (see below). And to top it all off, they went 0-4 in the exhibition schedule.

There are some coaches out there who want nothing to do with Hard Knocks. They think it's an unnecessary distraction and they'd rather focus on gearing up for the season than being on TV.

John Gruden was one of those coaches. He told the Journal Sentinel's Bob Wolfley:

"

We were offered opportunities to be on that show when I was a coach. I have always been old school. I believe what happens in the locker room, stays in the locker room. Personnel conversations, what goes on on the field, is just nobody’s business. It’s just the world I come from. Hard Knocks is a great show, it’s tremendously entertaining, but it’s not for me.

"

And that's just it: Hard Knocks is definitely entertaining. It's just rare that something like Hard Knocks could ever do more good than harm.