August 10th, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
Hard Knocks always makes it feel like you are watching the greatest team of all time, but Dan Campbell makes it great.
August 10th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
Will watch Hard Knocks series for 1st time as I am interested in the subject matter.
Lions may have finally found their HC. Hope the memo that was sent 25+ years ago made it to their offices that states - ZERO successful franchises swap out their coach every 3-4 years.
August 11th, 2022 at 12:49 AM ^
ZERO successful franchises swap out their coach every 3-4 years.
This is absolutely not true. Most successful franchises swap coaches every 3-4 years until they hit on one. So it's the other way around. You aren't successful just because to stick with a coach. You stick with a coach only if he's successful.
Look at the Rams. They had 10 coaches in the 24 year span before McVay, none for more than 5 years. And one of them won a Super Bowl in just a three year stint (Vermeil). But they kept taking shots and hit on McVay.
Pick almost any successful coach and look what his team did before he got there. Most shuffled through guys before hitting on a good coach.
The Patriots had four different coaches in the 90s, one of them was actually good (Parcells) but they still wouldn't let him have the player personnel control that he wanted so he left. But that didn't doom them. Two hires later they hit on Belichick. But they weren't successful because they stuck with him. They stuck with him because he was good.
August 11th, 2022 at 9:51 AM ^
Looking at the last 15 Super Bowl champions tells us that it's probably somewhere in between.
Over the last 15 Super Bowls, the average year with current team is 6.7 years and median of 5 but with a std dev of 5.7. In other words, there are a couple of teams that had coaches forever and won (Belichick 3X and Coughlin 2X) and then there were teams that won in their first 2 seasons (Ariens, Pederson, Kubiak, and Tomlin) and there were a bunch in between.
Without looking at the data, I would say a more likely correlation is GM tenure with team performance. That's the guy that's building a certain philosophy.
August 10th, 2022 at 4:53 PM ^
I've tried to watch Hard Knocks every season for the past five or so years. I can tell you that yes, this season hits different. It gave me the same sensations and emotions that The Last Dance (Chicago Bulls documentary) gave me. I felt like I could run through a wall after The Last Dance and I feel like I could run through 10 walls after Hard Knocks.
The first 10 to 15 minutes are dedicated to Coach Campbell and detail the kind of man he is. The first five minutes of the episode are Coach Campbell's address to the team at the start of training camp. I got goosebumps watching it. Did everything he said make sense? No. Did it matter? No. The man is real. The man knows how to talk to football players. The man cares and, above all, the man is a leader.
That's exactly the kind of coach the Lions need.
Btw, Devin Gardner makes an appearance and he's the Lions preseason TV analyst. I had no idea!
August 11th, 2022 at 11:27 AM ^
"Did everything he said make sense? No. Did it matter? No. The man is real. The man knows how to talk to football players." upvoting for this sentence. Good summary of Campbell.
August 11th, 2022 at 2:40 PM ^
The MGoGirlfriend and I watched it yesterday, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Campbell gives the impression of the top sergeant who yells "Follow me!", leaps out of the trench, and expects everyone to be right behind him - and they'd better be.
Seeing Devin Gardner, I couldn't help but wonder if he sees a coach like Campbell and thinks, "Why couldn't I have played for a guy like this?"
August 10th, 2022 at 7:54 PM ^
About 1 in 3 teams featured on Hard Knocks go on to make the playoffs that year.
You have to be pretty shitty to be eligible for Hard Knocks (miss playoffs twice in a row), yet their playoff success rate would make Lions fans drool.
August 10th, 2022 at 7:59 PM ^
Love Aaron Glenn and Randle-El also. At a glance seems like a helluva coaching staff
August 10th, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
The culture is leaps and bounds beyond where it was under Matt Patricia. I think Campbell is similar to Mike Vrabel....Just a bad dude that played in the league and the players respect.
Love seeing Hutch being a core focus too!!!
August 10th, 2022 at 11:13 AM ^
Watching Hutch sing Billie Jean was incredible
August 10th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
Harbaugh always told me
Be careful when you blitz
You're gonna break some Buckeye hearts (hee, hee)
But Munford was before me
On a snowy afternoon
He went flinching much too soon
And his ass fell down, went boom (hey, hey)
(Chorus)
C.J. Stroud is not that mobile
He's just a guy who likes to pass instead of run
He took three sacks when in shotgun
August 10th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
You win
August 10th, 2022 at 2:15 PM ^
How much time did you take to write that up?
Either way, I'm impressed.
August 10th, 2022 at 2:17 PM ^
For those with the gift if flows to us naturally.
-WillieInKc-
August 10th, 2022 at 2:25 PM ^
Befitting the opponent in question, I composed it sitting on a toilet seat.
August 11th, 2022 at 7:18 AM ^
Bravo my good man.
August 11th, 2022 at 10:53 AM ^
Immediately logged in to upvote. Well played.
August 10th, 2022 at 3:21 PM ^
Watching Hutch's mom is / was better!!! A little Lionel Ritchie comes to mind: All Night Long!
August 10th, 2022 at 11:13 AM ^
. . . no
August 10th, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
Can't say enough about Dan Campbell - my favorite part so far was Campbell and Aaron Glenn doing 40 up-downs with the team. That kind of stuff has to give them so much credibility with the team.
I coached youth football years ago and I always did the up-downs with the players. The kids loved it and it was great exercise for me!
I honestly don't know if Matt Patricia could do a push up let alone an up-down.
August 10th, 2022 at 11:17 AM ^
Too busy looking down on everyone from his ATV.
August 10th, 2022 at 11:17 AM ^
I honestly don't know if Matt Patricia could do a push up let alone an up-down.
Patricia could go down; getting back up would be the problem...
August 10th, 2022 at 3:22 PM ^
Matty P's favorite exercise is the drive thru at Chick fil A.
August 10th, 2022 at 4:24 PM ^
Clothed or unclothed?
August 10th, 2022 at 8:31 PM ^
Patricia could certainly push down 40 hot wings.
August 11th, 2022 at 11:30 AM ^
I would watch a show about Campbell and Patricia trying to have a conversation with one another. It's hard to imagine two more opposite football coaches.
August 10th, 2022 at 11:27 AM ^
I am chugging these down by the gallon right now :)
August 10th, 2022 at 3:38 PM ^
Which is August tradition in Michigan.
Then, by Thanksgiving, it's SOL.
August 11th, 2022 at 12:55 AM ^
Does anyone even get their hopes up for the Lions anymore? I guess there were a couple promising years under Caldwell / Stafford that there was some hope but mostly its been about what new ways the Lions might manage to lose games.
August 10th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
This is great.
I don't understand how people hype themselves up so much for the Lions. They are my team and I'm a fan as much as I can be living in a state where I only get to watch them once a year or so. But I learned 20 years ago that believing the hype is bad for your long term health.
If they win, fantastic! But odds are not in our favor.
August 10th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
Don't get me wrong - I learned this same lesson when Eddie Murray, a historically accurate FG kicker, missed a 43 yard FG in the playoffs of the 1983 season. The next 40 years have been The Most Unrelenting Stretch of Dong Punches in NFL History.
But then again, what is the point of being a fan if you can't get excited about your team before the season starts.
August 10th, 2022 at 12:19 PM ^
What I remember most about Murray's miss was Monte Clark holding his hands in prayer on the sideline (and sneaking cigarettes).
August 10th, 2022 at 12:27 PM ^
The one common denominator and source for the fans' misery is the FFF - fucking ford family. 63 years of GLORIOUS incompetence, and counting.
August 10th, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
Obviously there's no defending a franchise with such historic ineptitude as the last 6 decades of the Lions. However....I've always struggled when fans point the finger at the ownership group for their team. Well, at least when the owners are relatively hands off and don't seem to be reknown for being cheap. If you have owners like Jerry Jones or George Steinbrenner meddling in day-to-day affairs or you have tight-fisted owners that let players/coaches/GMs go for financial reasons then I get it.
Other than being just the constant in a half century of suckiness, what have the Fords really done to cause this mess? Theoretically their only job is to hire GMs and approve new contracts?
August 10th, 2022 at 3:19 PM ^
Seems like you answered your own question. If the Fords haven't been able to hire the right GM and approve the right contracts for nigh on 70 years, who else can you blame? God? The Universe? Obama? 20 franchises have won at least one Super Bowl. The Lions have only sniffed it once.
I'm really hoping this is the mix of managers that can change the team's fortune.
August 10th, 2022 at 4:20 PM ^
I keep telling myself Sheila is different. I'm sure that dooms me to many more years of abject disappointment.
August 11th, 2022 at 1:04 AM ^
Exactly. The NFL is a parity driven league. They make it hard to be bad for a long time with draft picks, salary cap, scheduling, etc.
The Ford's hire the most important people and they have failed miserably.
When Rod Wood was hired, his introductory comments were "I don't know much about football, but I know the Ford family"...you aren't their nanny, you were hired to run a football team!
After 5 bad years (Quinn and Patricia), maybe he's figured something out with Holmes and Campbell. We'll see. I like Campbell but like-ability has little correlation with football coaching acumen (almost seems to be negatively correlated in fact).
August 10th, 2022 at 1:31 PM ^
I hated, HATED that they kept calling him Eddie Money later in his career. You aren't money when you miss when it counts the most. Iirc he missed 3 field goals and an extra point that game.
I get excited. I just keep that excitement tempered way way down. Like, I get a new cell phone level of excitement. Anything more than that and you are just a patsy at this point.
August 10th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
I was a little 8 year old boy watching that game at my Uncle's house with my Dad. I started crying when Eddie Murray missed the field goal and they lost.
My Uncle and Dad started laughing hysterically. First at Monte Clark with his hands in the prayer position and secondly at me saying you will understand someday that this is just a typical Lions game. 40 years later and many many more endings like that and they have been absolutely prophetic.
August 10th, 2022 at 4:23 PM ^
So heartwarming Boner. Being endlessly disappointed by the Lions should be passed from grandfather to father to son.
August 10th, 2022 at 2:02 PM ^
I just don't get the Campbell fascination... just another in a long line of clowns to hold that job IMO. I like the GM, love the assistants and think they've got some nice young players developing but I think the HC will prove to be the weak point. I hope they promote Aaron Glenn when Campbell flames out.
August 11th, 2022 at 12:02 AM ^
Campbell was mentored by Sean Payton for 5 seasons. That’s enough for me to think he may be different than the long line of clowns.
August 12th, 2022 at 8:17 AM ^
He started as basically a guy to hang out on the sidelines. He moved up from the bottom. That’s admirable. He was named an interim coach when he was a TE coach. That’s admirable. He clearly has qualities that prior champs like. Parcels and Payton liked the guy and gave him his chance. He’s more than just a rah rah guy but let’s see what happens.
August 10th, 2022 at 11:20 AM ^
August 10th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
I think the Lions like their new teammate
August 10th, 2022 at 12:29 PM ^
EPIC!!!
August 10th, 2022 at 1:56 PM ^
I feel as proud of Hutch as if he was my own son.
August 10th, 2022 at 11:29 AM ^
I'm starting to get strangely good vibes about the Lions. I want to see these guys succeed. The celebration around here would be epic.