‘Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Detroit Lions’ Episode 2 Recap: Drilling Down Into the Roster, Barry Sanders Nostalgia and a Fatal Fumble

“Gol-LY man!” He said it multiple times: “Gol-LY!”

David Blough – pronunciation guide: “Blough” as in “Mr. Blough, that’s my name, that name again is Mr. Blough” – blew it and he knew it. The Detroit Lions’ backup quarterback fumbled the snap late in the fourth quarter of the first preseason game, turning the ball over to the Atlanta Falcons, who marched downfield for a score and a victory.

Gol-LY: A lament among so many laments over so many years of Lions futility. Blough has only been a Lion for three years; those of us who’ve been following the team for 20 or 30 or 40 tend to be more profane in our angry vociferations. Blough enjoyed significant screen time in the second episode of Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Detroit Lions, which saw the series shift its attention from coach Dan Campbell, the Mad Weeper, the Lovable Lunk, the Mangler of Metaphor, and drill into the roster.

So the QB, battling for a backup spot behind Jared Goff, was miced up for the game, and subject of a mini-profile that included the accomplishments of his wife Melissa Gonzalez, a hurdler who competed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Sitting in the stands during the game, she looked on with worry after her hubby’s butterfingers play. We see them hug after the game, and exchange I-love-yous. Is Blough one of the classic Hard Knocks on-the-cusp players, a play or two away from being cut?

The episode opened with some – groan – Lions history: Some funny old archival city-of-Detroit promo footage, a bit about the championship teams of the 1950s, a shot of Alex Karras turning a QB into pudding in the ’60s, and thankfully nothing about the sucky ’70s, or the execrable ’80s, or awful ’00s. As for the ’90s? Hall-of-famer Barry Sanders, hero of the last Lions team to win a single lonely playoff game, stopped by camp to boost morale, and give producers an excuse to share some of his highlights. You know, the ones we’ve seen a thousand times and could see a thousand times more: Remember the one where he juked the pancreas right out of John Lynch? The one where he turned that Dallas Cowboy into a discombobulated pretzel-man? The one where he squirted out of a giant pile of Chicago Bears who thought they’d tackled him? That guy was amazing for so many mediocre teams!

But those were the relative glory days. Key word, relative. Oh so painfully relative. The focus here is on the current team, who narrator Liev Schreiber says are living up to the old adage, Detroit vs. Everybody. The show digs into some of the chip-on-the-shoulder guys who are out to prove themselves:

• Linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, nicknamed “Rodrigo” by linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard, who likes to hit guys so hard, their mamas have to take a Tylenol. He’s a rookie sixth-round pick who Sheppard calls out in the meeting room for outplaying everyone at the position. During a film session, Sheppard tells his players that a coach who’s been with the Lions for five years hasn’t seen a linebacker play like that. You sure it ain’t been 10 years? Fifteen?
• Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, the second-year man who set Lions rookie receiving records in 2021. His dad, two-time Mr. Universe John Brown, is his personal trainer. And Dad doesn’t go easy on him. Amon-Ra lists, from memory, all the receivers picked prior to him in the draft. There are a lot. Sixteen of them. Last season was great. But it isn’t enough.
• Running back D’Andre Swift, who in his third year is poised to be a star. That’s why running backs coach and Jawmaster General Duce Staley is going hard on him. Swift had a few good runs in the opening drive of the preseason game. He scored a touchdown on a damn fine nine-yard run and he comes off the field and Staley chews him out for the mistake he made six plays prior. How do we interpret the look on his face? He’s under a lot of pressure. Can he handle it?
• Defensive end Aidan “Hutch” Hutchinson, the wunderkind rookie and first-round draft pick we met last week. You know, the rich Michigan-born kid who got richer after being picked second overall. The kid who a-cappella’d “Billie Jean” in front of the team. The kid who made a few nice plays during the game – LET’S GO – as his family watched from a luxury box at Ford Field. Meanwhile, St. Brown’s family sat in the stands with the plebes. (John Brown noticed – that’s what a $23 million signing bonus gets you, he points out.) Hutch’s mom and sisters sport Honolulu blue manicures, which must look a-mayyy-zing on Instagram.

Of course, these guys are all locks to make the team. Hard Knocks hasn’t checked in on the bottom of the roster, where the scrappy kids fighting for a job as a special teams player exist. Also, nothing on Devin Funchess yet, a slamdunk comeback story about a Michigan-born veteran trying to make a comeback after not playing for two years? And nothing on Chris Spielman, the colorful and outspoken former Lion and badass among badasses who now works in the front office? Maybe next week.

We see less of Campbell in episode two – although we are subject to him getting all worked up and winded during a team meeting, during which he says he’s “not tryin’ to be a turd” – so there’s a lower high-entertainment nutball-factor this week. Staley keeps stealing scenes, starting QB Jared Goff still is mostly limited to reaction shots (the former Los Angeles Ram was on Hard Knocks twice previously, so maybe producers are sick of him), and delightful running back Jamaal Williams only gets an under-the-end-credits snippet in which he tells a joke: “What do you call James Bond taking a bath? Bubble-o seven.” Gol-LY. Here’s hoping he gets a full 15-minute standup set before the season’s over.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.

Stream Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Detroit Lions on HBO Max