NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Hard Knocks Detroit Lions: Episode 1 Recap

Episode Date: August 10, 2022

Dan Hanzus and Colleen Wolfe recap the season premiere of Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Detroit Lions. We begin the podcast discussing the star of the episode, head coach Dan Campbell, and the vibes he brings to the Lions. We touch on Jamaal Williams' passionate speech breaking down the team huddle, and rookie Aiden Hutchinson's performance of the iconic Michael Jackson song Billie Jean. After the break, Dan and Colleen cover their favorite quotes from the episode, where Jamaal Williams again shines. Then, we dig into the coaching staff featured, focusing especially on the relationship between Duce Staley and Aaron Glenn. Next, Dan reveals his "Liev Schreiber Quote of the Week," and the hosts make plot-line predictions for next week. Finally, we wrap up the show with the Episode MVP voting.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The last thing I'm going to say is this. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. There is no light. There's a song Metallica has no leaf clover and it says, man, when it comes to the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, it's just a freight train coming your way. So if you're seeing a fucking light, it's a freight train. Just put your head down and go to work. It's about to be fun, man. It's about to be fun. You know, I never felt comfortable around the Metallica kids growing up.

When I was in junior high, in elementary school, they were the tufts in the provocative tour and album t-shirts. My mom would never let me wear. in high school they were the teammates on the baseball team who never smiled there was a general intensity and worldview that intimidated me so

I stayed away classic adolescence defense mechanism stay away and they can't hurt you but then I watched Dan Campbell in the hard knocks premiere all the emotion pouring out of that man

all the layers and I'm starting to think maybe I was wrong to try to put the Metallica kids in a box. Maybe I had the Metallica kids wrong this whole time. Well, some of them. Welcome to the first ever Hard Knocks podcast. I am Dan Hansis. And for the next five weeks,

we will take the journey through Detroit Lions training camp. Thanks to the greatest football documentary series ever created the aforementioned. hard knocks. And I say we because I will not be alone. My co-host in this venture, the deuce staley to my Aaron Glenn, the tiny box to my tugboat. It's Colleen Wolfe, Connie. Yeah. Yeah. Dan Campbell is a star and so are you. I love it. I am so excited to talk about this. This season's going to be so good. This first episode had so many things to talk about. Yeah. It really was a great star.

to, I believe, the 16th season, 17th season, actually, of Hard Knocks, which is pretty hard to believe. And, you know, we had talked about Connie and you and I go way back and been working together for a better part of a decade. For the last 10 years, I handled all the Hard Knocks recap write-ups on NFL.com. But you and I always wanted to do this, a podcast where we watched the show and reacted day of got it out to the people who could also experience the show and talk about it. So this is kind of a fun thing for you and I and around the NFL listeners who have gotten

to know both of us through the years. I'd say this is a dream come true. I mean, it's been so many years we've been talking about this. And I consider myself an expert because I've watched the show for so long and I've read all of your recaps. So like while you were working, I was watching the show and like maybe having a cocktail and making my own notes that would go nowhere, and now they can go somewhere, which is really nice.

That is excellent. And the NFL.com recap game goes on. I pass the torch to Brendan Walker. So after you listen to this show, head over to NFL.com and check out Brendan's thoughts on episode one, studying the Detroit lines with, yes, Dan Campbell, Dan Talica. He was known during his playing days as Dan Talika

for his obsession with the heavy metal band. Metallica. And yes, there is an intensity to Campbell. We see it, Connie. You see it right away in that cold open. We played a portion of it here at the top of the show before, of course. And what a score this is. And thank you to Ken Rogers and everybody in NFL films for hooking us up, the David Robido iconic Hard Knocks theme. We see Connie that the intensity that Campbell brings is shared throughout that roster and also the vibes, Connie, The vibes, they are good. They are so good.

So I feel like even just the opening scene when Dan Campbell walks in the room, just the way that he walks. And I know that we were talking recently on the around the NFL podcast about was it West that was obsessed with people's gates? Yes. Like how they walked. He studied them meticulously, in fact. I wonder what he would think about Dan Campbell's gate because the way that he walked in with his arm swinging, it was almost like a march in a way. felt like it was a very commanding stance that he had and it goes along it's very on brand like it goes along with his voice and the whole thing with him talking about obviously Metallica and

the fact that it comes full circle in the episode because they play the song at the very end of the episode which you knew is coming if you watched enough hard knocks he knew no leaf clover was coming and they did not disappoint the music department and the show never does no that's the thing like the music is so good, the cinematography is so good. And the fact that we get to hear all of these coaches actually saying what they think and swearing, it's so raw, it feels like something that I shouldn't be allowed to watch. And that's why I like it so much. But Dan Campbell is obviously a star and we knew he was going to be.

And there were so many things, so many little things that happened throughout the show. And I just feel like he's kind of an artist because no one paints a better picture. than him in this entire episode when he's talking about how he'll play guys anywhere on grass, on turf, they'll go to a fucking landfill, he said. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you have one ass cheek and three toes, I'll beat your ass. What does that mean, by the way? Can you help me with that? I was trying to figure that. And of course, we know Campbell famously is all into body parts and breaking them down in battle. But I'm curious, wouldn't it mean that so he's saying it doesn't matter if you have one ass cheek and three toes, wouldn't it make more sense if he was the one

that was down to one butt cheek and three toes and he would still beat your ass? Wouldn't it be kind of messed up for him to just tear up a dude with half an ass and three out of ten toes? Like that one got me, I don't know if he mixed it up. You know, we all do that sometimes, but it still was a provocative thought. I did think about that after the fact. And I was wondering, like, maybe if you went, I don't care if you have three ass cheeks and like 17 toes I'll beat your ass because at that point then there's some type of competitive advantage if you have extra toes that you're able to weaponize at this point and he's no he's huge on animal uh analogies and sometimes the metaphors get mixed um he had a speech at lion's scrimmage last week that i thought might make

its way into this episode but i think it got so played up and social that they didn't use it where he says you know watch out hyenas okay lions hyenas he called another player a serpent and then at the beginning of today's episode tonight's episode he talked about now you're a sea creature like pulling out your victims to see to drown them like he's very big he's all over the place

Dan Campbell with his animal metaphors but I see what we're going for just like the idea and maybe this is to bring it back all to the same place like in in nature it you know a lion does not care if its prey is wanked up, you know, if it's missing body parts and it's not a fair fight.

He will savagely destroy you. Maybe that's where it's at. I don't know. Did we get there? Maybe. I think so because I enjoyed the ocean metaphor that he went with in the opening scene. And I don't know if we have a clip of that.

Okay. Let's listen to the ocean metaphor. And I, it's not a lion, right? Because a lion can't be in the ocean. So now the lions are a different creature. but the point will hold. Let's listen to it, Justin Graver, our producer. They're dangerous, man.

You just got to get a hold of them, though. If you can just get a hold of them and you start dragging their ass out to the deep, dark abyss, you can drown them. I mean, it's hardcore. But the players, you, Connie, the players love it. You can tell that the players love it.

They do, because he followed that quote up by saying, that's who we got to be. We'll tread water as long. as long as it takes before we fucking bury you. And I was like, let's go. And I'm on like a plane and I'm trying to like keep it cool. And it's not happening. I know that he says a lot of things that are sometimes weird, but they're also wonderful

in a way because you just don't get anything like this from anyone else in the league. No, he's such a, he's a breath of fresh air. And gravedug, maybe check in with standards and practices to see because hard knocks, the cursing is all there. None of it's bleeped. Maybe we don't have to be bleeped. Just maybe something to check in with. Love that.

I mean, but you're so right about Campbell and you have to go back as a, and we're both hard-knock students of the show. You got to go back to me, the Rex Ryan season with the Jets in 2010 to see, to find a season where it seems so clear who was the star of the show

in terms of it's the head coach. And I think that is something that we, We took out of this first episode and we're going to get to all the different things that we kind of were into in episode one ending with. We're going to have some MVP voting on episode one. And I think Dan Campbell is going to be on both our ballots, Connie. So I'm just excited to see where this Campbell journey takes us over the next five weeks because it felt like it was just warming up. I have just like an entire section of Campbell takeaways, like things that I just in its own category. I feel like cameras could just follow him around the whole time, but there are so many different sides to Dan Campbell.

Like it's not just the one who has all of the metaphors and is screaming at practice. Like I like the fact that he's able to laugh at himself too. At one point during the show, he was talking about how his foot got stuck in his dog gate at home and he fell. And so then his wrist was all messed up, but he was still back to do updowns with the team. Like the fact that he cares so much about everyone too, I love. Yeah. And the up downs, you know, that was pretty intense. And it did make me think how you see so many coaches in the NFL.

And I get it because the same thing happens for me covering the NFL. I can't imagine what it is for these guys, the hours they put in. You see what happens with their bodies from August to January, the long hours, the bad eating habits. That's not going to happen to Dan Campbell, who's doing 100 updowns in practice in August and 100 degrees and heavy humidity. But you're right. The players clearly love this dude. And I thought you really saw that after Campbell, we saw the first padded practice and Campbell stops practice or at the end of practice. He shares disappointment that things, the intensity wasn't quite where it needed to be.

And he explained that he knows petted practices might seem intense at this stage, but they're so important given you need to be ready. And it helps you actually, even though they're so intense, be ready and healthy for when real games begin and you're getting hit for real. And that all made sense. And then here comes Jamal Williams, the really promising young running back for the Lions, who is clearly you can imagine a favorite of Dan Campbell.

And this is how after Campbell leaves, Jamal gets the team together and follows up on the. Coach's point. Do not give up. Do not feel like you tired. Were you tired? Think of last year and think of that fucking record. And he was just getting started, Connie. The emotions were flowing. Emotions everywhere on these lines. Everybody's great when they're not tired. The champions is when they're tired. That's when the real champions come out. That's when that real dog come out. Because if you go piss like a puppy, stay on the porch and let the big dogs eat. Let them all the fucking feel. Has some heart. I get emotional.

you about this i'm about to cry because i care about y'all last year wasn't it last year got me angry piss for this year i'm trying to be better for y'all when you say i'm tired i'm gonna keep going remember your why remember why you play football i want y'all to give anything you got every day i like the that you at one point you hear his team that's like oh okay this is going next level and by the end there it is kind of Yes, sir. Everybody was buying in on Williams's passion. It's just, you can hear the sheer desperation of a guy that does not want to experience what he went through last year. The anguish is still so raw and palpable.

And just the fact that he was able to conjure up that passion in that moment. And he was screaming so passionately that he started to cry. Like, I honestly, I can relate to that. that. And that is a moment where you can really see his connection with the team and how much he cares. He's going to be a star. Like there's going to be plenty more moments from him coming up. Absolutely. He's definitely in the running for Hard Knocks MVP. And this is the official Hard Knocks podcast. We've been great digging. We were given a- The NFL's official Hard Knocks podcast. The NFL's official Hard Knocks podcast. Is there

another official Hard Knocks podcast? There's not. But they asked if we would refer to it as the NFL's official hard knocks podcast that comes from HBO all right the NFL's official podcast I like it I'm pushing for it it's official it's all the way out there jacket maybe maybe we can get like some type of hard knocks yeah like a varsity jacket let's work on the swag justin by the end of the five weeks but yeah so you see you see jama loombs buying in and you see the other players buying and then like I was saying the vibes are good around this team I mean it's a hard Knox trope, certainly going inside the meeting room and seeing the first round pick, in this case, number two overall pick, Aidan Hutchinson, get up and perform a song.

He has to share a signing bonus, which was $23 million. We could do a whole podcast, Connie, just on Aiden Hutchinson's, like, out of Central casting, perfect family. Oh, my God. But then he goes up and he performs Billy Jean, and I was thinking, I'm watching all these kids. They're all born in the early 2000s at this point, many of them. And they know every word of Billy Jean. I'm like, oh, Michael Jackson, I guess is like the Beatles for this younger generation of people. So you just know it. But anyway, beside the point, the excitement of everyone singing

the chorus together. We've watched that a hundred times on Hard Knocks. I don't remember ever seeing a room explode and be that in that together as the Billy Jean performance by Aidan Hutchinson. the entire room lit up like the way that everyone hyped him i haven't seen ever before and i thought that it was really smart that he chose that song i'm sure he likes it but also a song that is iconic even if it isn't like of the time right now that that that song is everyone everyone has heard it at a bar and i feel like everyone it's a fun song to play along to sing along to dance along to, that's a smart move to get the room involved by like a song that everyone can kind of like get down to. So that I love. The fact too that he was so confident that he messed up

in the beginning and it was so cute because he starts laughing at himself and he's so embarrassed. You can tell he's in front of this whole room. They start like booing him. But it's all about how he recovers. And that's like anything in life. You're going to mess up. But you can really tell what people are about how they recover when they do mess up and everyone just leaned in the way that he hit that chorus like i rewatched it a couple times everyone bought in on that i mean he was out of key he had very little grasp of the melody but it didn't matter because everybody was along for the ride and i think like going back to the metallica kids growing up one of the things that i always intimidated me is that they never seemed to they took themselves so seriously and

And Aiden Hutchinson could, as a number two overall pick, be a very serious guy and say, I'm not going along with any of this stuff. But clearly he's not afraid to be kind of the butt of the joke when it's all in good fun. Billy Gene, by the way, came out in 1982. So 40 years ago in that entire room knew the song. We also saw Malcolm Rodriguez out of Oklahoma State. His signing bonus, $100,000. So a little bit of a difference.

He puts on, I believe, some Mexican music. And guess what? His dancing is pretty good. And the vibes were there, too. So everything we heard, the grit, and that's something they have leaned into. It's even on the wall at Lions headquarters in the meeting room. Like the grit and the togetherness of the team is there. And what happens always for me, Connie, and I don't know about you, I always buy in on the hard knocks team.

They always suck me in by the end of the five weeks to the point where I'm in. I'm like, oh, 13 and 4. I'll see in the championship game, like, and we're on our way. I mean, I don't know if there's enough talent on this roster to get them to jump from three wins to playoff positioning. But you could tell this is a team that is going to play together, fight together, and get better with a better roster, which they do. This is, to me, like a playoff team, watching hard knocks. They go from the basement to they're going to the Super Bowl. And that's how it happens every single year.

I end up like drafting players for my fantasy team. And it never works out, ever. It's, I'm never right about this, but I don't care because I enjoy the ride so much. So also, before we move on from, uh, Hutch, I'm going to call him Hutch now. Can we talk about his family real quick? Because the family dynamic, the family alone, I was even thinking about maybe having the whole family as an MVP vote. Um, first of all, they're all gorgeous.

Beautiful human beings. Yeah. like supportive of each other and really happy. It's like really nice to see that. I feel like that is maybe not something that is normal and that everyone goes through or maybe that's just me. But I think that when, oh, the story that his mom was telling about the fact that she found that picture of him when he was little wearing the lion's jersey, like right before the draft

and she put it in her purse and said how, you know, if he ended up not getting draft, to the lions that she was going to be sobbing on television and it wasn't going to be like happy tears. It was going to be actual grief. So that we all knew he was going to the lions basically from the end of the 2021 calendar year. Yeah, the cynical New Yorker in me wants to be like, yeah, they're so perfect and so beautiful.

But I bet there's all sorts of ugliness behind the scenes. It's like, no, probably not. Their house is probably amazing. It was a sunny day when they did that interview. I bet the lunch was served was delicious. The lemonade was perfect. Everyone is absolutely beautiful. It just feels like a family that was straight out of central casting.

So good, good for Hutch and the whole Hutch gang. Love it. Love the Hutch gang. They were all very blessed. And I wonder if we'll see more of them. All right. Let's take a quick break. Before we get to our awards, our MVP voting, anything else that stood out to us in episode one of Hard Knocks.

the Detroit Lions training camp with the Detroit Lions on this, the official NFL official podcast. What is the title we're working with? The NFL's official hard knocks podcast. All right. Let's take a break. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now I'm Drew Franklin.

And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get.

Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game. From scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies,

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you get your podcasts. All right, Connie, we're back. Want to talk some favorite quotes? Top quotes of episode one of Hard 9. Knox, training camp with the Detroit Lions. Do you want to get it going? Yes, yes. Okay.

So I'm a big fan of the coaching staff vibes that are there. I love the way that Dan Campbell and the Lions have assembled the coaching staff with so many former players. Antoine, Randallel, Aaron Glenn, Duce Daley, Hank Fraley. I mean, there's so many good players on that team, on that staff now. And Duce Daley, it's not just because he was an east. He really stole a lot of those scenes. And one of my favorite scenes was when he was talking about how we have to graduate as men and be able to look at the guy next to us and say, I love you. And it just means you care about them.

The fact that you have Dan Campbell talking about drowning people out in the ocean and then do Staley talking, telling them to tell each other, I love you. And that's the dynamic of this team that I just can't get enough of. but the coaching staff and Deuce Daly in particular when he was talking about the I love you. He goes, hey, G, I love you, man. I want to fuck you up in between the lines, but I love you, man. Like, that's real.

Even like he said, I love you. And then the beginning of the follow-up sentence like threw me for a loop. Just it was like a phrasing situation. But then he finished a sentence. And I was like, okay, that makes sense. We got a little weird for a second there. And there was that whole montage of them

just talking trash to each other. And it was both playful and agitated. somehow at the same time. Do you think that was played up for the camera? Do you think they're really like that? I was, I try not, again, I try not to be a cynical person. But these guys know there's a thousand cameras around them and everyone's miced up.

I want it to be that way. I want Deuce and AG to be going at it at all times. But I'm just curious if it might be a JJ Watt working out at Lone at midnight at Houston, Texans, headquarters with no one else there, but the lights? Don't, don't crush my. dreams like this. This is all real. I think too because the fact that they played and they were players and that's probably how they were on the field. So it's probably natural for them.

Like that it seems like it. Offense versus defense. There's a lot of tension. Even if the spirits are good. Did you guys think it was kind of weird that Deuce Daly was sort of acting as the offensive coordinator in that whole whatever practice period? Like where is the I think he's the assistant coach? The offensive coordinator is a man named Ben Johnson. This is his first year in the role for the Lions. He was the tight ends coach for the last two years. So just weird, he was absent from the whole episode. I wonder if, like, Ben Johnson's family, like, shot him text after this.

Like, I know Deuce is technically not just the running backs coach. He's an assistant head coach. But I think he's kind of in your territory. And maybe Ben, this week in practice, you're going to have to lean into the cameras and show who you are because it really is. Like, that's joking. But in seriousness, there is a hard knocks. Everyone watches the show, all the coaches and front office people in the league.

It does give you a platform to kind of pitch yourself for that next job. And if you're OEC, the next job is a big chair. So, Ben, listen, get to work, dude. Be organic, but don't be afraid of the cameras because Deuce is bringing it. You got to be natural. People can spot a fraud. And that's Deuce. That is his personality.

Like even when he was circling Aaron Glenn like a vulture and was laughing about it. Like he, I think is just a ham. But I think he's also someone who has head coaching aspirations. So it just works. And it is, it is fitting, Connie, that me, the lifelong, uh, troubled Jets fan. Aaron Glenn was one of the great cornerbacks in Jets history. I always loved Glenn as a player and do staley, a beloved running back for your Philadelphia Eagles. that that's just cute it's just cute isn't it i like it seems like it was just meant to be meant for us

to do this pod uh let's see let me get another quote in there hmm what did i like all right how about more jama williams love jama williams i love his vibe love his energy i love him as a player too by the way um and i love a trope of hard knocks is you know bodily functions are discussed on the show because when a bunch of dudes are together these things come up And when Jamal Williams is talking trash at the defense during a drill where the running backs were running through some kind of weak sauce arm tackles in the middle of the Detroit defense, he had a very interesting put down to share with America and the world. We're ready to do your body like diarrhea. Drip, J. You hear me?

Drip drip. The drip part, maybe I could have done with the house. But again, descriptive. Again, it's provocative, but I didn't need the drip, drip. And again, he said, A.G., once again, well, just leave Aaron Glenn alone. Well, he also followed it up at the end of the episode, Jamal Williams, by telling Dan Campbell that they needed to get Clorox bleach for Breeze in the locker room. Right. So it seems like maybe there is a deeper issue there that they need to figure out. Yeah, I think you might be right about that.

We'll get to that later. I also want to point out, I don't know who this guy was. It's also a funny hard knocks thing when, you know, you cut to the, what is it, the camera in the corner, the top of the room. And it's just a wide shot of the meeting room. And it's like they weren't expecting to catch something. But then there's a dude. I don't know who he was.

Kind of looked like a beefy offensive lineman type. And then I felt seen by a moment that he shared. He was sharing something private about himself that didn't get a huge reaction. But I was like, I feel you, man. whoever you are. I've got these, like, certain, like, articles of clothing that I really like, but they just, like, don't fit good. And I'm, like, saving them until I can fit in them.

That's cool. I can't wait for that. I'm, like, saving them until I could fit in them. I definitely have a couple pair of jeans and, like, a polo or two. It's like, oh, that's hot. Listen, we all do it. Work on that. I have some dresses, some jumpsuits, some things from yesterday.

I got to do some updowns. We do. I mean, that should be part of the show. Maybe that's our pre-show thing. All right. How about some plotline predictions for episode two? This is a good way to, what are things maybe either you expected to see in this episode and haven't? So you assume it'll show up soon or whatever you want.

Do you have something, Colleen? Okay. So I thought, I don't know why. I thought that we would have at least a line from Jared Gough. We got one. The quarterback? We got one? Yeah, he checked in real quick with Aiden Hutchinson when he was like on the sideline with, I think, his dad and said something like the kid's doing good and then walked away.

And that was it. Oh, I thought that was just like a pat on his back. I didn't even hear the line. But you're right. Okay. I mean, I think you're, I think it's a great call. The quarterback. QB1 is always going to be a central figure and hard.

Knox, but Goff might be the one outlier because incredibly, this is the fourth major NFL films documentary program that Goff has been connected to. And I'm not, you know, listen, this is not me speaking for Hard Knocks producer, but this is not by choice. Jared Goff is not the most dynamic Hard Knocks personality we've seen walk through the doors. But he was on the 2016 Hard Knocks covering the Rams when he was a rookie, number one overall pick. He was on the 2016 all or nothing season covering that entire 16th season. He was then on the 2020 Los Angeles Rams hard knocks season when it was split with the Chargers. And now

here we are. He gets moved to the Detroit Lions and NFL films seemingly follows. But trust me, it was not on purpose. I don't know how much we're going to see of Jared Gough because I don't think he's really about it. He actually doesn't really, I'm not piling on, Jerry. Garred Goff here, Connie, but he doesn't strike me as a Dan Campbell guy. And I know he sent you sense ever since the trade that he's kind of a bridge to whatever comes next in Detroit, but I don't know if we're going to get a portion of hard knocks. And I hope I'm wrong. Whatever.

Actually, I don't hope I'm wrong. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Where Dan Campbell is spinning poems about Jared Goff and how much he loves him. I don't sense it's coming, but maybe I'll be wrong. I think that Jared Goff is probably thrilled that he's in the position where he doesn't have to be a main character on the show because there are all of these other personalities. And we haven't even like met any of the wide receivers really yet. I don't know if like a guy like Amman Ross St. Brown, DJ Chark, who they just got in there, James and Williams. Like one of those guys, I'm sure is going to pop at some point.

But I know that Jamal Williams is going to end up being a star. I think that a theme that's probably going to continue throughout the season is Dan Campbell letting guys just be themselves because I thought it was really telling during that scene with Kelvin Shepard, the linebackers coach, when he was talking about the fact that he was thinking about cutting his hair because I guess he felt like some pressure to cut his hair when he got the job as a head coach. And Campbell was like, don't you, don't you dare do that. like be the person that you want to be the person that you truly are not some don't try and be something else just because you feel like you should I did so I think that's going to happen you know I will say that when they did the early in the episode when they showed dan campbell's evolution how he got to where he is oh my got the hair his last season he has hair like a professional wrestler and then as soon as bill parcels he's on bill staff it's it's high and tight so he did he cut his hair

but maybe things are a little different than they were. Maybe he has regrets, though. Maybe. Maybe he has learned and he wishes that he kept it. I don't know. You mentioned Jameson Williams. He is the other first round pick, the wide receiver. He's rehabbing the torn ACL.

In my experience covering the show, especially if it's a rookie and he's doing a lot of rehab, you might not get more than a check-in, but we'll see. We didn't get a real dig in to another hard-knocks trope, the underdog guy or guys these are the guys near the bottom of the roster as i say that i know it probably was not an accident that we saw malcolm rodriguez uh due with the salsa dance we're probably going to see more of him um i want more latin music please yes that would that would

be nice um but that's always something that they they build into the first couple episodes and then it all comes home in the season premiere when you see who made the uh final cut and then And the other thing that jumped out was there's always at some point a visit where you get an idea of the culture of the city. And I think we're going to get a visit probably Jamal Williams and a teammate that honors the rich history of music in Detroit. That's what I'm thinking like a famous recording studio or a club or something that digs into the blues and the blues or the soul music of the city, which is a part of the fabric.

I'm predicting that in the next couple episodes. That's a good call. Like, I've never been to Detroit and I've been able to travel so many places with this job, but Detroit is one place that I haven't been yet. And I'm really interested to see the music scene, like, what the food scene is like, because that's usually top of my list. So I hope they incorporate that. We were at Rams camp

through the NFL podcast last week and Alan Robinson, new Rams wide receiver and Detroit native was going on about Detroit pizza. And I'm a pizza dude and I was like, what is Detroit pizza? And he said it's not quite deep dish,

but it's definitely, it's got its own style, but it might be in that family. And I was like, man, we got to get some Detroit pizza. How about that, Graver?

Another job for the producer, can we score some Detroit pizza by episode five? Why not? Yeah. Get all. on that. All right.

The Leav Schreiber quoted the week. All right. So here's an issue. Not too many guardrails on this program, Connie, but we were told Leif Schreiber, we can't use his voice on this podcast, which is awesome. I don't know why.

I didn't ask questions, nor did Justin. We just know we can't. That makes me want to use it more, but I understand it feels very exclusive and special. And I just, you know, I like to, maybe he's like his Ray Donovan character. Maybe if he's not getting paid, maybe he breaks some knuckle. I don't know.

Who knows? Anyway, we can't use Leif Schreiber's voice, but we can write down his dialogue and then ask my good friend and voice actor, Jason Zumwald, to give us a Leif Schreiber reading my favorite line. And Schreiber always does a great job and the writers of tying episodes together. He drops a hammer with a great turn of phrase. This is how they end the episode, tying it back to the Metallica song. Oh, it's always done like a bow.

There's a cold calculus to the NFL. Winning is everything. This team knows it. They've been in a dark place for a long time. The light they see now might be a new beginning, or it could be what Dan Campbell warned them about, of freight train coming straight at them. Oh, my God, beautiful.

He didn't even hear it. He didn't even hear it. I just sent them to test. Okay, that's a fabulous workaround. Really great job by you and Jason. Fantastic stuff. All right, it's time before we sign off episode MVP. Okay.

And now I want people to understand, I did some research on this, because what we're going to do is we're going to tally votes throughout the five weeks and then name, and this is something we're taking from the write-ups I did for years, where I named an MVP at the end of the season. For some reason right now, Brian Cox, former defensive line coach of the Atlanta Falcons was the Hard Knocks MVP five or six years ago. It doesn't have to be the guy you expect. It's just someone who jumps out like a Brian Cox and grabs you and doesn't let go for these five weeks. So the first thing was, oh,

let's do it like how they do the NFL MVP. voting. But that's basic and lame. You know what that is? It's an Associated Press Award. There are 50 writers and they all make one pick. And that's it. So I said, what about, and I'm a baseball fan? I said, what about the points voting that they do for baseball's MVP? It's called vector voting. And we're going to sign a point total for a first place vote, a second place vote, and a third place vote. And then at the end, we'll figure out who's the true MVP. I feel like this is, and since we're both bad at We're going to leave it again on Gravedigger who's already tasked with getting us merch and getting us a Detroit pizza. He also has to do math over five weeks. That seems annoying. Gravedigger, are you having fun yet?

Is this everything you dreamed it would be? Honestly, I am just honored and excited to be here. Throw it all at me. I'll handle it. I believe in the Grave digger. He does great work on the NFL as well. All right. So let's go first place vote.

Episode 1 MVP, Connie, get us going. Okay. This was easy for me. It's Dan Campbell because he was the most valuable person in the entire episode throughout the episode. It wasn't just one scene that he popped. It was through the entire thing from start to finish. And there were so many different things that I feel like were revealed about his character and just, you know, even like how we talked about what his hair looked like when he was playing and how he had this like whole other side to him. And the fact that he is okay. being vulnerable and laughing about himself falling at his house and just how much he cares about the team talking about like that emotion you can't fake it and I believe it and then he dropped a D's nuts at the end of the show which really spoke to me it it won my heart over so he is my top vote Dan Campbell I'm totally with you my first place vote also is with head coach Dan Campbell for all the reasons Colleen just gave and more how about your second place vote okay this one see now it gets a little bit bit tougher. But I am going to go second place, Duce Daly. Oh, interesting. Yeah, I really, I just loved him so many different parts, even from when they have the little montage asking everyone what they think about training camp and people are like, awesome. It's a grind, building brotherhood. And Duce Daly is like, it's a bitch. And then just like laughs at himself and claps. Like he is very compelling to watch. And when he's on camera, I don't, I want to hear what he has to say every single

time. That is a great call. I definitely wrestled, uh, with Deuce and because I thought he deserved a spot. I thought he really stood out. And, uh, he also, again, the idea of the conversation as someone that's been on sports teams and has lived with other guys like, you know, bodily functions are a big part of things. He, when he was, when he was going in on the running back's room about, hey, nobody, nobody's going to fart in here. And if you're going to do it, take a walk, go to the bathroom. And he had actual rules that he was fired up about. Well, there was a farting fine.

There was a straight up fine, and I got to respect that. But my second place vote goes to Jamal Williams. And it's because his personality, you could tell he's a fun-loving guy and a charismatic guy, but also the passion that you saw, that speech alone. I don't remember ever seeing, like, if there is like, you know, the movie Unbreakable where there's Samuel Jackson and Bruce Willis. It's each end. One guy is literally unbreakable. The other guy's

Mr. Glass. Like if James Winston is, when he was eating the W is at one end, he's the Sam Jackson. Like on the other end is Jamal Williams' speech about players fighting for each other and working hard and getting better and never doing 3 and 14

ever again. He's my second place. And third place, for me, Connie, I almost had deuce in here, but I thought Aidan Hutchinson just deserved it because Hutch, as we call him, I thought it was just a nice kind of getting to know you of Hutchinson and his perfect family and he doesn't take himself too seriously. And he was behind the Billy Jean moment, which was one of the feel good moments I remember on this show. All right. So that's these rankings are really good. My basically I had

all of these same people that I was trying to figure out where to slot them. And then it came down. to the last spot between Hutch and Jamal Williams. And I think that I think because Jamal Williams is going to be such a star in future episodes that there's going to be plenty of time for him to maybe make up some ground because that speech was so passionate. But I think that when you lose a room, the way that Aiden Hutchinson did at the beginning of the song and the way that he just went right back in and completely, lit that place up, that's not easy to do.

And you can be like, that's basically the most vulnerable that you can let yourself become. And then like for him to really, really stick the landing at the end, that's got to be my third place vote. Good, good call. Especially when you begin by introducing yourself as, you know, I have a $23 million signing bonus too. So intrinsically, there's going to be people that are going to be like, screw this kid who's never done anything and he has more money than I'll ever have 90% of the guys in the room. And yet, they loved him. Yeah.

Or they loved him. Well, I mean, it was a good song for him to pick then. All right. Great. We'll tabulate that. Remember vector voting. So we're going to tabulate and add it up first place, second place, third place. And at the end, we will pick the Hard Knocks MVP.

And maybe because we are the NFL's official Hard Knocks podcast, there you go. Maybe we will get the winner of. of Hard Knocks MVP on this program. I don't know. Ooh. Or we'll just get Jamal Williams on. Either. All right.

Good app. Good premiere. Good job, Connie. Did it. That's it. It's in the books. We'll be back next Tuesday night with another reaction to episode two.

And we'll be doing this through the September 6th season finale of the greatest documentary football program ever created. David Robido, play us out. out. Until next week. college prospects and NFL rookies. To evaluate team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

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