OXNARD, Calif. – You might say the Cowboys' selection to "Hard Knocks" was a slight surprise to head coach Mike McCarthy.
"I'm just going to be honest: I about wrecked my truck when (Cowboys owner) Jerry (Jones) called me, driving through a rainstorm," McCarthy joked Wednesday. "But once I got it back on the road, I'm all in. I'm excited about it."
This is the third time, and the first since 2008, that the Cowboys will be featured on the hit HBO series produced in conjunction with NFL Films. Teams can decline if they have a first-year head coach, made the playoffs the previous two years or were on the show in the past 10 years. The Cowboys didn't check those boxes.
The cameras will be rolling all camp, providing behind-the-scenes access to the Cowboys' three-week stay in Oxnard.
But McCarthy doesn't expect "Hard Knocks" to affect the team's preparation for the season.
"I think it's important for all of us, and really the message actually meeting with the "Hard Knocks" staff, was just to be yourself: let them do their job and we're going to do ours. And that's really my focus," he said.
"We're just going to be ourselves. Our focus is only establishing a winning culture. This is our first opportunity as a football team to have a true training camp."
