Mike Mayock: Hard Knocks an intrusion we have to deal with

[Rusher]

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Wide receiver Antonio Brown arrived to Raiders training camp in a hot air balloon on Friday, which is the kind of touch that’s more likely to be welcomed by those in the entertainment world than team executives.

Thankfully for Brown, there are plenty of the former in Napa this summer. The Raiders were chosen to be on Hard Knocks this summer, so there will likely be footage of Brown’s voyage airing on HBO this summer.

There will be plenty of football footage airing as well and the presence of cameras at the team’s practices was a topic of conversation for head coach Jon Gruden and General Manager Mike Mayock at a Friday press conference. Mayock stressed that the team didn’t want to be on the show, but said he thinks they’ve done their best to deal with it in a way that allows them to do their work.

“Jon and I are kind of old school,” Mayock said, via Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “And the reason you go away to training camp is to get away from all the distractions, get together, bond, learn your assignments. No distractions, no intrusions. Hard Knocks is an intrusion. But it was handed to us, so it’s up to us to deal with it and I think we’re dealing with it in a professional way.”

Last year’s Browns became the first team since 2014 to see their win total improve after appearing on Hard Knocks. No matter the intrusions and distractions inherent with the show’s presence, the Raiders will be trying to do the same in order to show that Gruden and Mayock have the team on the right path.