Cardinals-Lions opposing coaches Nick Rallis, Drew Petzing have ‘a lot of familiarity’

Familiarity will be a factor when the Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions play each other on Sunday.

Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis and Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing go way back, and now, their respective units will go against each other.

Rallis and Petzing were named coordinators for the Cardinals in 2023 when Jonathan Gannon became head coach, but even before that, the two were on Mike Zimmer’s staff with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018 and 2019.

“I’ve probably had as many conversations with him about football as anybody,” Rallis told reporters Thursday. “Just from that offense perspective to defense perspective. How many coordinator meetings we’ve had, going through situational ball. Yeah, there’s a lot of familiarity there.”

While Rallis remained on the Cardinals’ staff after Mike LaFleur came in as head coach, Petzing took his efforts to Detroit to work alongside head coach Dan Campbell and the Lions’ offensive big 3 of quarterback Jared Goff, running back Jahmyr Gibbs and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.

There, he has crafted the NFL’s fourth-highest-scoring offense through four weeks, but the Lions are still just 2-2 thanks to having the 31st-ranked defense in the league.

Thus, Sunday’s game almost feels like a must-win for both teams, and the chess match between Rallis and Petzing will be front and center.

“In the run game, he loves his gaps and his pin-pulls,” Rallis said of Petzing. “In the pass game, he’s always had, to me, a wide variety of things being able to hunt coverages and really attack you in the third level.”

Arizona’s defense — 29th in the NFL — isn’t much better than Detroit’s, so it will be interesting to see if Rallis’ knowledge of Petzing will give it the advantage it needs, or if Petzing’s knowledge of Rallis will doom the Cardinals with another loss.

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