Nick Rallis, Jeff Rodgers, Drew Petzing Press Conference – 10.29.25 | AZ Cardinals

Nick Rallis, Jeff Rodgers, Drew Petzing Press Conference – 10.29.25 | AZ Cardinals

Nick, when you’re facing an offense that obviously is explosive. Yeah. I’m guessing you don’t approach it a lot differently, but do you need to approach it somewhat differently? No, I mean, I don’t think you approach it differently. I mean, you’re looking at what do we have to do to win the game? Um, but you know, what’s your point is they are they are a high power offense um that really across the across the board. Um, the roster is really good and I would say everyone’s playing at a really high level and they can beat you multiple ways. Clayton coaches up so well up front for every offensive line. I think, you know, from a schematic standpoint, it’s the like not just creativity, but there is intention to what they do in the run game and how they’re trying to either capture you or create movement. Um, and so, you know, I think he does a really good job of understanding where people are going to be up front and what that can do with combinations and getting movement where he wants to get movement. But then it’s just, you know, that’s great, but if the execution’s not there, it doesn’t matter. And, you know, he does a really good job of getting those guys executing at a high level. And it’s a it’s a good group across the board, too. So, they got big guys that can move you up front. We got to challenge up front. You uh you talked a few times about how much you like what Garrett brings to the table when he plays. When he does get back to the field, does that allow you to do some things that maybe you have not been able to do because he’s available? Um, no. I mean, people that have stepped in, whether that’s JT playing the nickel spot or Rabbit filling in for JT in the safety spot, um, it hasn’t hindered us at all, like in terms of what we can do just because of what their skill sets are, um, and what their mental capabilities are. Um, but obviously Garrett’s also a really good player and so, um, you know, it’s, you know, good to see him back out there on the practice field, um, because he can help us win games. You guys, what are the selfouting the buy tell you about the strengths of this defense and what the points of emphasis will be moving forward. Um it’s not like one overarching and I’ve I’ve found the light. Um you know like there’s there’s so many things that you just got to marginally do better. Um some things you know you got to look at play calling. Um you got to look at how you set up a plan. You know those are like things in my seat that I can really have control over and and improve on. Um, and then there’s things that how can we coach better and how can we get the players to execute better. Um, whether that is understanding of the scheme or the techniques involved or just the basic fundamentals of the game, tackling and taking the ball away. So, there’s a lot of layers to it and we kind of divvied things up. Um, I thought the position coaches did a really good job of digging in and and what can I do better to help my players play at a higher level and you know, if everyone marginally gets better, it’s going to it’s going to lead to better results. Seems like there’s a chance that this could be the healthiest your group has been since week one or maybe even all season. What does that do for this unit to have some of those guys? I mean, simple answer is, you know, you got good players on the field. Um that’s that’s always good. Um but yeah, we’ll take it day by day and and see what we have. You know, we’re still working through that the throughout the entire week. Um we’ll still have our meetings today on um what could potentially come comes uh Monday night. I almost said Sunday, Monday. Um but anytime you can get, you know, high level players out there, it’s going to help you win games. You said it didn’t change a ton not having Garrett out there, but we haven’t seen you use that dime stuff as much since week one. used it a ton. Was that just because it was the game plan against the Saints or was that related to Garrett going out? Yeah, there’s there’s a handful of things that go into just the different personnel packages that we use. Um, you know, sometimes it’s it is personnel driven. Um, sometimes it can be within that game plan of how much of that dime specifically did you have up? Um, you know, that’s it’s not just dime too. that’s that’s every week of every different package, you know, versus these different situations and personnel groups that they present. How dense is that menu? Um, but then also too, just how did the game unfold, you know, and and you know, that that game specifically with New Orleans happened to, you know, come down to a couple two-minute drives at the end and, you know, we we used dime as a two-minute group that week. Um, you know, and there were some other kind of unique pass situations where we we went to it. So, you know, sometimes it’s personnel driven and, you know, having Garrett in there is nice, but I also think like the guys we had in there like that never deterred me from going to dime. Um, so it’s just game plan driven and then within the game, how much are you pulling it? You might not know until the games flowing. Kind of going back to the reflection and evaluation you guys were able to do over the bye-week. Do you feel that you were able to find answers to the struggles you guys might have had in the fourth quarter through the first seven games? Yeah. Um, you know, whether or not I found the answers, we’ll see. Um, but that’s definitely something that we looked at is how can we close out games better? And, um, you know, I thought JG even did it from a holistic team perspective, did a good job the other day of of talking through, you know, final parts of the game are very situationally driven and um, how can we how can we close those games out? What do you think is is causing that of the stuff that is not classified? Um I I think again there’s not necessarily something that’s going to you know be oh if this just happens it’s going to happen. There’s a lot of marginal things that you could do better. Um not necessarily going to share what you know marginally I want to change in terms of you know setting up a plan or play calling but um there are definitely some things that we feel like we could tweak a little bit to help us out there. What has Walt shown you in practice last week or so? Yeah, I I think he’s the number one thing that he’s shown is that he has been working really hard um when he hasn’t been able to be out there in practice in terms of obviously physically getting back to the state he’s in. Um he does not look like he’s tired or out of shape out there. So, he’s been working, but also just the the being able to go out there and execute our stuff um has been impressive because it’s it’s hard to be out for that long and execute from a mental perspective at a high level just because even if you are working hard at it, there is something different to being out there. You know, I always tell players like if I had to go out there, like don’t get me wrong, like I I know this stuff very well in the classroom. If I had to go out there and with live bullets, like it’s it’s hard to do. So, he’s done a really good job with that. It just speaks to his work ethic and speaks to his intelligence. What’s it mean to get BJ back out there this week? Um, you know, kind of multiple things. Um, because it’s been a long process and and he’s put a lot of work in. Um, and it’s it’s always hard. Like injuries are hard. Um, they’re hard from a physical perspective. They’re hard from a mental perspective. And so, it’s a battle. It’s a battle with every guy. and and I know he’s he’s been in that battle. Um and to finally get him back out there practicing is is awesome for just the work that he’s put in. Um and then the player, you know, like it’s a long time ago when that injury happened, but man, he was playing at a high level for us. And I’ve told him, I’m said, when you’re getting back, you’re coming back to this high level. Um so it’ll it won’t be just a shoot back, right? There’s ups and downs on your return. Um, but there’s there’s I’m happy to have him back out there for him for what he’s put in to to get back to this point. Um, but then also just the player that he is to help us win games. Said that he was staying sharp in the classroom BJ was. Was that something that he does on his own or is that something you and the coaching staff intentionally do? Both. Um, you know, that was something that we very intentionally wanted to make sure that he was getting his extra work and you know when we told him that it was kind of like a little bit confused like yeah what else what other option was there? So, it’s both. Um, you know, he is a pros pro, so is that was going to happen, I think, regardless of whether we said anything. It’s a good amount of balanced offense as already this year, but maybe not as prolific wide receiver rooms specifically as the Cowboys have with CD Lamb and George Piggins. What do you stress the most to your DBs against two number one receivers who they use in a lot of different places? win your hard downs. You know, you’re not going to go through a whole game of taking away two guys. Um, that’s a really hard thing to do. And when you do that, you’re going to put stress on other spots. So, again, we’ll never go into a game with you’re going to have stress 100% of the game or we’re going to take stress off you 100% of the game. So, when those guys have those stressful downs, which they will, um, go win, you know, and if if those guys get their plays, which they’re high level football players, that happens in the NFL, let’s bounce back and respond. Um, so yeah, good receivers. Sorry. What have you learned about Walt after finally seeing him on the field for the for the first time? Um, what have I learned about him? You know, I mean, obviously he we got to see him back in the spring, too. Um, well, you know, just worried about how can he improve every day. Um, you know, is he a talented player? Yes, he is. So, but there’s a lot of work to do to to get him to hit his ceiling still. When you when whenever he does play, do you need to kind of work him in a little bit at a time or do you feel like you can throw him in kind of um that’s something we’ll work through with with it’s not just my decision there, you know, Monty, JG, and our whole performance staff. Um Drew, Shay, and on and what’s best for his health. Um um but from a mental perspective, there is no There’s no restriction. Um, just he’s he’s puts in a lot of work and he’s really smart. It seems like there have been some moments the past few games where on third and fourth down you guys are playing a decent bit off the sticks in pass coverage. That’s not like being in the stadium it seems to be like what are they doing there? But what goes into that? I imagine it’s not as simple as it as it seems. Yeah, I think you’re talking like third and medium shorter medium situations. Yeah, I mean it it’s it’s a balance. There’s definitely times that you want to be, you know, contesting and taking things away. Um, but it’s a balance at times because if you just if you live in that the whole time, people know how to find answers to that as well. So, it’s a combination and you got to try to pick your spots. Um, you got to be able to coach those underneath zones really well to where it’s not just completion, completion, completion, right? Because they do provide benefit. They change the picture for the quarterback. Um, but you got to play it with the right technique in order to not allow an easy access, an uncontested play that allows them to keep the drive going. So, um, sorry, that was a long-winded answer right there, but yeah, that’s I think that’s kind of what you’re getting at, right? Like you, why are you playing why are you not playing press man all the time on those situations? You got to have you got to be able to do both. Will Johnson, big picture, what have you like the most so far and what do you have, you know, through the rest of the season in particular? Um, well, just like every player, like he’s got his things that we want to improve on. Um, keep that between Will and and his coaches. Um, but, you know, I think he’s done a really good job of playing against some really good receivers and and contesting throws and, you know, showing color on color and not giving access and taking away, you know, throws for quarterbacks whether the ball goes that way or not. So, he’s done a really good job. um super intelligent to where we can put a lot on his plate with little details within a game plan, too. So, that’s been awesome to work with him in that regard. This past game, long time ago now, but it seems like Darius was getting to the quarterback more than he has. Where is his growth come throughout this season? Getting I mean, you know, I was just talking to JJ about this like he didn’t necessarily have the entire year, right? So, I it’s in my head like this guy’s, you know, he’s been here forever, but it’s still hasn’t played a whole season in the NFL and I can just tell the comfort level’s getting higher. Um, and what I mean by that is you can see he’s playing fast and that’s in the run game and in his pass rush. So, you know, again, things to improve on for his game, but I do see him he he plays aggressive, he plays confident, he plays very fast. Um he is a he’s a big part of our front without a doubt. How big of a difference does that make when you got a guy like that with that skill set that’s not thinking as much and just like you said reacting and playing fast? Yeah, I mean the the game is one up front. Um obviously that’s not to take take away the back end. Um but yeah, you you want your front playing fast and aggressive like it it is a combat sport and things happen in the trenches that much faster. So, if there is any kind of hesitation, um, you’re done. Like, you can’t win. That the the offensive linemen in this league are too good. So, you know, it starts with this and then this following it. Um, and when you can get to that point where you’re playing fast and free, you’re able to play with more motor and violence and go out there and make more plays. Can I ask you this question on getting away from Daniel Jones being in New York when you were in Philly? And I know that the Cowboys coaching staff and personnel has had quite a bit of turnover since you were in the NFC East, but what do you see from Dak Prescott from having had to game plan against him a handful of times that maybe we don’t see when watching the games? A lot of respect because I think he is as tough as they get um and as smart as they get. And like what I see with Dak is arm talent, pocket presence, ability to move and and evade pressure. Yes, that you can see that to the naked eye. But just his ability to undress a defense with his cadence and get him in the right calls and um understand when he is hot or when he does have to stand in there, as we would maybe say, he’s warm and he’s getting hit and he just standing delivers and makes makes throws. Um it is high level quarterback play. So, you know, I would say with what he’s able to get pre- snap, um, in order to put his 10 other guys in an optimal down, um, and then for him to be able to go execute it and put the ball where it needs to be, it’s impressive. talked about the the long field goals that are going on in the league right now, a lot of them. I remember talking to Chad earlier at one point and he kind of has this feeling like he thinks the kickers already always all the kickers kind of always had that in them. It was just a question of getting teams to be comfortable enough to try some of these given the downside if you miss them. Do you think there’s something to that? I think teams are more comfortable kicking longer field goals because you’re seeing guys try them and make them. And when you see your guy has as good a leg as somebody else, that guy’s having success. I think it and you see it in practice, right? Um I think teams are more willing to do that. I I also think down and distance comes into play, situation of the game comes into play or up, you’re down. Is it fourth and two? Is it fourth and 12? um all those factors kind of play in, but um you see some teams are kind of more willing to do that because in this day and age of analytics like teams want touchdowns, not field goals. So if there’s an opportunity to continue drive and potentially get in the end zone, um that’s what some teams want to do. along that down distance thing. It does feel like at least with field goals, it’s gotten a little bit different because um more teams seem like they are going to go for it in certain situations and take out what used to be a okay, it’s fourth and two, we’re automatically going to kick this and now we’re not. Does that change your job or how you approach anything with how that’s kind of evolved? I don’t think so. On game day, we have our indicators indicators on, you know, is the kicker coming out of the net? You know, what’s the conversation between their coaches? Who’s coming on the field? Are they linemen? Are they, you know, receivers? They just changing personnel. Um, you know, you’re always reacting off of what other people do in that situation. um you know for it’s all stuff that you normally do but like I go back I don’t know sometimes 10 years and look at uh how teams are are rushing in that situation or you look at a guy with extensive field goal history of longer field goals is the trajectory of the ball you know any different because most kickers would tell you that whether they’re kicking a 20- yard kick an extra point or a 60 the yarder. It’s the same thing, right? It’s like a golf swing. Do I have my nine iron in my hand or do I have my three iron? Like, it’s the exact same swing um at the ball. And but there are some guys who uh that would not be true, right? Some guys if they’re going to kick a 66 yard, they may crow hop into it and um the ball may come out low. You look at those types of things and obviously when a guy has more extensive um history and attempts at those things, there’s there’s more of a pattern with some guys. Dallas’s kicker, Aubrey, is one of those guys that has the that massive leg. Does that put any additional pressure maybe knowing that that kicker has that ability? No, I wouldn’t say pressure. I I think that, you know, it it kind it may change how you play their offense defensively, right? Like are they in range? Are they not in range? Like some teams they get to the 50 like they need they need extra more yards whereas they may attempt it um you know into half in a game situations. I don’t I don’t think it changes much with us. I would say that, you know, you give that player the respect like he’s attempting a 64 yard kick in a game. Most of the time with most kickers, there’s a returner sitting back there waiting on it. Not with that guy. Like it’s not going to be short. So, um, that’s one thing you kind of take out of the equation. The offensive and defensive coaches this week have talked about using the by-week as a self scout. you already watch every special team snap across the league or is there are there still things that you can use the by-week for that that you don’t have time for during the regular week? Uh in a regular week I wouldn’t go back and watch all of our snaps. I’m watching the previous game. I know what happened that kind of week week before your roster evolves. So sometimes um what happened last week doesn’t really pertain to this week. Um there were things that I try not to get too far ahead. You have an opponent this week on a longer week, right, with Dallas. Um you kind of get ahead on Dallas. You may flash ahead a couple games if there’s some unique things with those opponents. Um to spend a little time on to kind of deep think those things. But but your roster changes every single week. So something that might be a good idea X and know wise uh if you don’t have a certain you know body type up in a game that might not might not be uh as good. But yeah I mean there’s you take a deep dive on some of the teams that are doing some things well in some certain phases and see if you can’t incorporate some of those ideas. You know we hijack ideas from other people. I see some of our stuff show up on tape with other people. Um it’s a copycat league. So if if somebody’s doing something well um that we can incorporate, you know, we want to do that. How long does it take you to go through a whole season’s worth of film through seven weeks? Depends on what you’re looking for. You know, if you’re looking at everything um say roughly 10 hours last week looking at our own stuff. One clip was here. You always talk about like looking at like NIA schools and JO schools like high school. Do you do you do that? Like is that how far you go with like seeing what other people are doing or do you kind of stick to like college and the NFL? Interesting question. Um on a weekly basis I’m normally looking at NFL stuff only. Uh we happen to have a by-week, right? So there is a Saturday worth of watching football and college stuff. Um, there were a couple college games that I fished out of our archive from the other day that I was looking at some ideas. Uh, wanted to know kind of how teams were doing different things that you don’t see every day in in Pro Football on a weekly basis. I don’t go anywhere but the NFL, but there are some one-off, i.e. extra time stuff where um you know if you see something flash by on TV a lot of times they don’t have the right camera angle to say you know what actually happened from a schematic standpoint but um yeah I I did go look at some stuff this week or today in terms of what you found um if the findings are are classified the what um was there anything of significance is there anything that really stood out when you went back through and conducted that review I’d say it’s all significance Um I I don’t know that there’s like a massive scheme change coming or uh or anything like that. Like what what what you’re able to do, especially when we have the players in like we had meetings on Monday, we had meetings on Tuesday, is you’re always trying to get them prepared for what they’re going to see on game day. And when you have time, because we still have a regular week going into Monday night, you have time to spend time with them on here are the things that people are looking at us like we need to do this part a little bit better. Um or this keeps showing up on tape. Nobody’s, you know, looked at it yet. We haven’t kind of been attacked there, but it’s coming. And I kind of spin the meeting towards, hey, here’s how we’re attacking our opponent this week. on Monday and Tuesday it was here’s what people are looking at it you know for us so um this is probably coming this week next week the the following week somebody’s going to try this so uh we got to get this fixed come up against a defense that I’m guessing you see a lot of talent on however they have struggled a bit in terms of stopping teams. Does that ever change the approach how a offense coordinator looks at it when the other side might be struggling a little bit? No, I as you said, it’s a National Football League. They’re going to be prepared to play. They’re going to play with a ton of energy and a ton of juice. You know, I’ve gone against Matt EFloo a number of times. Have a ton of respect for him as a coordinator. So, uh it does not change the approach in any way, shape, or form. Uh if you should get Kyler back, what can that do for this offense? the things that you’ve seen him do over his, you know, really over what, seven years of his career and just in terms of the the playmaking ability, the arm talent, the ability to make plays off schedule. Uh, so many things that he does well, I think make us dynamic. The two games of Jacob that can carry over this week. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there’s things that guys have done well that we’ve done well as an offense that you’re going to continue to emphasize. I know we’ve talked about it in here. I don’t think the offense is going to change one way or the other dramatically. J mentioned giving everyone homework going into the buy. So, the self-reflection and self scouting you did during that time. What were your biggest takeaways from this offense? This make I’m not going to get into the details of many of them in here, which which I know you guys understand. Uh, but it is that that’s it’s it’s one of the few times during the season where you have a little bit of extra time to take some time and evaluate that. I mean, you do it every week, but you also have to put a plan together. And then during the buy, you get a little bit more chance to pull it apart, watch some other things around the league, talk to some other people. So, uh, that was a big part of my homework and something that I take very seriously. uh you know there’s certain things that we want to do well and maybe emphasize more. There’s other things we want to emphasize less and there’s other things that say hey they haven’t hit but we’re close and we can change some of the details. I think it’s it’s a combination of those three things. I know you’re not getting into the details, but I’m curious like when you come to those larger breaks, because you’re always kind of analyzing, I’m sure, when you come to those larger breaks, are there things that you come across that you didn’t realize when you had less time to look at it, or is it always going to be something that you kind of already knew, but now that you pull it apart a little bit more, you can go a little bit more in depth on how you’re analyzing? Probably the latter more than anything. I think anytime you get, as you said, when you get that extra time, it’s you have those ideas in your head, you’re maybe able to dive a little deeper and make maybe an adjustment or two more because you have the time to really make sure it’s the right adjustment and fits the way you do things. Anytimes in your in your career that you can remember that, you know, that kind of by-week self scout is has really paid off for an offense you’ve been with. I mean, I’d like to think it pays off every year. You know, you always want to come out of that extra time and feel like you’re doing something better. You’re improving. You’re I mean, that’s the goal every single day you walk in the building. And I think the more time you have to focus on certain things, you you hope you see that result. And I think I have throughout my career. You say that there are some things you feel like you’re close on and some things maybe don’t want to emphasize. What tells you the difference of this isn’t working, but we’re close or this isn’t working how we want, we’re not going to emphasize it. It’s similar to the way you come out of a game to some extent. So, you know, they’re I’m not going to give an specific example necessarily, but if there’s something you’re doing and it’s like that’s the look we want, that’s we’re doing it right and it’s just it’s not hidden and it’s not producing and it’s not getting the results that we need. All right. that may be something we need to do less of. Where there’s other times you’re like, we had it and the timing was off or something didn’t quite match and we can fix that and we think we’ll get the result we want. Then maybe you continue to do that and tweak it a little bit or even emphasize it more. Do you treat the buy in terms of preparing for the next opponent like you would the first game of the season where you have extra time to do Like do you start preparing for the Cowboys or did you like last week or is it you spend probably more time on yourself than you do on the opponent but you do have a little bit of time to get ahead. I think there’s always that there’s a fear too to me with extra time and you go into the first game of like hey we’re going to do all these things and we can do all it’s like you’re still playing 60 minutes of football against an opponent with the same rules like there there’s the risk of doing too much I think when you do that too. So I think it’s finding a balance. One thing that jumps out with you guys this year is last year you were one of the best screen passing teams in the league and this year you’ve been much less effective. What do you think the reasons for that are? I I think it’s a combination of things. I think you know again to be good in the screen game. It it takes you know a good cell up front great on the perimeter and then guy with the ball in his hands got to make the play and it’s scheme organization and timing of the call. I think all those things go into it and it’s always something that we want to be good at. It seems like a lot of times they’re getting chased out by the defensive lineman. How do you pre like watching that it’s like, “Oh, that’s a great play by the defensive line.” What are the things you can do offensively to prevent that guy from from being able to chase down the play? I I think some of it is execution of the actions that go with that, right? So, if he’s playing the quarterback and not playing the screen, screen game is better. Or if he’s playing the screen, the pass game may be better, right? So, there’s a give and take, I think, to that in a number of different ways. a year and a half into Mar’s NFL career, what are some things that you see from him that you’re like, “All right, this guy was groomed for this job.” Like he was trained his whole life for this. I I think and we’ve talked about it a lot. Just just the the dayto-day is to me where you notice it the most. Like just the way that he prepares during the week, the way that he talks about the game, uh how he is in the building, how he is in the meeting room. I I think so many of those things show up and it’s those little things to me that that really show you that. Anything from a physical standpoint from like an actual on field thing that that stands out for me. I mean, I think you you see the talent, the physicality, the size, the movement skills. I think that’s always been the case to some extent. Um, and I think people saw that throughout his career up to this point. So, uh, you know, I don’t know if that’s maybe what you’re kind of getting at. When you look at the season to date and just the injuries, you know, top two running backs, two blocking tight ends, you know, playing quarterback, too. In what ways have you had to evolve or adapt the offense, sort of its identity so far? I I think injuries play a massive role in that and they always will. That’s the that’s the nature of the NFL. As guys go down, you have to emphasize the guys that make you dynamic and whoever your best players become, they need to make, you know, as a co as a coach, as a coordinator, you need to make sure they’re affecting the game. And, you know, as you said, when you lose two tight ends, you lose two running backs, it’s definitely going to change your perspective on what that may look like.

DC Nick Rallis, Assistant HC Jeff Rodgers, OC Drew Petzing, address the media midweek ahead of Week 9 against the Cowboys.

Nick Rallis: 0:00
Jeff Rodgers: 15:04
Drew Petzing 23:04

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