If Drew Petzing had been a tad more reflective and nostalgic this week, it would have been understandable. After all, he will return this weekend to the place where he got his first big career break, calling plays for the Arizona Cardinals.
That three-year stint in the desert shaped Petzing and set him up with his next opportunity here in the Motor City. But the Detroit Lions first-year coordinator insists he’s not reminiscing about it as he gets ready to face his old team on Sunday, Oct. 11 (4:25 p.m., Fox).
“Honestly, it's something I think very little about,” he said.
Instead, Petzing has invested almost all his mental energy in boosting an offense that has scored the fifth-most points in the NFL but has not been “good enough,” according to
his boss, Dan Campbell.
Throughout the week, Campbell bemoaned the shortcomings of an operation that, in his eyes, has yet to reach its full potential. After his team fell to 2-2 with a 32-26 loss at Carolina on Oct. 4, he lamented a ground attack that ranks 20th in rushing and has yet to have a run longer than 21 yards. He complained about penalties – seven of which came against the Panthers – that have caused the Lions to go backwards. He rued the erratic execution in the red zone that prevented them from maximizing those opportunities.
“There are things that we're doing right now that are killing ourselves, man,” he said. “And it's what we talked about last week. I mean, it's one thing when you know you've got to go against that opponent, you're going against another NFL team. But when you're fighting yourself too, that's hard. It's hard to win when you're doing that.”
It’s even more difficult when you are saddled with a defense ranked at the bottom of the NFL in almost all major categories, including points and yards allowed, third-down conversion rate, and explosive plays surrendered. Such is the case with the Lions. For the offense, the margin for error has become razor-thin as a result. Every wrong read, unforced error or fruitless possession is now magnified.
It has left Petzing in an unenviable spot. Perhaps no one on Campbell’s staff is under more pressure to deliver results than he is. A convincing case can be made that the Lions’ offense will have to carry the team the remainder of the season. Kelvin Sheppard, Petzing’s defensive counterpart, balked at that notion, saying it was “ultra-disrespectful to my unit.”
But after the barnburner in North Carolina last Sunday, Campbell seemed to insinuate as much when he told reporters, “I think a lot of our games are going to be this way.”
A day later he went on the radio and issued a challenge to Jared Goff and Co.
“They should want to score 35 points a game at a minimum,” he said on WXYT-FM (97.1). “That’s what greatness is. That’s what they are charged with. … If we want to spit and sputter and be average, that’s one thing. We’re not going to be average. We are going to raise the floor on these guys. We are going to push them. We have too much offensively right now. Our quarterback is too good. Our playmakers are too good.”
He expects more from them.
So does pass game specialist David Shaw.
“We’re nowhere near our ceiling,” he said. “We’re early in the year. We have done some good things. But we’re not just here to do good things. We think we have a special group, and the film needs to reflect that on a play-by-play basis.”
But far too often it hasn’t, especially at the outset of games. Through the first weeks, it has taken an average of 23½ minutes for the Lions to score their first touchdown.
“The slow starts just don’t allow us to get the in-game momentum that we are capable of getting,” Shaw said. “Getting first downs, getting points, that builds confidence. That opens up different things you’re doing. It allows you to see more plays. … Longer drives early in the game, you get to see a variety of the things that the defense is doing, which also helps our play-caller.”
At first glance, Petzing’s job seems easy, considering the amount of high-end skill talent he has at his disposal – from Goff, to running back Jahmyr Gibbs to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But the standards he must meet are incredibly lofty. Like his predecessor, John Morton, who was fired after one season, he works in the shadow of Ben Johnson – the Chicago Bears coach who helped establish the Lions’ high-octane attack when he was in Petzing’s role. Johnson set the expectation that Detroit should pile up the points on a weekly basis.
“We’re going play every game like we’re trying to score every single drive because that is what we are,” said associate head coach Scottie Montgomery, who has been in the organization since 2023. “We’re a great offensive team. Great offensive teams are not thinking about how many times we can punt. We’re thinking about how many times we can score touchdowns.”
The Lions have reached the end zone 14 times this year. Entering this week, only two teams crossed the goal line more.
Detroit has also manufactured points on 50% of its possessions – a rate that ranks among the best in the NFL.
“We’ve done some good things. … But we haven’t been great,” Goff said. “We want to be the best offense in the League, and we have to start playing like it.”
Campbell is demanding it.
“I say it jokingly,” Petzing said, “but our goal is to score one more than them.”
If the Lions are to achieve that objective this Sunday and in every game beyond it, the assumption is that the Lions’ final point total must be a big number. Petzing is charged with ensuring it is, which is why he doesn’t have much time to contemplate anything else these days.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why OC Drew Petzing must answer Dan Campbell's challenge to Lions offense
