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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers, along with the rest of the AFC North, will be featured on the in-season version of Hard Knocks, which will only make the second half of their schedule even more difficult than it already is.
Extra camera crews have already started getting a behind-the-scenes look, but head coach Mike Tomlin isn’t letting the team use that as an excuse.
“To me, it’s something to conquer, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “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 deal with it. I’m less concerned with 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 Steelers seem to have handled the extra distractions quite well thus far as they currently sit atop the AFC North at 8-3, followed by the Baltimore Ravens (8-4), Cincinnati Bengals (4-7) and Cleveland Browns (3-8).
That doesn’t mean players are happy to have Hard Knocks peaking behind their closed doors, though. Several players, such as defensive tackle Cameron Heyward and long snapper Christian Kuntz, have been dreading this time of year since the summer.
RELATED: Cam Heyward Dreads Upcoming Hard Knocks: ‘I Hated it, I Don’t Wanna Be on This’
The Steelers must find a way to continue shutting out the extra noise, nonetheless. They have their third straight divisional game in Week 13 with a matchup against the Bengals.
Cincinnati isn’t having the season it likely imagined, but Tomlin isn’t overlooking its talented roster.
“If you look at the tape, (Joe Burrow) is MVP-caliber, in terms of what he’s doing for them,” Tomlin said. “It’s a 60-minute game. I think that’s reflected in watching them play. I think often times you see teams are capable of slowing him or slowing them down at the early portions of the game, but in the fourth quarter, he and they are coming on like gangbusters.”
The Browns haven’t had the season they likely imagined, either, and the Steelers fell to them 24-19 in Week 12. Tomlin knows they must stay locked in to avoid losing back-to-back divisional games.
“It’s something everyone in the AFC North has to deal with,” Tomlin said. “So it’s our agenda to do so better than the other three teams.”
The first episode of in-season Hard Knocks premieres December 3 on HBO Max.
Alan Saunders provided reporting from Pittsburgh.
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