FAB 2. A HARD KNOCKS LIFE IN TAMPA BAY?
Although nothing has been confirmed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by the NFL regarding their possible selection as this year’s team for HBO’ Hard Knocks training camp mini-series, several sources at One Buc Place told me this week that the team is expecting to be chosen.

Some at One Buccaneer Place are bracing for Hard Knocks, while others are ready to embrace it if it happens. An announcement by the league is expected any day.

I took a polled a small sample of current and former Bucs to get their take on the likelihood that Tampa Bay’s training camp is going to be televised around the world for all to see what happens in the Bucs’ locker room, in the position meeting rooms and in the office of Bucs general manager Jason Licht when the roster cuts come down.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

There was definitely a mixed reaction.

I asked the Bucs’ current elder statesman, right tackle Demar Dotson, who has been on Tampa Bay’s roster since 2009, what he thought about a possible invasion of HBO cameras for Hard Knocks.

“Scott, you know me – I’m old school,” Dotson said. “Keep the cameras away. Because when you start putting cameras in guys’ faces they start acting a different way. They start doing things they kind of wouldn’t do just to get in the spotlight. I know it’s something the league mandates for certain teams. For me, if it were my choice, I wouldn’t do it.

“But if we get it, we need to make the most of it so it isn’t bad for us. I don’t know. I’ve never been on Hard Knocks. I never thought I would be on there and never paid much attention to it. I just hope it doesn’t bring a distraction to this football team because we’re this close from getting over the hump. We don’t need something that’s a distraction and keeping guys from being focused on the big picture at hand, and that’s to win a championship.”

Bucs Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp took it a step further.

“It’s a terrible idea,” Sapp said. “They’re going to have cameras following around our franchise quarterback? That’s all they’ve got. We finally have a franchise quarterback. First we had Doug, and then we had Brad Johnson, who was one because of the Super Bowl. But we finally have a real franchise quarterback in the kid (Jameis Winston) and they’re going to be following him around all camp? You don’t do that with a young guy.

“I don’t know why they would want it. They’re a young team. I don’t know if they have the right guys that could handle it without it being a distraction. Why don’t they go to New England? Make the hoodie (Patriots head coach Bill Belichick) do one. That’s what everybody wants to see. Nothing gets out of the Patriots. Pull back the curtain. If I was a coach I’d say, ‘Do them first and then I’ll consider it.’”

Ex-Bucs DT Warren Sapp & GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Not only does Sapp not like the idea of Hard Knocks possibly becoming a distraction for this young Buccaneers team, he also didn’t think the current cast of characters in Tampa Bay would make for good TV.

“Where’s the entertainment value?” Sapp said. “There is no dominant personality. When Baltimore was on they had Shannon Sharpe, who could carry the show. When Baltimore did it you didn’t even see any young guys. It was all veterans who could handle it.”

When I threw out Gerald McCoy’s name, Sapp didn’t budge.

“I love him, that’s my guy, but he’s so Oklahoma,” Sapp said. “What’s he going to do, smile? What’s he going to say? They had an ass-kicker [in me]. When I was there they wanted a nice guy that could smile and sign autographs. Then they finally got a nice guy who could smile and sign autographs … and now they say they need an ass-kicker. Come on, man.

“Who else they got? DeSean [Jackson]? A fast old guy who is a one-trick pony? Mike [Evans]? He doesn’t say much and drops passes, although he’s getting better catching the ball. They just don’t have the right guys for a show like that.”

Sapp’s former teammate, legendary defensive end Simeon Rice, said he would watch it.

“They finally got around to us, huh?” Rice said. “Would I watch it? I would probably watch it. It would interest me. It’s like watching family on TV. Even those guys are younger guys from a different generation Tampa is where I once played. You see what type of unique conversations come up and how those guys handle it.

“Those are the things that our generation – guys like Ronde Barber and I, guys trying to get in the Hall of Fame – missed out on. Selections for things like Hard Knocks are things that Ronde and I could have been helped by to get our name out on a bigger media stage.”

The younger generation of Buccaneers seem much more open to it.

Bucs LG Kevin Pamphile – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“That’s a tough thing because for me as a person I’ve never enjoyed the spotlight or the attention,” Bucs left guard Kevin Pamphile said. “For me, Hard Knocks is something I would never want for training camp. For me, training camp is geared all about football. I don’t want any outside distractions. I want to make sure I’m focused on my technique and getting better every day.”

Pamphile knows it’s not up to him, though. If the Bucs were picked he acknowledges there would be some positives to being on HBO in August.

“The good thing about it is it’s for the fans because it gives the fans a unique look at us,” Pamphile said. “Nobody knows what goes on day in and day out in the locker room or in meeting rooms. I know we’ve been a hot commodity the last couple of seasons with Jameis and Mike Evans. I don’t know. I’m leaning towards no, I wouldn’t want it, but I don’t have the say-so. It would be cool I guess. Guys have gone through it before. It would be something to go through it at least once to see how it turns out.”

Tampa Bay middle linebacker Kwon Alexander, who was recently snubbed for the Pro Bowl this year after leading the NFL in solo tackles (he was a Pro Bowl alternate), would love the opportunity for the Bucs to be on Hard Knocks.

“It’s something I would embrace because I feel like we don’t get enough publicity anyways,” Alexander said. “I feel like everybody needs to get their face out. We have a lot of great players on our team that don’t get seen. That show could put us out there a little more and show the world how we grind and how we get to it.”

Alexander doesn’t think the Bucs would be distracted by the training camp intrusion of the Hard Knocks cameras and microphones.

“I don’t think our guys on our team would do that,” Alexander said. “We wouldn’t change for a camera. We’ve been playing ball all of our lives. It’s not like we’re making a movie and playing roles. It’s just going to be doing our thing on film.”

Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

The one thing all of the current Bucs players could agree on was the fact that head coach Dirk Koetter and defensive coordinator Mike Smith went through Hard Knocks together in 2014 when Smith was the head coach in Atlanta and Koetter was his offensive coordinator.

“Oh yeah, it does help,” Pamphile said. “I don’t know how many of our guys have gone through Hard Knocks – maybe one or two guys? It would be a different experience because we’re such a young team.

“It will be interesting to see which guys can handle being in the spotlight for that period of time with cameras around. You don’t want to make the wrong impression. Hopefully Dirk will have the right game plan for us to go about things if we get chosen.”

If selected, the players trust Koetter to help navigate a training camp full of extra attention.

“I don’t know what Dirk’s approach would be to it, but if I know Dirk he’ll do everything in his power to not let it be a distraction for us,” Dotson said. “The cameras will be out there, but we have to come to work and practice the same way. We’re a young team in a way and you’re going to see some stuff that people are going to try to do to get on camera.”

Part of the reason Alexander is so enthusiastic about the prospects of doing Hard Knocks is because Koetter, Smith and other Bucs coaches like defensive line coach Jay Hayes (Cincinnati 2009, ’13) defensive backs coach Brett Maxie (Dallas 2008) and assistant wide receivers coach Andrew Weidinger (Atlanta 2014) have previous experience with it.

“They’ve been through it before so they would tell us about it,” Alexander said. “I feel like it would be fun. We would get to see each other on TV and it would be a great thing to do.”

Teams that participate in Hard Knocks doesn’t have a great track record of making the playoffs, which is something Tampa Bay is expected to make in 2017 after missing the postseason by one game with a 9-7 finish.

NFL Teams’ Records On HBO’s Hard Knocks
2001 – Baltimore Ravens – 10-6 and made the playoffs
2002 – Dallas Cowboys – 5-11 and no playoffs
2003 – Kansas City Chiefs – 4-12 and no playoffs
2008 – Dallas Cowboys – 9-7 and no playoffs
2009 – Cincinnati Bengals – 10-6 and made the playoffs
2010 – New York Jets – 11-5 and made the playoffs
2012 – Miami Dolphins – 7-9 and no playoffs
2013 – Cincinnati Bengals – 11-5 and made the playoffs
2014 – Atlanta Falcons – 6-10 and no playoffs
2015 – Houston Texans – 9-7 and made the playoffs
2016 – Los Angeles Rams – 4-12 and no playoffs

Total record of Hard Knocks teams: 86-90
Total playoff appearances: 5
Total playoff wins: 3

Bucs RT Demar Dotson and DE Jacquies Smith – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There are some sobering facts about Hard Knocks teams that may discourage some Tampa Bay fans. Only two Hard Knocks team has made the playoffs in the last five years – Houston in 2015 and Cincinnati in 2013 – and out of the 11 participating teams, only a collective three playoff wins have been produced.

And no Hard Knocks team has ever made it to the conference championship game.

“Scott, I just hope it can be a positive for us,” Dotson told me. “I have two or three years left to get into the playoffs and I want to get to the playoffs. I’ve never been to the playoffs. I want to get in this thing before it’s all said and done. This is my last chance to get one. We can’t let it distract us.”