In 2015 the Houston Texans were featured on HBO's Hard Knocks, the popular sports reality documentary that is often called a distraction by fans, players and coaches. But the Texans won the AFC South and are the 6th straight team that has appeared on the show that didn't lose more games than their previous season.
The distraction myth is dead.
Especially considering every NFL team has cameras around them during training camp anyway, the HBO show just ramps it up a little bit.
The NFL passed a rule a few years ago that gave them the power to pick a team to appear on the show, but there are a few circumstances that make a team ineligible to be selected.