The camera loves the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, and Cleveland Browns. TV crews are in each building right now as Hard Knocks films its in-season documentary. For the first time ever, it’s featuring a division instead of just one team. While that poses a challenge, Mike Tomlin is treating it just like the teams on their schedule. An obstacle to overcome.
“To me it’s something to conquer, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said Tuesday via the team’s YouTube channel. “We have to deal with it better than the other three teams. That’s how I view a lot of things that come across my plate. Particularly when others have to deal with it. I’m less concerned about the inconvenience of it and more concerned about are we positioning ourselves to perform under those conditions better than those that we compete against?”
The AFC North was chosen because of its close and competitive nature. Last year, it became the first division since World War II to feature each team finishing above .500 though only the Ravens and Steelers advanced to the postseason. Expected to again be the league’s premier division in 2024, the group has underwhelmed. Pittsburgh has been a surprise relative to national expectations and Baltimore remains one of the AFC’s top clubs. But Cincinnati is 4-7 and needs to run the table to have playoff hopes while Cleveland’s win over Pittsburgh last Thursday will be its high point of the season.
The Steelers have never liked the idea of Hard Knocks. Not Tomlin and not ownership, the Steelers managing to avoid the camera crews mainly because their consistency and playoff appearances reset the clock on when a team is exempt from being chosen. They were eligible in 2020 but not chosen.
Misery loves company and Tomlin’s perspective is if he has to deal with the cameras, so does everyone else he’s battling against.
“It’s our agenda to do so better than the other three teams,” he said.
On the field, the Steelers are seeing nothing but those other three teams. They’re halfway through four-straight games against the AFC North, beating the Ravens before losing to the Browns. Pittsburgh will play the Cincinnati Bengals for the first time Sunday afternoon before hosting its rematch against Cleveland in Week 14. After a one-week “break” against the red-hot Philadelphia Eagles, the Steelers will go to Baltimore in Week 16 before facing Cincinnati at home in the regular-season finale.
The first Hard Knocks trailer dropped last week with the first full episode airing Dec. 3.
