Shortly before the news broke Monday, Amon-Ra St. Brown got a text from Dan Campbell that the Lions were hiring Drew Petzing as their new offensive coordinator. St. Brown didn't know much about Petzing, but had heard good things from Jared Goff and trusted Campbell's judgement. Then he hopped online when the hire was announced and "bro, I see crazy Lions fans talking crazy, like, ‘Why would we do this?'" St. Brown said this week on his podcast.
"Bro, do you guys have no trust in Dan? In the Lions? You think they would just hire a random dude? Like, be for real," said St. Brown. "You don’t think they know what they’re doing, they don’t do their research, they don’t interview? Most of you guys really don’t much about anything, about any ball, and you’re tweeting about a coach that was hired that you guys don’t like because of X, Y, Z. It’s just funny to me to see. Don’t get me wrong, I love all Lions fans. But they are so quick to make judgments about who we hired, about (why) we did this. Like, bro, just relax. Calm down. Let the whole thing play out. Just relax, that’s all I gotta say. Relax, man, relax."
The hire was met with skepticism and scorn in the Lions' fanbase largely because Petzing isn't a household name like Mike McDaniel, who interviewed for the Lions' OC job but took the same position with the Chargers instead. Petzing, on the other hand, hadn't been reported as a candidate in Detroit, and the Cardinals' offense didn't exactly set the world on fire during his three seasons as coordinator.
But Arizona did boast one of the NFL's best rushing attacks over Petzing's first two seasons before they were ravaged by injuries this season. Pounding the ball and playing ahead of the sticks is something the Lions want to get back to after losing that piece of their identity under John Morton, Petzing's predecessor who was fired this month, and behind a weakened offensive line.
St. Brown, Detroit's three-time All-Pro receiver, said he feels great about the hire after chatting with Goff, doing some research of his own and ultimately talking over the phone with Petzing. Goff had a phone call with Petzing before the Lions made the hire, and told St. Brown that Petzing is a smart offensive mind and that "although (Arizona) didn’t have the best offense, he does a lot of good stuff."
"I was like, 'OK, that’s interesting.' And me being me, I looked him up on Wikipedia. I want to know where he coached, his background. He’s been at a few places. Come to find out he was actually at Boston College with Ben Johnson and he was a groomsmen in Ben Johnson's wedding. That’s actually really ironic," said St. Brown.
In his text to St. Brown, Campbell told him that Petzing "is going to be great for us." Petzing, 38, called St. Brown the next day to introduce himself and share his excitement for taking over one of the top offenses in the NFL.
"It was just catch-up, small talk, he just wanted to check in, introduce himself, I appreciate him for that. And honestly, I’m excited," said St. Brown. "I think it’s going to be great for us. I trust Dan, I trust all the decision-makers for the Lions, I think they do a great job, so I'm excited for him."
The Lions are coming off a highly-disappointing season in which they fell from first to last in the NFC North, but still went 9-8 and have most of their core pieces returning.
"I think we’ll be better than last year, for sure," said St. Brown. "And did we finish last in the division -- sh*t, it doesn’t even sound right. That means you play the worst teams in the other divisions, so our schedule I don’t think will be as hard as it was this past year. That’ll probably help, too, with getting a few, not gimme wins, but games that aren't as f***ing tough. I feel like this year we had a lit-ass schedule, like, dudes left and right."