Op-Ed: Reactions to the recent Cardinals’ buzz on social media, Part 1: the coaches

What does the future look like for Gannon, Petzing and Rallis?

Idea #1: Cardinals Top Coaches: Jonathan Gannon, Drew Petzing and Nick Rallis and their futures.

Top ROTB member post:

Superb thoughts on Nick Rallis, AZCF!

It’s curious that there appears to be so much more positive buzz from Cardinals’ fans on social media for Jonathan Gannon and Nick Rallis than for Drew Petzing.

Petzing’s offense over the past two seasons has cracked the NFL’s Top 10 in a few offensive rankings, while, as AZ_Cardinals_Fan pointed out so keenly, the Cardinals’ defense has been at or near the bottom of the NFL rankings for the last two years.

Too many Cardinals fans are vastly under-rating how impressive Drew Petzing’s running game has been, almost like people take it for granted. Do you realize how difficult it is in today’s brand of football to get players to make the kind of physical sacrifice and endurance it takes to play a smashmouth style of football?

Think of it this way —- the Cardinals’ running game has been the only aspect of the team’s play the past two seasons that has manifested superior toughness, both mentally and physically. Opposing defenses dread playing against Petzing’s offense because they know they will have to match the Cardinals’ band of slobberknockers up front and in the backfield.

Having such a committed running game has been understandably difficult for Cardinals’ fans to process. For decades we have been treated to high-powered passing games led by prolific QB and WR tandems. That goes way back to “Air Coryell” in the 1970s. Cardinals’ fans are enamored with the picture-perfect post pass. Check out Neil Lomax to Roy Green!

The irony is that the Cardinals had an offensive coach who fit the “Air Coryell” bill in Kliff Kingsbury. Look at his track records with QBs during his college days and now in the NFL:

• 2019: Kyler Murray —- NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
• 2020: Kyler Murray —- Pro Bowl NFC
• 2021: Kyler Murray —- Pro Bowl NFC
• 2022: Kyler Murray —- anomaly
• 2024: Jayden Daniels —- NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Pro Bowl NFC

The fact is, last season, Kyler Murray was showing flashes of his outstanding Pro Bowl level of play she showed during the first 8 weeks of the 2021 season, while helping to lead the 2024 team to a 6-4, NFC West leading record at the bye week. Yet, Murray’s and the team’s level of play wilted after the bye week, going a very disappointing 2-5 down the stretch.

Fact is, in Kyler Murray’s 6 seasons, neither Kliff Kingbury nor Drew Petzing has been able to get consistent, quality play from him after Thanksgiving —- especially when games matter the most.

One of the most profound ironies of Monti Ossenfort’s early days as Cardinals’ GM is his willingness to embrace Kyler Murray as his franchise QB from day one, knowing how Kyler had created such a deep rift among his teammates in the locker room.

If a new GM is going to take that kind of risk at the team’s most important position, wouldn’t the GM want to put the QB in question into the best possible hands? Wouldn’t he want to put the QB into a system that would be the ultimate fit for his particular and unique skillset?

Fact is, Monti did neither. He hired a defensive-minded head coach in Jonathan Gannon, who then hired a rookie offensive coordinator from the run-heavy Kevin Stefanski tree,

What Drew Petzing’s offense requires, seeing as defenses are apt to load the box to defense such a prolific running game. is a QB who can pick apart the middle of defenses off of play action. Picking apart the middle of defenses off of play action, which launching spots between the tackles, has not been the strength of Kyler Murray’s game.

Monti vowed to “align” every coach and player in the system.

Problem is, Petzing’s offense needs at QB and Kyler Murray’s strengths are clearly aligned.

The 2025 questions are —- can Petzing change his offense to be a more QB-friendly system for Kyler? Or can Kyler improve the aspects of his game that can maximize the productivity of Petzing’s offense?

Reasons for Hope

It looks like this off-season that Drew Petzing and Kyler Murray are meeting half-way in an effort to try to highlight the team’s offensive strengths. Here are the ways:

1. Kyler at times has shown that he can float the pocket to create clear passing lanes and the fractions of a second that can lead to pinpoint passes over the middle —- he did so beautifully versus the Eagles in the Cardinals’ huge upset win over the Eagles in 2023. And he did so beautifully versus the Jets in 2024. Against top level defenses in both cases. The question is —- in 2025 will he “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” (Muhammed Ali) more often?
2. Petzing has been significantly upgrading the team’s use of motion, which has Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch, James Conner and Trey Benson all excited.
3. Moving Kyler’s launching points more regularly inside and outside the pocket.
4. Focusing on being able to give Kyler clearer and more open targets on broken, off-schedule plays.

Rallying around Rallis in the Nick of Time?

Top ROTB member post:

Great points about the Vikings and Panthers games, Mach Mel.

Last season, Nick Rallis’ defense played its best during the team’s mid-season winning streak, particularly when S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson and CB Max Melton were starting to hit their strides.

After the bye week, Nick Rallis reverted to starting the veterans who had been out, giving them more snaps than the promising rookies. However, the team’s chemistry in pass coverage after the break was not as keen as it was versus Caleb Williams and Aaron Rodgers before the break.

To make matters worse, giving up big well 100-yard plus rushing performances in losses at home to Seahawks (Zach Charbonnet, 134 yards, 2 TDs) 30-18 and on the road to the then 3-win Panthers (Chuba Hubbard, 152 yards, 2 TDs) 36-30 OT, was a huge letdown.

What has been concerning about Nick Rallis is as an experienced ILB coach, his ILBs in Arizona have been vastly underwhelming, especially in pass coverage. ILBers who have started more than 10 games the past two seasons under Rallis:

• MLB Kyzir White —- 48.8 —- 2024 —- 32,0 coverage grade
• WLB Josh Woods —- 31.8 —- 2023 —- 46.0 coverage grade
• WLB Mack Wilson Sr. —- 63.8 —- 2024 —- 56.8 coverage grade

Kyzir White and Mack Wilson Sr. were the worst ILB tandem in pass coverage in the NFL last season, giving up 85 receptions on 98 targets (86.7%) for 897 yards. Getting beat over the middle in the NFL is a near certain recipe for losing games.

The Cardinals this off-season saw ILB coach Sam Siefkes leave to become the defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech. Jonathan Gannon then replaced him with Cristian Garcia, an assistant defensive backs’ coach for the Cowboys last season. Looks like improving the pass coverage at ILB is one of Nick Rallis’ top priorities.

Another concern is the poor play the coaches been getting from 10+ game starters CBs:

• Marco Wilson —- 41.2 —- 53.0 tackling —- 40.0 pass coverage
• Sean Murphy-Bunting —- 56.5 —- 29.4 tackling —- 53.1 pass coverage

One would think that CB play would be stronger than this, given Jonathan Gannon’s background as a defensive backs coach.

However, on the flip side, 3rd-year CB Garrett Williams has been outstanding in zone coverage:

It’s just odd that in key situations down the stretch with a playoff berth on the line, Nick Rallis did not elect to have Garrett Williams match up in man-to-man versus Justin Jefferson, Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Adam Thielen, particularly on key 3rd and 4th down conversions.

What Nick Rallis did best in 2024 was to involve Budda Baker in gameplans —- which paid huge early dividends in the Cardinals’ Week 2 upset 41-10 win over the Rams when Rallis had Budda run blitzing to stop Kyren Williams in his tracks and had Budda double taming Cooper Kupp in pass coverage. It was the best dismantling of Sean McVay’s vaunted offense that we Cardinals’ fans have ever seen.

Also, Rallis did a very good job in red zone defense percentage by tying for 7th best in the NFL with the Seahawks at 52,63%.

Ralls’ defense has been the true definition of a “bend but don’t break” philosophy.

Reasons for Hope:

1. The influx of veteran defensive talent in free agents ED Josh Sweat, DT Dalvin Tomlinson, DE Calais Campbell, ED Baron Browning and LB Akeem Davis-Gaither.
2. A defensive oriented draft that brought the Cardinals DT Walter Nolen III, CB Will Johnson, ED Jordan Burch, LB Cody Simon, CB Denzel Burke and S Kitan Crawford.
3. With what looks to be a much-improved pass rush, the focus of OTAs became ways in which to create more turnovers.

The question is —- will Nick Rallis abandon the conservative “bend but don’t break” philosophy in favor of being super aggressive in getting after the football?

Coaching Futures:

Top ROTB member post:

Thank you, since61, for your elaborate painting the NFL 2026 head coaching landscape.

The Cardinals under Jonathan Gannon continue to have, by far, the youngest coaching staff in the NFL. The current coaching staff doesn’t have more than 100 years of NFL experience, while the 49ers staff has close to 260. And yet the Cardinals the past two season have been one of the most conservative coaching staffs in the NFL.

Is the combination of a young, inexperienced staff with a conservative type of offensive and defensive schemes a recipe for NFL success?

Patrick Daugherty of NBC Sports has the NFC West head coaches in 2025 ranked:

2025 NFL head coach rankings: RotoPat’s analysis for all 32 teams – NBC Sports

• Sean McVay, LAR, #2
• Kyle Shanahan, SFO, #4
• Mike Macdonald, SEA, #19
• Jonathan Gannon, ARI, #21

The key to the Cardinals’ fortunes this season is how well the Cardinals’ coaching staff can match up versus the far more veteran staffs of the NFC West rivals and of the other opponents’ staffs. So often, the outcomes of NFL games depend on coaches making necessary in-game adjustments at critical junctures in the ballgame.

If the Cardinals make the playoffs this year, then the 3-year rebuild will be deemed successful, especially with regard to the young coaching staff. If the Cardinals disappoint again down the stretch, especially given the high expectations for the Cardinals this year, which of the Cardinals’ coaches will deserve the most scrutiny?

One can imagine that the head coach who refused to hire any experienced head coaches and perhaps did not put the right offensive system in place for Kyler Murray (that is, if Kyler doesn’t take the next big step forward) should be the one most responsible.

The oddsmakers @SportsBettingAG seem to be leaning that way for Jonathan Gannon. Typically, NFL head coaches get 3 years to prove their value. With JG the juice is there —- the question is whether he and his staff have the experience and knowledge of how to win games under pressure.