Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon has declined to say which of his two quarterbacks, newly arrived veteran Josh Dobbs or rookie fifth-round pick Clayton Tune, will start Week One against the Commanders. And that leaves Commanders head coach Ron Rivera unsure of what to expect.
Rivera said it would have been tough to prepare for the Cardinals anyway, given that Gannon is a first-time head coach and hired a first-time offensive coordinator in Drew Petzing, but not knowing the identity of the quarterback they’ll face adds to the challenge.
“They’re relatively new in terms of what they do offensively, schematically,” Rivera said of the Cardinals. “In [Gannon’s] eyes, both quarterbacks have a different skill set, which we see. Because of it you’re going to have to do certain things and say, ‘If this guy’s in ew do this, if this guy’s in we do that.’ So you do have an advantage when you create that kind of mystery.”
Rivera said the Commanders will study what the Browns did last year with Petzing as their quarterbacks coach as they prepare for Petzing’s Arizona offense.
“Their offensive coordinator comes from Cleveland, so a lot of the stuff they do you see that Cleveland was doing as well,” Rivera said. “Just how they use it and how they use it for each quarterback is a new thing for us, and it was going to be like that anyway, it didn’t matter who the quarterback was going to be, because you’re never really sure until it starts.”
It may be a mystery which quarterback the Commanders are facing, but the Cardinals aren’t likely to be good with either quarterback. Which is why the Commanders are seven-point favorites.
