Detroit Lions on 'Hard Knocks': Dan Campbell's pants speech, rookie struggles, victory in Indy

The closer the NFL season gets, the more important the details become.

That's why Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell walked into the team room in front of his players after the preseason loss to the Atlanta Falcons to begin Episode 3 of HBO's "Hard Knocks" and held up a folded pair of pants that appeared to have debris on it.

"Here's the one thing man that just irritated me about (the first preseason game) — in the critical moment we controlled that game, we had control of this game and we gave it away," he said. "Was that them, or us? That was us."

That's where the analogy began.

"You've done some hard work, you got dirt all over your freaking jeans, warmups, whatever and it's just full of this stuff. To me that's the (expletive). That's all the stuff that's kept us from winning. We're going places man. There's no doubt about it man. You can already see it. I've got a (expletive) clear vision for where this team is going. But I know this, if we want to go where we really want to go we got to get all the rest of this (expletive) (expletive) out of our stuff man," he said as he shakes out the pants and dust flies everywhere. " All of this dirt ... this last bit of losing has got to get out of here. The (expletive) that (expletive) crushes us that costs you a game, costs you a season, costs you the playoffs, costs you a championship game, costs you a Super Bowl.

"That's the (expletive) we've got to get out. When we've got a game and we own that game, we finish that game."

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Two new rookies

In this episode, we see plenty on two players who seem to be on the outside looking in at a final roster spot.

The first player was offensive lineman Obinna Eze — he sat in an ice bath adjacent to Aidan Hutchinson in Episode 1 explaining why despite having offers from SEC schools and Michigan, he chose to go to Memphis.

The second, Muskegon,Michigan, native and former Central Michigan star Kalil Pimpleton.

Eze, a native of Nigeria who moved to Nashville in 2015 after getting recruited to play basketball, explained it was his foster family who suggested he try football. Not only did he fall in love immediately, he saw it as a way to reach his goal.

"I think the biggest thing that I've been looking forward to all seven years I've been in America is the opportunity and being able to afford to go back home to Nigeria to see my mom, see my dad," the 6-foot-8, 325-pound 24-year-old said. "I haven't been able to do that ever since I came to America."

The transition to football is still happening for Eze. In the first preseason game when David Blough says "kill, kill," he asks Kevin Jarvis "kill what?"

"Kill alert," Jarvis responded.

Eze gave up a sack, much to the dismay of his wife, Yazmeen, also featured prominently in the episode.

Later, offensive line coach Hank Fraley grilled  Eze in the film room after he didn't go all the way through a repetition in a one-on-one drill.

"Eze don't just get through the drill. You're so (expletive) tired ... I don't care how hard it was getting, I know what I'm putting you through," Fraley said. "Who are you cheating? Who are you cheating? Who are you cheating!?"

"Nobody," Eze replies.

"You're cheating yourself!" Fraley barks back.

That's contrasted by Pimpleton, who is introduced in the same way as Hutchinson and Malcolm "Rodrigo" Rodriguez — his rookie introduction in the team room. But unlike the formers, who sang and danced their way through their performances, Pimpleton pulls out some tennis balls.

While much of the team boos early on, Pimpleton turns them into cheers as he goes from normal juggling, to going behind his back and under his legs and later throwing them so high in the air he has enough time to clap before they land.

After Campbell gives his 'O and D' order, it highlights the speedster on the field. From breaking long returns on special teams, to beating Jeff Okudah on a combination route, it shows Pimpleton's athleticism.

"Little thing for you; in group when you ran that spear, that deep cross, don't jump unless you have to," Campbell said to him. "The greatest asset you've got is your feet, your quickness, so why would you want your feet off the ground if you don't have to?"

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A tale of two days in joint practices

Before the team went to Indianapolis for its joint practices and preseason game with the Colts, Campbell stressed the importance of the week to his team.

"This is everything man," he said. "These two days mean everything to me. So paint your faces, start (expletive) sharpening the spears, because these two days are it. I don't want to say it means more than the game, but it's big.

"I want to know when we come out of this, we know who we're going to war with. I want us toeing the (expletive) line gentlemen ... I don't want you to cross that line, I don't want fights, man. If you start an all out brawl, you're done, you're out and your evaluation is over. But I do want us (expletive) going ... we're looking for warriors man. This is it."

On Day 1, the Lions didn't live up to the standard. While in some cases it wasn't for lack of effort — see Jamaal Williams against Zaire Franklin — but Detroit was dominated on both sides of the ball.

While running backs coach Duce Staley tried to scream at his players about their lack of performance, he lost his voice.

While listening to a man who normally owns the room squeak through an emboldened speech where he's clearly upset was entertaining, he certainly didn't think so at the time.

"We got our (expletive) ass kicked and that's not up to our (expletive) standards, so if you like what the (expletive) happened today, you don't need to (expletive) be here," he shouted. "We wasn't attacking, we wasn't catching the (expletive) ball, we wasn't hitting the (expletive) hole.

"What the (expletive)? That's not what the (expletive) we're about, so you better pick this (expletive) up, especially when you get tired. Stop feeling sorry for your (expletive) selves."

Day 2 was much better. Maybe it was because comedian Josh Adams, a Detroit native, lightened the mood after Day 1. He joked about Alex Anzalone looking like Thor, Campbell still looking like the biggest person on the field and Hutchinson looking like "a big, strong Backstreet Boy."

Whatever it was, it worked. The Lions' offense shredded the Colts defense on Day 2 and the defense came up with a number of consecutive stops in a red zone drill that got Campbell fired up.

"I do know this, I walked over there for the goal-line rep defense and I saw you stuff their (expletive) ass," he said. "I do (expletive) know that ... I love that competitiveness."

Craig Reynolds' long distance call

In between practice and the game, we see perhaps the deepest moment yet of the series. Running back Craig Reynolds makes a FaceTime call to his older brother, Eric.

After the two joke about one another's appearance, you find out that Eric can't just stop by to see his younger brother play.

"He's been in prison since I was sixth grade, since I was 12. He's never seen me play a football game," Reynolds said. "He's still a role model, it just shows you what not to do. We have a great relationship still, calls me all the time, we talk ... it's about life it's about everything.

"We only get a certain amount of time so it puts everything in perspective for sure."

Eric tells his younger brother how he's made enough mistakes for more than 1,000 people, so it's up to Craig to "keep moving forward," which is exactly what you see him do on the field.

Snapping the streak

Reynolds gets the start at running back — D'Andre Swift and Williams, both certainties to make the roster, didn't dress — and he makes a catch and breaks off a few big runs before Staley tells him he's done for the day.

Pimpleton made a few catches (three for 23 yards) as his mother and step-father cheer him on from the sideline, before Blough connects with Tom Kennedy at the end of the first half to tie the game.

Tim Boyle comes out in the second half and again connects on a score to Kennedy on the first drive of the third quarter.

The Lions then put together an 18-play, 85-yard touchdown drive that lasted nearly nine minutes in the fourth quarter to take the lead — one of the key plays, a nice block from Eze that allowed Boyle to step up in the pocket and scramble on third down to move the chains.

While the defense did give up a touchdown on the next drive, it stopped the two-point conversion as the Lions snapped their eight-game preseason losing streak.

"There is nothing like winning. I'm telling you right now it doesn't matter if it's freaking dominoes, spades, boo-ray, croquet, chess, it's preseason; ass-kicking it does not matter men," Campbell said. "Winning is winning and we needed to taste that, because that's where we're going.

"Stay true to who we are and what we're about and if you do that men, good things are going to happen to us."

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on twitter at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hard Knocks with the Lions: From prison calls to film room call outs