How much is Drew Petzing looking forward to teaming up with Jared Goff?
"Immensely," said the Lions new offensive coordinator. "And I think that's one of the biggest draws of the job, the opportunity to work with him day in and day out."
Goff is a sharp, detailed thinker, on and off the field. Petzing comes off the same way. Speaking for the first time to a group of Detroit reporters at the NFL combine on Tuesday, Petzing said that Goff is "very much like having an extra coach on the staff, just in terms of how much he's seen, the way he thinks about the game, how hard he works at it."
"I'd be hard-pressed to say that anyone works harder than he does at the game of football or trying to perfect his craft, just in my short time getting to know him a little bit. That's a big piece of my excitement and what I'm looking forward to here over these next couple months," Petzing said.
Goff is coming off another terrific season in Detroit. Despite a faulty offensive line, an inconsistent ground game and a change at play-caller midway through the season when Dan Campbell took over from former OC John Morton, Goff threw 34 touchdowns to eight interceptions and finished third in the NFL in passer rating (105.5).
Petzing will aim to keep the Lions' passing attack humming, while restoring their dominant running game. Dan Campbell said Tuesday that he knew Petzing was "the right fit" for the job within 20 minutes of their first interview.
"It was just the way that he talked and the way that he saw the game," said Campbell. "Man, his confidence, his conviction, his knowledge, his detail in everything and why he was doing what he was doing, and what he was thinking and how he was teaching it. Threw curveballs at him and he was all over it. It was good, man. I just loved his presence and I loved the way he taught and I love the detail behind it.
"And then I have seen the tape. I know what the tape is, and I just think that he’s a creative guy and can make things happen: 'Tell me what I’ve got and I’ll figure this out.' I love that."
Petzing called those words from Campbell "a compliment, if anything, to my personality and to my conviction in how I do the job and what I believe in, and the type of person I am." For Petzing, that "was something I wanted to come across" in the interview process, because he sensed a major opportunity with the Lions, who boast a top-five offense that's loaded with playmakers around Goff.
The "curveballs" from Campbell allowed Petzing to prove that he can think on his feet and adjust on the fly. He didn't want to get into the specifics of those questions, but said that it comes down to being able to "redirect" the offense whenever it might be necessary.
"Or talking about some of the more difficult things in coaching, and player interactions or managing a roster or dealing with certain things that we dealt with in Arizona or things you might have to deal with in Detroit. So many of those things, I think, are what make the job challenging, but also really fun," said Petzing. "You’ve got to have conviction, but you always have to be ready to adjust. I think that’s the reality of the NFL: you have to be adaptable to an ever-changing landscape."
Adaptability was a strength of the Lions' offense under Morton's predecessor Ben Johnson, another coach with a diverse offensive background. But it was a problem, at times, under Morton, a passing game specialist without much of a history in the ground game. The thought is that Petzing will bring the offense back to being a more flexible unit.
"I just think he understands the protections, he understands the run game, he understands the pass game certainly, quarterback play, so I think he's got it all," said Campbell. "He's coached receivers, he's coached tight ends, coached quarterbacks and I think that's important. That's important for this one."
In other words, said Campbell, "we're going to be versatile, but he gives us that ability to make the most of what we have."