The Detroit Lions make their debut on HBO’s Hard Knocks and you maybe be ready to run through a wall.
Episode one of “Hard Knocks” , a show that goes into a team’s NFL Training Camp, focuses their attention this year on the Detroit Lions. Head coach Dan Campbell provided so many memorable quotes in 2021 that made national headlines that it seem like a natural fit.
Within the first three minutes, Campbell sets a tone and gives a few one liners that stood out.
“Doesn’t matter if you have one asscheek and three toes, I will beat your ass.”
“Normally I am 100%, 85% man, that’s all I need to beat you. I will produce and win at 85%”.
From there, it launched into the story of how Campbell got to be the Lions head coach. Towards the end, Linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard said one of the best lines of the night.
“Coach Dan got the head coaching job because he is Dan Campbell, not because he thought what the head coach of the Detroit Lions should look like or be like”.
Come as you are
The theme that ran through the entire first episode is that Campbell wants his coaches and his players to be themselves. With all the various musical references thrown in the episode, including Drew Hutchison singing Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”, you were getting the vibe that the team was already a close-knit group.
This will be the National Anthem of Detroit if Aidan Hutchinson brings a Super Bowl here! #HardKnocks pic.twitter.com/pQZ3yWsX0k
— Woodward Sports Network (@woodwardsports) August 10, 2022
As the “Safety Dance” played with introducing the Guardian cap, players and coaches got a laugh about the lack of fashion to the cap. The comfortability of 80 years’ worth of experience of the Lions coaching staff was definitively present by the reaction of the cap and throughout the first episode. They were not afraid to be on camera.
Four memorable Hard Knocks moments:
- Jamaal Williams speech: I was so ready to spirit out into the night.
- Malcolm Rodriguez’s dance in his bare feet: He’s got rhythm and was not afraid to show it
- Be eight feet away from “busting ass.” In other words, do not crop dust your fellow players. Detroit Lions assistant coach Duce Staley had several lines that stood out. But the proper ettiquite about not blowing up a room was great.
- “Deez Nuts” will never get old.
