TUA’S TEAM: Announced its featured role on the long-running HBO and NFL Films show on Monday. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA.ORG
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) – The NFL world will get a behind-thescenes look at Tua Tagovailoa and Miami Dolphins later this season: They will be the featured in-season team on "Hard Knocks" this fall.
The team announced its featured role on the long-running HBO and NFL Films show on Monday.
The Dolphins are one of the NFL`s more interesting teams with the league`s top- ranked offense led by Tagovailoa, All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill and creative play- caller Mike McDaniel.
McDaniel said Monday that it wasn`t necessarily a team decision to be featured on the show, but he thinks the experience could be positive for his young Dolphins. He expects filming to start some time after Miami`s trip to Germany to face Kansas City on Nov. 5, and it will last through the end of the season.
"You guys know me well enough to know that I steer clear of things that I can`t control," McDaniel said. "I don`t think it`s a bad thing for people to see our day in and day out hard work. I know there`s a lot of guys on this team that garner interest, and I think that a platform for them to showcase who they are, and for the fanbase to get to know the players and coaches better, I can understand the value to the National Football League, to HBO, to NFL Films. And I can understand the value for the Miami Dolphins."
McDaniel said he initially had concerns about whether the show would be a distraction for his team, which sits atop the AFC East with a 5-2 record and is seeking its second straight playoff berth. He also expressed worries about "competitive advantages leaving the building,“ but added that early talks with HBO eased those concerns a bit.
"Outside of that, that`s why I kind of think that this particular team, I`m very, very proud, happy with how we go to work every day,“ McDaniel said. “This particular team, it`s not the worst thing in the world because that`s what will be conveyed."
Miami was featured on "Hard Knocks" in 2012 under then-first-year head coach Joe Philbin. Storylines that year included then-GM Jeff Ireland calling Dolphins 2009 first-rounder Vontae Davis into his office to inform him that he was being traded to the Indianapolis Colts.
This is the third year that "Hard Knocks" has featured an in-season – show has typically offered a behindthe-scenes look during the preseason. The Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals were the previously spotlighted teams.
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