Why That Matters:

–  Hard Knocks is a reality show on HBO coming up on its 8th season.  Each season, it follows an NFL team through its training camp and provides an in-depth perspective of the teams preparation for the upcoming football season.

–  Being on Hard Knocks has been thought to be ‘a curse’ as more than 1/2 of the 7 teams that have been on the show ended up not making the playoffs and 3 of the teams had terrible losing records.

Other Tidbits:

–  This is not the Bengals first time on Hard Knocks, they were on in 2009 – that year they finished first in their division, made the playoffs, but then lost to the Jets in the first playoff game….. They’re hoping this time around they have the same luck (and more)

–  The Bengals are coming off back to back seasons of making the playoffs