The NFC West has some of the NFL's brightest offensive minds, and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis believes that includes Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.
Going against Petzing's offense every day on the practice field has helped make Rallis a better defensive coordinator.
"It's the conversations in the building that help formulate some ideas and bring different insights or you learn things through there," Rallis said. "Out at practice, he's going to do things, whether that's schematically or just fundamentals of how they play with the receivers, O-Line, quarterback, that make you be on your Ps and Qs.
"The other side of the ball, I think, is the best way to learn about your side of the ball and understand how they can present issues for you."
Working with Petzing has allowed Rallis to self-scout his defensive squad, recognizing how an offense can attack the unit. He'll take those tidbits from Petzing and implement it into a scheme that'll look to stop Justin Fields, the Bears mobile quarterback, when the Cardinals play in Chicago Sunday.
Generating a pass rush will be crucial. Against the 49ers, the pressure was nonexistent, getting to Brock Purdy for one quarterback hit. Linebacker Dennis Gardeck was the one that made contact with Purdy.
Gardeck said that he owes almost all of his pass rushing career to former Cardinal Chandler Jones and offensive tackle D.J. Humphries. It all goes back to the work they put in after practices.
"It's kind of that game within the game of 'Hey Hump, I gave a jab step, why didn't you bite on it?' 'Oh, well, I had the slide to me, or your demeanor didn't look like it was going that way,'" Gardeck said. "To learn what's going on in their mind and how that's going to alter their technique has been crucial."
The extra hours have benefited Gardeck. Currently, he leads the Cardinals with five sacks and 12 quarterback hits.
The iron sharpens iron mentality, while understanding the other side of the ball, Gardeck said, applies even on a microscopic level. "Our defensive coaches do a great job of understanding how the opponent can attack us and this is the weak spots of our defense, and these are the strengths," Gardeck said.
Similar to how Petzing has provided Rallis with insights, the defensive coordinator tries to do the same for everybody on the Cardinals offense as well.
"Nick and I have a great relationship," quarterback Kyler Murray said. "To go to him, obviously, any time I want to see what he's seeing and see what he's thinking. Obviously (coach Jonathan Gannon) is a defensive guy as well, so there's tons of guys that have the knowledge of the defensive side of the ball that are paying attention to what we're doing. They give their feedback all of the time."
Gannon said that he appreciates it when the players utilize their time in the meeting rooms, practice field, or even the lunchroom to sit down with other position groups and seek improvement. With a Christmas Eve showdown on the horizon, Gannon hopes these conversations turn into actions and result in a Cardinals victory.
"I think that comes from you wanting to have a building that's a growth mindset building," Gannon said. "Continually trying to learn and improve your own game and to do that, you have to ask questions. You have to be willing to say 'I don't know, what is going on here? What are you trying to do? I think this, but what are you really trying to do here?' Our guys have done a good job that."
PRACTICE SQUAD ELEVATIONS
With Hollywood Brown out Sunday and Greg Dortch questionable, the Cardinals elevated on Saturday two wide receivers from the practice squad for the game: Dan Chisena and Kaden Davis.
