NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Hard Knocks Detroit Lions: Episode 3 Recap

Episode Date: August 24, 2022

On the NFL's Official Hard Knocks Podcast, Dan Hanzus and Colleen Wolfe recap the third episode of Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Detroit Lions, beginning with reactions to Dan Campbell’s best quotes and moments. Then, Dan and Colleen discuss the storylines around potential roster bubble players, including Malcolm Rodriguez, Obinna Eze, and Kalil Pimpleton (8:15). Next, the hosts talk about the joint practice periods between the Lions and Indianapolis Colts (14:46), especially the jawing between Jamaal Williams and Zaire Franklin (18:15) and Duce Staley’s hype speech to his running backs despite losing his voice (21:06). After the break, Dan and Colleen cover takeaways from the preseason thriller (23:23) before sharing our Liev Schreiber Quote of the Week (29:10). Next, Dan and Colleen give their plot-line predictions for Episode 4 (30:39), and finally, we wrap up the show with the Episode MVP voting using our patented vector voting system (35:25).Note: timecodes approximate.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. There is nothing like winning, man. There is nothing like winning. And I'm telling you right now, it doesn't matter if it's freaking dominoes, it's spades, it's burray, it's croquet, it's fucking chess, it's pre-season, ass kicking. It does not matter, man. Winning is winning.

And it feels good, man. Oh! We're winning. Always. Welcome to another edition of the Hard Knocks podcast presented by Around the NFL. I'm Dan Hansis, and to my left in studio. Ah! The tiny box to my tugboat.

Tug box. Wow. She's pro-grit, anti-fragile. She's our airline pilot with zero flight experience, Colleen Wolf. False. That's false. I have almost a private pilot's license, and I have multiple hours, and I graduated flight school, my ground school. so you should be the one playing defense for the lions triple source I don't think so my fault oh your old man worked as a air traffic controller kind of butcher that intro of you there I know what's up Colleen we're together for episode three of hard knocks here in Englewood at the Chris Wesleying podcast studio and how beautiful it is and I assume if you're listening to this you probably maybe understand that reference

but Dan Campbell was pumped. All right. Dan Campbell's always pumped. About everything. At all times, he's, his insanity or his intensity, orders on insanity. And, but I do, I will say like that line, there's always one that stops me in my tracks with Dan Campbell. But when they're looking to get the defensive stop in the week two preseason game against

the Colts that they couldn't get the week before. And he's on the sideline. And once again, I think he's talking into. his headset but kind of just talking to himself and this is this is how he explains like the reward for a defensive player that saves the day this is what dan this is what dan said mart 18 is gonna get him i was a law of freaking out or turnover anybody gets a punch out here and they can fly the plane home themselves they can literally pilot the fucking plane what a terrifying prize that is that's what you would get if you were you know david blow the week before when you

blew the game on a fumble. Right. Oh, now if you want to be on this team, land the goddamn plane. And no one else is on it but you. You got to take off and you got to land it, too. I mean, that is an interesting reward system that Dan Campbell has going on. I just love how excited he gets over everything. I mean, clearly he's talking about, like, if he wins croquet.

Is it croquet? I think it was. Because I'm thinking like croquette, which is a food. I think it's spelled like croquette, but it's croceying. would also maybe be in there. Right. Croquette. Let's just go with it.

Yeah. He gets so excited about everything. He does. And he mentioned chess and he's like, Dan's not playing chess. But that doesn't matter. I think what does matter is something we alluded to in episode two that episode one was all sunshine and rainbows.

It was all we got grit for days and we love each other and we have fun and all this. And then episode two was a reminder after the meldial. down at the end of the preseason game. Oh, yeah, but this team went three and 14. And there are a lot of reasons to be excited, but also they have so much work to do. So, yes, it's a preseason game. And much loved NFL films for being able to squeeze drama at a preseason football because I just, I struggle with it as part of my job.

But like, now we see, yes, positive feelings, winning. This team now has to win. Yeah. So they have NFL Films has the perfect main character to squeeze drama out of the preseason. Dan Campbell is like a dream for Hard Knocks producers. And just think about the fact that if Dan Campbell is getting this excited about winning a preseason game. Like imagine what happens if they go on like if they win two in a row in the regular season. I'm actually worried. His head explodes. And Eric Glenn's the interim coach. Exactly. Like we will have to check on him. He's going to need a life alert bracelet. Maybe. be like a jazzy for the stairs. I don't know, but it could get ugly. You know, I, and this again, I don't want to temper the excitement around the Lions and Dan Campbell, but I was texting with our good friend Hansom Hank, who's a Dolphins fan, and we were talking about hard knocks and how Dan Campbell's so fun to watch and he's so energetic and he's just a great guy for a documentary

series. But then you're like, is he a head coach, though? Is he ultimately an amazing guy on a coaching staff or is he is he really head coach material we still have to see that I want him to be we all want it like I need it when you see when people now start running out their playoff predictions uh as we get closer to the start of regular season you're going to see a lot of football experts put the lines in as the second wild card in the NFC because we all want it I just I don't want to be hurt because I don't want to see him get exposed by a Matt Lafleur or Kevin O'Connell or whoever else he's going to be going up head to head. But maybe that's again going back to episode one, Connie, when I said maybe I had the

Metallica kids wrong. I have to stop thinking of him as a meathead because Dan Campbell is more than that. Dan, I hate to break this to you. Yes. You've been doing hard knocks for how long? I mean, how many years? 25 years maybe. 11 years.

And you still haven't protected yourself from the potential hurt down the road when you start believing in these teams? Of course he's going to hurt you. This team is not going to be that great this year. I mean, they are building, but hopefully they can surprise us. My favorite thing about Dan Campbell, well, I mean, there's just so many different things. Because in the beginning of the show, when he's using his pants as an analogy that he grabbed out of his locker, do we want to listen to the pants stuff? We got to get into the pants. Okay. I don't know. I don't have the pants. I have the pens, which is similar. Oh, Depends and pants. I get it.

Since you brought it up, do you want to just play the Depends line? Alex, you got your Depends on this morning? It's vital. Coming off of diarrhea, you've always got to wear the Depends. I'm just saying, it's like... Matt Foley. Yeah, is Matt Foley beating Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl?

No, because they're not going to the Super Bowl. Not this year, at least. But in the beginning of the show, he... I mean, also, like, is he really calling out Anzolone for having a problem? Or is he's just messing with him, right? His pallor looked a little off in this episode, Anzoloni, so I'm wondering if maybe he was under the weather. Also, his hair is much blonder than it used to be.

That was just on my radar. It's definitely bleach blonde. All right. That's blonde on blonde crime there, and I don't sign off on it. No, I mean. Back to your point. Yes, so back to my point about the pants. In the beginning of the episode,

Dan Campbell is addressing the whole team in that meeting room, and he says that he wanted to get pants from his locker, but like this is all he had. and then he starts going through this whole analogy and unfurls a pair of pants, right? Like I don't, and I don't know what was in the pants. Oh, that like talcum powder maybe? Maybe, like baby powder of some sort,

but he was essentially saying it was grit. We finally figured out where the grit has been stored and it's in Campbell's locker in his pants, I guess, huh? Yeah, so anyway, like that whole scene was about how they just need to clean stuff up and how there's too much dirt and essentially too much. in his pants. I believe the dirt was how they blew the first preseason game. Blow it, how they blowed it, yeah.

They blow that game. They got to get all that dirt out of their pants and move on. So it tied in very nicely. And, oh, again, NFL films, it seems like they know what they're doing with this. Tied in very nicely at the end of the episode where they get the stop on the two-point conversion. We'll get to that. We'll get to the preseason takeaways. But, you know, I thought that the, there's always a hard knocks episode where you really start to get to,

know some of the guys on the other end of the roster, the underdogs. And this was a good, I thought they did a good job with this because sometimes you could see it in a hard knock season where they're trying to establish a guy and you don't necessarily connect with him and then you know that person's going to be involved for the rest of the show. I do, I'm interested in Malcolm Rodriguez, the young linebacker who seems to be finding his way in an unproven positional group. Khalil Pimpleton, the wide receiver, and Obina Eze, the Nigerian player who obviously is trying to make it as an offensive lineman. These are three players that, you know, having watched a show enough, I know it's a possibility here that none of them make the final 53 and maybe they get on the practice squad.

So you can get sucked in and think all these guys are going to be stars. But I thought that all their arcs in this episode were interesting. And I really have to say, Khalil Pimpleton, if we could start with him, I thought he showed some gumption. I like the I like the onions on Pimpleton. It starts with, again, the- He went for it. Yeah, the guys that have to come up in front of the team in the meeting. And, of course, you have Hutch, who did Billy Jean, who everybody loved. And you had Rodrigo, who did a Latin dance of some time, like a salsa-type dance.

And salsa, salsa. type dance, and they all love that. And then Pibbleton's like, I juggle. It's pretty good. And it starts with like, and I just, this is something I try to instill my own two young sons. Just don't let people try to not tell you what to do.

Like, so you hear this guy coming in from the background while he's trying to get his balls out to juggle. We don't want to see that. We don't want to see that. Exactly. But guess what? He told him a pipe down. And then he said, I'm not singing a song.

And he juggled. He did. those balls, Colleen. Jesus. Listen, I was thinking while I was watching Pimpleton juggle. Tough name, too. Pimpleton, it is. Really, the whole, it's a stitch. Like he's overcome a lot. His uniform doesn't fit.

Oh, my gosh. I really felt for him in that moment because his uniform did look too big. And like, when I am not comfortable in what I'm wearing, I can't do my job. Like, I did a full-on wardrobe change on Sunday night when we were doing the preseason show because my pants were too tight. after the first show. And I was like, I can't think about anything else other than my pants right now. Were the pants fine before the show? No, they were a little tight before the show.

And then when I sat down, I was like, this is untenable, this entire situation. So then I changed my pants and put flip-flops on and I was fine. Good, good, good. But I was thinking, what would you do if you had to go in front of a team like that as a rookie and do some type of talent?

Like, what would your talent be? Because I have no idea what I would do. I can't bring an ice skating rink into the facility. Like maybe I would do a jump in sneakers. Land a plane on the field. I would, I think it's, and you will get to Josh Adams, the stand-up king of Motown later. He pointed out what Hatt, Aidan Hutchinson, choosing like a R&B classic type song like Billy Jean, I would kind of lean toward that direction, a pop song that I could tell the room would connect with. And then I'd do my best to sing it. That's what I would do. personally, I think that's the safest move.

Yeah. But there is, there's something noble to me in 2022 about a young man with a $65,000 signing bonus juggling. Juggling tennis balls, too. I just like it. I like him for it. I think he said $15,000 signing bonus. Juggling.

Liked it. You know, that was gritty, I thought. That's what it was. It was. And so, you know, best of luck to him. I do think that Rodrigo doesn't have a shot of getting cut. Like, I think that he's definitely going to make the team. The more I want, usually, like we say, with the hard-knock seasons,

you get more and more excited about the team. And by the end of the season, you're like, oh, 15 and 2. Let's roll. Let's head to the buy round in the playoffs. I think their linebacker group, it seems like an atomic show of sorts. Dice. It's dicey, and it seems like Rodrigo has a real chance to get it done. I thought the Obina Ease.

I don't know, because his nickname's easy. So we can just call him easy going forward. His story is really interesting, obviously, that he from Nigeria played basketball and eventually moved to football. And when he first got to America, which was only like seven or eight years ago, I think, he had never even seen like shoulder pads to see that he is now trying to make it. This is the hard knocks. This is a great hard knocks underdog story and seeing his family, his wife and his mother rooting him on. That was nice. It was.

You know, the thing that really stood out to me was Hank Fraily. Like, why do you have to be so aggressive? It just... It was some tough love from the offensive line coach. He was ragging on Easy for not being a good basketball player when Clearly Easy is trying to make this team too. And then when he's screaming at him in front of the whole, I guess, the position group, saying, you know, who are you cheating?

and Easy's like clearly doesn't understand like what he's trying to get at and so he's like nobody I'm not cheating anybody that felt like a very honest genuine answer and he didn't understand what the inference was there right and Hank Frailey just like wasn't reading that situation at all and he was very Hank Frailey like in that spot it felt like you also missed the part where Hank Frailey

to use a Philadelphia legend in film went full Mick and was like women weak and legs and it's just like oh dude come Come on, Philly. Clean it up. I know. That was super cringy. Here's the thing.

Like with Easy, he was kind of either exhausted or dogging it in the film. You can't, maybe he's learning. I mean, the eye in the sky doesn't lie and they're watching it all times. And hopefully he grows from that through in part addressing down from a coach because that's part of what sports and football is about. Right. But I think you make a good point that there might have been something lost there in. the connection there, so. Yeah. It's all right. And then we got to the

chippy joint practices. I like that. It's a good transition. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Exactly. It doesn't get any better than this. My gosh. All right, Dan Talica, we understand that you're excited. We're about to get it. Oh, what a day. Yeah. Feel your dreams, brother.

I just want to curse listening to him. Every time I hear him, like, I want to get a beer with him, I want to hang out with him. I feel like he would be such a a good time. All right. Sean McVeigh, Dan Campbell, matching wits in December. Do we feel good about it?

Oh, I guess so? We're matching grit. I feel great about it. Oh, I feel great about it. How far does grit take a team and a coaching staff? That is a good, that's a good test. To week one. We're going to learn a lot about the Detroit lines.

Yeah, so they had the joint practices, as you said, Colin, you've been, you're well-traveled in this world of NFL, that one of the best practice facilities in the league is at Indianapolis. Oh, it's gorgeous. It's very hot. Field of dreams, brother. But it really. At a baby.

It was, it's a gorgeous facility. Like, I think that they're doing a great job down there in Westfield, Indiana. Very nicely done. Yeah. So he, Campbell, like everything else, it's life or death. This is a big deal, these practices. And he wants to show, again, Yeah, not just the cults, but the world,

that the lions aren't going to be pushed around anymore. And it was even funny because I think 90% of the, 90's strong, 85% of the reason that Dan Campbell's into coaching is like, because you could hit other people and beat people up. Right. And he gives that speech before the first practice or he's like, listen, if anybody's fighting, if anyone fights, you're gone, your evaluation's over.

And then he's also like, I want to see you guys fighting out there. I don't want you guys to take nothing from nobody. And I imagine if, like, that's a tough needle to thread. Okay, so super conflicting messages that Campbell is sending to the team because he says, paint your faces, sharpen your spears, which I want to know, like, what has Dan Campbell seen? So it's like, it's all right if you kill somebody, but if anybody fights, your evaluation's over, you're out of the door. Your day is done. And then at one point when we were watching the show, because we all watched the show together this week,

we paused it because there was. a shot of Campbell in his office and there was a lot of word art which I really wanted to see what the word art was behind him What was that store at the mall in the late 90s? Spencer's.

No, not Spencer's. Time to remember. No, what was it? It was in that, it was... Hot topic. No, no. Culgraver, you're out of your depth. It was...

Wow. It's not hot topic. Hot topic is edgy. This was like a place you go for motivational posters. It was like a gift shop. Things remembered? Was that it?

I don't know. I don't know. Anyway, this is where he got this stuff. Yeah, and so the one word art. I can't remember if I just gave you, and you're out of your death, Donnie from Bigelbowski. Sorry to go full Goodman on you there.

We know all about malls, Graver. One of his word arts in his office was a champion is someone who gets up when he can't. But if you can't get up, like it feels like a conflict a little bit. You understand? You understand what it means. Again, that's all great.

It is. It's a grit situation. We had talked about in that practice, Jamal Williams was a star of episode one, wasn't really in episode two. Episode three, I came out of the episode like being like, that was cool to see Jamal Williams, but he was like out of his mind in this practice.

All over the place. He was, I don't know, like the energy was off the charts. He had like 17 hour energy before he went into that practice. He played like a guy who's had come. coach gave a super confusing speech before the practice started. He was also like beatboxing at one point. So he was like and then like throwing the ball to a couple kids in the stands. And it was like way over, overshooting them.

Yeah, almost knocked out a three-year-old boy. But the way that he was jawing with Zaire Franklin, I mean, that was, that was a whole storyline. And we saw that whole thing on Twitter and Franklin was calling him a bum. Yeah, what was going on? And so like we said, he was, he was drawing constantly in the practice, Jamal Williams, over everything to the point where it just, it felt like it had to be a little bit of a distraction. He was too amped up. And on Twitter, what did you see there? So NFL films tweeted like a little teaser clip, nothing like a chippy joint practice popcorn emoji with between Franklin and Jamal Williams.

And Zaire Franklin quote tweeted the clip and said, only in the league can a bum lose three reps in a row. and still yell like he won. Crying face emoji, crying, crying, laughing emoji. Hope you ready to cry about another losing season, champ. Oh, no. And Connie, as you pointed out while we were watching, a well-placed bum is way more effective than some type of vitriol in terms of abusive language.

Bum is like, has a sweet spot for me, yeah? Jamal Williams replied to his tweet. Oh, amazing. Sir, I literally made you look stupid in team period when you missed an open field tackle and I ran you and the safety for a touchdown during team period. Please go about your business.

Crying laughing emoji, crying laughing emoji. You not bout that when it's go time. Okay, this is so petty. I am so in for this. Wait, can this episode just be graver reading quotes on Twitter? It's a new podcast coming this fall. But for me, the fact that there was a bum and a sir used, I mean, thank you, thank you, Twitter gods.

bum is super underutilized and this was bum was a big word in our house growing up I don't know I think it's like kind of a big thing in Philly maybe

or maybe it is just my family but I'm gonna go circle back to I don't have a lot of Philly knowledge I'm more a North Jersey guy but I know Rocky's go hey Pauli you're a bum yeah that's how I know it my grandmother always used to say

to us about our grandfather he's a bum and so that's the first time I learned about it I love that. One of my favorite moments of unintentional comedy this season. And maybe in several seasons on Hard Knocks comes via assistant head coach, running backs coach, Deuce Staley, who, as we know from the first couple of episodes,

loves to be animated and loud and be very involved with practice. Well, that becomes a problem when your voice goes on you early in the joint practice. Here's Deuce Staley dressing down. his running backs group after an unimpressive series or two. So you're trying to hear me, hear me good? You got to ask you.

We got a fucking ass kick. And that's not a tough standards. So if you like what the fucking happened today, you don't need the fucking beard. Because I fucking don't like it. He wasn't attacking. He wasn't catching a fucking ball.

He wasn't hitting a fucking hole. What the fuck? Do we have more? I need more. Yeah. That's not what the ball. we talk about that's not what the we're about so you better pick this up and tell you right now you better pick this up especially when you get tired stop feeling sorry for

your fucking selves oh rest the courts you got to play when you're tired you got to play when you're fucking hurt coming back with your eyes all big like you confused oh fuck that go to the next play not good enough how did the players and none of them like crack the smile I mean they're getting dressed down and they're trying to make a football team but like it was the way how animated and fired you up what he was it reminded me of those YouTube videos that took off a couple years ago like the NFL remixed oh yeah well whatever you could plug in whatever it was like used for comedic effect yeah you saw them all fired up and then it was like a a little boy voice

on helium and it was just like I couldn't help but laugh and he was being deadly serious so and they started that quote with him saying I want you to hear me hear me hear me me good, but like you literally could hardly hear him. Yeah, but I want someone to remix that into a song. You know how people can do that? If any of our listeners can do that, I feel like there's some really good lines in there that you could spin into something.

Great. All right, let's take a quick break, and then we'll get to the rest of the episode. All right, welcome back. Let's move to the back half of the episode in the big preseason game we talked about. It was a late game where, again, the lines had the lead.

They almost let it all slip away on a late touchdown, but then get the stop at the end for the first W. And what were some takeaways you had from the preseason affair against the Colts? This is a show that is just absolutely filled with outrageous quotes. But this was one of my favorite quotes of the entire show. Okay. I don't know if that's a quote. No, for me it is.

Yasmin Easy, who is Abena's wife. She was going wild the whole time. And I just felt like that was so relatable because if I was, that's exactly what I would sound like if I was watching, like, John out there, if I was watching any of my close friends, like you out there, like I would be screaming just like that. That was my inner monologue

during the entirety of COVID in 2020, just at all times. two little boys at home big takeaway there but isn't it weird i've thought about this before on hard knocks but when a family that obviously is incredibly family family incredibly invested in their son or husband or boyfriend's success on the field and trying to make the team and when they're on the offensive line especially like i i've been covering football for years and years and I don't know the I lean on Brian baldinger and people like that to understand like what a guy's doing so you could tell when a guy's a turn style but the nuances of that position

are so fine but when you're in the 200 section and the person's like career is on the line that has to be a special kind of like just winging it in terms of emotional support are you doing well or you're not doing well like who knows she's the most supportive wife ever the way that she was going crazy I mean just think about it though if you're married to someone who's a long snapper. Like, how do you... Well, that know, but you do know that. I guess, yeah.

If you long snap it and it's a nice snap. Pretty low stress. Good work. Exactly. Nice job. Cheers. It's like, oh, his hand placement was terrible there. It's like, you need, you almost need baldy next to you.

Right. You need a baldy type. You do. Everybody needs a baldy. Or you just be supportive no matter what. I think that's... I just mean in terms of critical nuance to studying your partner's play on the field or... She seemed very invested.

Maybe they watch tape together. Who knows? Tape talk. Yeah, so that was good. I thought it was interesting in the coverage of the game from NFL film's perspective. We got to see David Blow have a moment at the end of the first half, which was nice because Blau certainly seems like a nice guy. And he had to wear it at the end of the previous episode. So showing him get the touchdown pass on a nice throw on the back corner of the end zone.

at the end of the half. I do wonder, when is my boy Tim Boyle going to get some run? Maybe next week. I mean, listen, now the clock's ticking. And on that subject, no Jared Gough either. There is Jared Gough? Let me, I'm going to save that for when, you know, predictions about coming up episodes. But I think Tim Boyle deserves some run.

Not to mention Ben Johnson. Where is the offensive coordinator of the Lions? I haven't seen him missing. I, how do we not? I think, Graver, you said at one point, we might have seen him. like a, at the edge of a shot? In the side of a frame, yeah. Like, can we at least give Ben Johnson,

offensive coordinator of the Detroit lines, a tiny bit of run in a preseason game before this is over? Right, because Deuce actually, I mean, he's chewing a lot of scenery. Aaron Glenn, too. I can't even talk and he's getting major segments of the show. You know what? That was so interesting, too, because as you pointed out

when we were watching, Dan, Deuce had his voice back almost a couple days later from those joint practices when he had completely, Completely was Rasp City. Yeah, our boy, Sean Kelly, had the good take that he was just banging those lozenges. Oh. Hammering them.

Yep. Tea and honey and lemon. You know, the voice is in shut down mode. I think you've probably been in this boat before. It happened to me last year. I've screened at the top of my lungs in my house because Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam at Fenway Park. And then I woke up the next day.

My voice was just shot. And I was like, oh, I have like 14 podcasts coming up this week. So I kind of just had to not talk for two days through the weekend. And then I just croaked my way through the next couple of shows. This scene has completely been deleted from my memory. I don't remember anything that happened from that season. There was a croaky Sunday night pod. And then we did a power rankings taping with Matt Money Smith.

And he was just laughing at me when I admitted why my voice was gone. It's only happened to me one time. And it was after my bachelor's party in Vegas. and it was my first trip to Vegas, and I lost my voice for a full week and a half. I think I was just screaming for four days straight. Yeah, it sounds like you ingested something. Funny enough, I'm going to Vegas this weekend,

so we'll see what happens. Well, be careful. All right, what else? Anything else from the preseason game that you wanted to touch on? I guess the only thing was there was like a funny moment with Aaron Glenn on the sideline that had us cracking up when we were watching him during the game, but it was only one word that he kind of like erupted with

and we can't really play it. It wouldn't really make sense as a drop. It's the mother of all swear words. Yeah, so when you watch, you'll see. So that was funny, but yeah, that's it. All right. Now, let's move on. Is it time for the Leif Schreiber quote of the week?

I can feel it. It's time. All right. Leif Schreiber is not on this show. He's on hard knocks. He's not on this show. But thankfully, my longtime friend, Jason Zumwalt, is a voice artist and he does not.

I want to make this very clear. He only gets, I shoot him the text. He does not know the inflection from Schreiber and every time it's spot on. Here is the latest edition of the Leaves Schreiber quote of the week. I'll give a little just context. It's the Colts player or the players

for the lines of walking along a blue pathway to Colts practice. This isn't Oz. It's day. in Indianapolis. But it is time for the lions to double down on courage. It's so good. He is so talented.

We need a drop for that. Just like it's its own section. Right. I think we do. I think we need to send Jason Zumaltzum, some Detroit-style pizza by the end of this show. Are we paying him anything for this? I'm working on it.

It's just Jason's done a lot of pro bono work for around the NFL over the Nice of him. But you know what? What a kind man. We got him to the Super Bowl. Oh, okay. So that's pretty good. Yeah.

All right. I mean, it was to see the Rams win the Super Bowl and he's a diehard Cardinals fan. Yikes. Maybe we'll figure something out. Okay. All right. How about before we get to MVP vote? Plotline predictions.

How about some plotline predictions for episode four? Let's, yeah, circle back to Gough here because my first thought. He's on the team still, right? As the episode ended, my first thought was, okay. Okay, this is getting awkward. We need to get to Jared Guff. But now, like, I thought about it more. It's like, no.

Why not attempt the impossible a hard-knock season where the first-string quarterback is not involved in any capacity? Well, as we said, Dare to Dream. The offensive coordinator is also not involved. But the quarterback is usually the main character of the entire team, especially for one of these shows. There is a line of Vince Lombardi.

got it from Chris Wessling because he said it often that the only problem, if you want to call it, with football is that the rules of football and the sport itself is that the quarterback is so disproportionately important to the enterprise that it kind of skews things a little bit. And yet, here we are. Not this time. Three hours into hard knocks out of five hours. And Jared Gough, his entire impact on the show was hitting Hutch on the shoulder pad and saying to Hutch's dad, he's doing great out there. That's it. Listen, the Hard Knocks crew, they've dealt with Jared Gough a lot and they've probably exhausted a lot of Jared Gough, like personal storylines and things. And as a service to the viewers, they don't want to be repetitive.

Oh, it's a service. I don't feel like we're missing a lot. But aren't you curious? to know if Jared Goff moved to Detroit and also built a little golf course in his backyard there too? I am curious, I don't need a whole, I don't, you know how I'm on prestige television?

They'll just follow one of the characters for the entire hour and it's like, oh, don't we actually just, all right, I'll indulge yourself. I don't need, like, episode four to be 58 minutes of Jared Goff. No. But I would like to check in with Jared Goff.

Like, where is Jared Goff in, is a former number one overall pick? clearly a bridge quarterback he's probably not the future but he's very much the present and he has obviously a golden opportunity to reestablish himself there is some meat on this narrative bone maybe even just a wellness check at this point like Jared are you okay how are you doing it's like has dan campbell ever talked to you before like that would be my first question does dan know your name that's terrible um i'm still waiting and i'll continue to say this until it happens because as I've seen so many hard-knock seasons,

a visit downtown that pays homage to the Detroit music scene. Seoul, blues, hip-hop, garage rock, something that's got to be coming, right? And cars. That's what I want. Cars! I mean, even the comedian that was in this episode, which we'll touch on a little bit, yes, cars need to be involved. Ford is a huge deal there, right?

And I think it's... Well done, Colleen. Come on. And it's in the open with the tires and the cars and all of it. So that's got to happen, too. Let's say the Detroit Lions and their ownership group do agree that Ford is a huge deal. It's a massive part of the enterprise, everybody. Also, I think that coming up we'll see maybe a little Jeff Akuda action because we haven't really seen anything from him.

So maybe the starting cornerback battle will be a little bit of a storyline to weave in coming up this week. But I will say that even though there are some things that, you know, James and Williams, who we just learned in the news, that, you know, he's, expected to start the season, I believe, on the pup list. And we knew that because she was coming off the ACL. It would be interesting just to see this rookie that everyone's so excited about. It's electrifying wide receivers and rehabs the knee. I don't know if we're going to get that. But in general, I feel like the storytelling in the season has felt fresh while at the same time feeling like hard knocks.

So I don't have any complaints. I don't even, I'm not even like a big like, all right, send two players into the city guy. I'm just saying I'm so used to seeing it that I'm expecting it and it hasn't happened yet. I think that's why this season has been so good because they're not doing things because they have to do it because they've done it before

because it feels like the viewers are used to it. They're just telling the stories that are there and they're good and they are fresh. And you know, we love this show. But if you want to be fair, there is a criticism from some people that sometimes there's a sameness if you watch season after season.

So yeah, maybe this is a kind of conscious effort to mix it up a little bit. Yeah, I like that. We'll see. We all got to evolve. Everybody. You got to learn, you got to grow, you got to develop, and then maybe you will become an MVP.

And remember, remember. Oh, that was your transition. That was it. That was it. I tried to throw it to you when I was waiting. All right. An MVP. It's time.

Remember, this is vector voting. Which is what again? I don't know. I forgot. Every vote counts. Gravedigger. We'll take. care of it.

There's addition involved. That was, remember you were asking me, what was the third thing I had asked you? Right. We asked for merch. Yep. Got it. Check. Ask for Detroit Pizza.

I believe you're working on it. Coming soon. All right. Here's the, oh my gosh. I love my shirt. I just got it right before we started this episode. I can't wait to wear it. It's so soft.

And the third request I had, Graver, was addition, basic addition, tallying up the votes throughout episode one through five. On it. Yeah. So anyway, it's a weighted voting system, third place vote, second place vote, first place vote. And at the end of the year, Graver does the math, we declare the MVP of Hard Knocks. Let's go third place vote starting with Connie. Okay.

So third place for me. This week was a little difficult. The first two episodes. I said that last week too. I think because the first episode was easy for me. And then I think this week was even a little bit more difficult than last week. my third place vote is going to go to Jamal Williams because he was such a character

during those joint practices that it was hard to not notice him and his personality is so big and his energy just pops off the screen. So Jamal Williams for me is third place. It's a good call. I don't have him on my list, but I understand why you did it

because he is, he makes for entertaining television and that's the goal here. I was a little annoyed by him. Like his antics in the practice were a little much for me. Like I felt it to be a little over the top. He was the main part of those practices, though. Like that, him and Franklin.

He just wanted to shut up. It was like he was so obsessed with settling scores. But maybe, again, this is a professional athlete. Like, this is maybe how he gets juiced. And this lets him play at his highest level. I don't know. But yes, I found, I watched that with a smile on my face. Or more just like, uh, huh?

What's going on with this guy? The smile turned into a grimace. It was more like a, not a grimace, but more like a, huh? Yeah. What's up with Jamal Williams today? All right, third place vote for Jamal Williams. My third place vote, and I think this is someone that's on your list, is Josh Adams, the Motown King of Comedy. Absolutely.

Yeah. Love that one. You know, it is very difficult to, that's a tough spot because Adams is, you know, is going into this room filled with professional athletes and macho guys and they're very much in that mode in terms of competition. It was like, that's a group, that's a family, that's a click. Yep, and it's like impress us.

And he has to go there and do it. And damn it, did Josh Adams impress him? He slayed, he killed in his set that we watch. Here's one when he looked over to the number two overall pick. and addressed Hutchinson. And Hutch, what's up, boy, you good? Right. You just look like a big-ass boy band member.

What's up with you, man? Just Justin Timberlake coming off the head. Dang, you know what they look like? Just a big, strong backstreet boy. Is Adam's coming up on your list? He is. Okay, so we'll hold there. So he's my vote because I just, again,

I respect that he went into that room and won the crowd over and just was funny as hell. So third place vote, Josh Adams. I absolutely loved him, but he was not my second place. Whoa! You really liked Josh Adams. I loved him so much. I loved him so much.

He can't, I mean, at this point, I'm just kidding me right. I would never want to step on your first place vote, but I never imagined the stand-up comic that went into the meeting room. He was my favorite. That was, he had so many good lines. I laughed so many times. I'm never not going to see Aiden Hutchinson as Justin Timberlake or a backstreet boy. coming off the edge like that he called dan campbell like Hulk Hogan he was so good he came in he hooked

everybody with the signing bonus was $200 line and like that was it that was his in so i i gave him a first place vote i mean we'll get to that we'll get to first place um but your second place vote second place vote it was between dan campbell and deuce daly and i gave it to dan campbell Dan Campbell is just, it's so hard to beat him because of the presence that he has, the crazy things that he says that don't even make sense, but I still love them and I still remember them. I mean, paint your faces and sharpen your spears. Like that, what?

What are you talking about? Absolutely. He's a quote machine. Yeah. So he's, for me, winning is everything to him. And they finally got a win for him. So it's a big week for him. And I want Dan Campbell to be successful.

because, you know, as a fan of a downtrodden team, eternally downtrodden team, the Jets, I view the Lions as brethren. I'd love to see it. And they're in the NFC, so they're not my issue anyway. I would love to see the Lions and Dan Campbell rise. But even if it didn't work out ultimately, Dan Campbell has proven himself as a great kind of teacher of men and a man who loves ball and loves the sport. He's going to be around NFL for as long as he wants to be around NFL. I've really had. He's flying that plane.

He is. He is flying the plane. Second for me, I'm going to give it to Khalil Pimpleton. Oh, yeah. Again, his name is Khalil Pimpleton. He, when he's trying to think, what am I going to do in front of this team? He says, I'm going to juggle. And again, I just thought the gumption, it's everything I teach my, I try to teach my sons.

You know, don't do what you think makes you fit in. Just do what you feel you should do and stand strong and just go do it. You got to be your own man in this world. Yeah, and he made some plays in the joint practices. And I just thought, here's an underdog that I could get behind, Pimp. Pimp. That's a great nickname, too. Yeah, that's right.

Oh, my gosh. I just caught that because I was like, who's he calling Pimp out there? That makes a whole lot of sense. Yeah, it's a good one. And so your first is going to be Josh Adams. Do you want to hear Josh on Dan Campbell? Yes. All right, let's hear it.

Y'all got shit popping. I ain't no coach was that big damn. We need you on special teams. F*** all the coaching, cuns. We need you out here breaking up the wedge, fam. He walked up to me big as shit. Oh, how are you doing? I'm like, what the fuck?

I'm like, when did Hulk Hogan start coaching this bitch, fam? What's going on, brother? So true. It's also like the little elements of the joke that, you know, his routine kills like breaking up the wedge. I just love that. You know, you know who knows ball? Josh Adams.

He's really good. It was funny. Colin Alex Anzolone, Thor. I mean, it was just really, it was a good set. I enjoyed it. It was a great set. So good job, Josh Adams. I do have Dan Campbell with my first place vote for everything that we've talked about.

It was weird. Did you think it was weird? I know you thought it was weird because we talked about it already before we started talking to the mics. Did you think it was weird, Connie, that when Josh Adams is going off on Dan Campbell, in a lighthearted way, but in a pointed way, we never got a reaction shot to Campbell? Yes. And I was watching to see the players' eyes. And some of them were like had a little bit of like they were nervous laughing.

And I was wondering if they were looking at Campbell because maybe he wasn't happy about it. But I'm sure he seems like a guy that can absolutely take a joke. And let's let's just be fair because we are, we've been complimenting NFL films and how brilliant they are. If there is an overhead shot of the entire coaching staff pulling back a maniacal Dan Campbell trying to race to the front of the stage to be. the comedian into the ground, we need to see it. He was sharpening his spear. Yeah. He's like physically sharpening a spear in the corner while the comedian is lightheartedly

insulting him. Yes, we need to see it. NFL films. I was really wondering about that because they had cutaways of everyone else that he was ripping on. Unless he wasn't in the room, which doesn't sound like Dan Campbell's style, we need to see how Dan Campbell reacted to that. Yep.

Unless it was, you know, a reaction. But they probably would have showed that. But here's a conspiracy theory. Unless they had to, like, take it out or something. Oh. Unless he didn't love it. And then the lions are like, we don't love it. Oh.

A little conspiracy theory. Okay. All right. So Dan Campbell gets my first place vote because, again, I think he's absolutely so far three episodes and lived up to the hype of what we thought. He's a quote machine. He's high energy. And he's just like he's the sun in this universe.

Yeah. He's the straw that stirs the drink. He sure is. All right, that's it for this week. We'll be back next week, next Tuesday night, for another recap for the penultimate episode of the 17th season of Hard Knocks. I can't believe.

It goes fast. 17. Goes fast. And I hope people are sticking with the show to the very end because I think they've built us up. And it's going to be a lot of fun to see how these underdogs come through, the Blauhard Nation standing up, maybe some more Jerry.

Goff. Can we get one more scream? Yes. Whoa. Oh, my God. Loved it. All right. Until next week.

Later. This is an I-Heart podcast.