Drew Petzing loves his younger brother, Dean.
He’d also apparently be perfectly happy watching him have an absolutely miserable Sunday night.
When the Detroit Lions visit the Carolina Panthers in Week 4, the matchup will include a fascinating family subplot. Drew is in his first season running Detroit’s offense, while Dean is in his third season on Carolina’s coaching staff, where the Panthers list him as their offensive quality control coach.
There will be plenty of love before and after the game. For those three-plus hours in between? Not so much.
Asked Thursday about facing his brother, Drew delivered a fantastic answer.
“Obviously, I love him, and he’s very close to me,” Petzing said. “But on Sunday, I hope he has a really bad game.”
That’s brotherly love, NFL style.
Drew Petzing Wants Bragging Rights
This isn’t actually new territory for the Petzing family. Drew was Arizona’s offensive coordinator when the Cardinals faced Carolina in each of the previous two seasons, meaning Sunday’s game will mark the third consecutive year the brothers have found themselves on opposite NFL sidelines.
They’ve split those first two meetings, making Lions-Panthers the unofficial Petzing family rubber match.
Drew explained that their competitive streak started long before either brother was coaching in the NFL. Whether it was football or simply battling over video games growing up, beating his brother has apparently never required much additional motivation.
“In my life, I’ve gone against him a lot, video games, etc.,” Petzing said. “I think it’s probably more stressful on my parents than it is on us. We just want to win. I think he probably wants to beat us by 50 and I want him to lose by 50. I don’t think that’s ever going to change.
“Our parents are going to be stressed out and probably just want a really high-scoring game on both accounts, or a tie game if that could ever happen. But it’s fun. I talk to him. I wouldn’t say it’s any different. I really don’t treat it any different.”
Drew Petzing’s Brother Took the Long Road to Carolina
Dean has spent most of his coaching career at the college level, with stops that included LSU, Notre Dame, Maine, Ball State, Villanova and Yale before joining Carolina in 2024. His official Panthers biography confirms that he entered the NFL after 12 years coaching in college, making Sunday’s matchup another chapter in two coaching careers that took very different routes to the same field.
Detroit’s Offense Is Beginning to Take Shape
The family angle is fun, but Drew has considerably more on his plate than bragging rights.
Three games into his first season in Detroit, the Lions are averaging 31 points per game, which ranks third in the NFL. Detroit has somehow scored exactly 31 points in all three games, including Sunday’s 31-24 win over the Jets, and the offense produced 400 total yards against New York.
That production is beginning to look like the adaptable offense Petzing described before the season. He made it clear during training camp that Detroit’s identity would change based on personnel and weekly matchups rather than revolve around forcing everything through one player or personnel package.
There are still imperfections, particularly Detroit’s slow starts, but Petzing believes three games have given him a much better understanding of what this offense should become.
“But I think we are starting to see now, all right, here’s where we’re really good. Here’s who affects the game,” Petzing said. “Here’s what we need to protect from a scheme standpoint, from a personnel standpoint. Here’s how we want to go on the attack.
“I do think that stuff is starting to come maybe into a clearer picture, although it may never be perfectly clear as you go through an NFL season by nature of the sport. But, yeah, pleased with that so far.”
Petzing Is Still Solving the Weekly Puzzle
That evolution has included figuring out how defenses are approaching Detroit’s individual weapons. Petzing recently explained why some plays designed for Jameson Williams haven’t resulted in targets, another example of the weekly chess match involved in distributing the football across a loaded offense.
Sunday brings another one.
Only this time, someone sitting in Carolina’s offensive meeting rooms happens to know Detroit’s play-caller better than just about anybody. Drew Petzing loves him; he just hopes Dean’s night goes terribly.
