It appears that Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers will not be spotlighted on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” this year.
The team was eligible to appear on the annual late-summer football series, but that honor will be shared by the two Los Angeles franchises. That is, of course, is if the season proceeds on schedule.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Tuesday that NFL Films plans a first for the show: two teams in the same city, the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers.
Schefter quotes a source who told him that it would “be special to figure out the creative for a ‘supersized’ series this summer.”
Both teams are scheduled to move into the new SoFi Stadium this season. The Rams were on the show in 2016. The Chargers have never been on the show.
The parameters to be on the show — the team not having a first-year head coach, missing the playoffs the past two seasons and not having been featured on the show in a decade — seem to be off the table, as both teams made the playoffs in 2018.
At his season-ending news conference in December, Tomlin laughed when questioned about being asked to appear on the show.
“Asked?” Tomlin said, grinning out of the corner of his mouth while cocking his head sideways.
The Steelers have never appeared on the show.
Last year’s series featured the Oakland Raiders and newly acquired wide receiver Antonio Brown, who was kicked off the team before the start of the season.
