Nick Rallis - Head Coach, cardinals Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-17 | Full transcript (primary source).
Nick Rallis addressed the media during a press conference for the Arizona Cardinals on September 17, 2026. The session focused on the team's performance and player dynamics as they prepare for the upcoming games in the NFL season.
Transcript
Rallis: Where have you seen his game take that next step? I think the biggest thing is he's just so focused on playing good ball. And that's in the run in the past game. So I've seen strides in both. I think the biggest thing that jumps out is consistency, just because he's always had the rush ability. He's always had the knockback in the run game, but he's doing it at a very consistent rate right now.
Rallis: I was going to say, everybody wants to make, and I think rightfully so, I don't know a big deal about Mac being back in the lineup. It really feels like there was a line of demarcation when he got hurt last year, with all due respect to the guys that played after him. And then to see what you guys did, do you see that? Is that putting a little bit too much? I mean, no, you can't quantify the value that each guy brings, but he's a guy that brings leadership, he brings violence, and he brings playmaking. So when that's out of the lineup, yeah, that'll generally hurt you. But yeah, you can feel his presence back out there.
Rallis: The tandem of Hammond Givens, especially in pass coverage, how do you think that they kind of work together? Yeah, I mean, I think it's the whole back seven that has to work together. Cuz it's not always just backers communicating with backers. Sometimes for Mac, he's got to communicate to the nickel, Buddha. And on the other side, it's the corner of the free safety. So I mean, it's just the whole back seven. And it's really a credit to those guys, just the work they've put in, how connected they are. That makes a difference on the field. And you ask the players that, they'll tell you that is that, when they feel like they're connected outside of this building, it just makes communication cleaner when you're between the white lines.
Rallis: For the first quarter and a half of that game, it seems like you guys were struggling in the secondary event, giving up some big gains. And then that totally seemed to flip. What changed in your mind that enabled you guys to have so much success? Yeah, we didn't get into third downs outside the red zone in that first half. And I think that was started with some play calling. And we talked about that at halftime and adjusted that a little bit. And then there's things we could do to execute better, to whether that's the rush getting there when he's holding it a little longer, or just staying connected throughout the down. So combination of things, I always look inward first, and I started changing those calls in the second half. Probably helped those guys out a little bit.
Rallis: You guys had, what, three stacks, and Josh started to seem to be a massive factor leads to the naked eye. What is that? How reassuring is that you're at the deep end, so they can make plays like that, be that effective, got hit and made a mess? Yeah, I mean, it's going to take a lot of guys to be able to affect the quarterback. You've got to be eight plus deep rushing. When it's a game winning drive, that's how many guys you're going to have rolling out there even more. And then it's the second level guys creating havoc too on pressure. So it's going to take a lot of different guys getting around that quarterback throughout the whole season.
Rallis: What's the degree of difficulty on the play Matt made on McConkie, where he hits and strikes on there? Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. I mean, we talk about it all the time. You kind of run out of coaching points sometimes, just when, hey, you want to lower your target and not lead with the crown. But sometimes that guy's, his body is moving throughout the down. And so he might be going for that catch and start to brace, and his head starts to drop. So you really have to emphasize dropping where your target is. And there's going to be times where you don't get it out of there, and it gets flagged, and that's just part of the game right now. And we have to understand that that's a really hard play. We don't want to take away from the violence in the back end. And we'll just continually emphasize, hey, man, try to lower your target as much as possible, get your head out of it. And if it happens, sometimes I'm not out there adjusting my body as fast as those guys have to. So it's a difficult play. So it was really good by Mac to lower that target and not get flagged.
Rallis: Does getting one, obviously, you're locking it up, playing most of the game for Seattle, so you get a little bit of tape on that. But does tape from one game help and prep, or is it because it's small enough sample size, you're still, it's a little bit like a week one in terms of? Yeah, a little bit, yeah. I mean, anything helps, but it's definitely a small sample size. So you've got to take in a lot of information on just the staff and where they've been or people that have been in place there in Seattle and kind of mash it all together.
Rallis: Can so many guys make impact plays on your side of the ball? It's kind of an obvious question, but what does it mean for the overall success of a DC and a defense when so many guys are not only doing their job, they're actually making impact plays over the course of the game? Yeah, and I think that's the key is when guys execute their job at a high level, those plays come to you. And so you can't go out there and chase plays and get out outside of your assignment. Not to say that these guys are in robots, and they're not going to go out there and make extraordinary plays. But when guys do that consistently over the course of the game, you make an offense, beat you, plays are going to come to you. And I thought we did a good job capitalizing.
Rallis: We know stats don't obviously tell the full story. And I'm sure Walt probably wants to pop up a little bit more on the statue. But when you're getting double teamed as much as he was in the game, it opens up a lot of doors. When you are evaluating the tape and you're planning for this week, is it more so just, well, you're going to get double teamed and it's going to open up the doors for everybody else? Or is there more coaching points that you could have to try to break free from some of those double teams? Yeah, I think that just happens to be that way. I'm not sure protections were getting set a certain way. So we'll take a game by game. Everybody's different. Everyone's got their ways that they can hit their play passes or manipulate their protections. But it's something you've got to assess week to week.
Rallis: What enabled Roy Lopez to have such an impressive game? Because he's had an impressive camp, had an impressive off season. So he's improved his game tremendously and showed up on Sunday. So it just kind of goes into our philosophy of you have to put in the work throughout the week for a show up on Sunday. And he's done that consistently and it showed up on Sunday.
Rallis: I feel like when he was here two years ago, he made a lot of good plays. He was a very useful player for you guys, but I don't remember him exploding past so many interior linemen. Yeah, he's gotten better like he really has. He's a different player. He'll tell you this because he became a dad. He said it just gave him some superhuman man strength. I like to think that it's also he's putting a lot of work. And I mean, there's nothing to say that you can't continue to elevate your game. And that's pretty much what's happened. He's just always put his head down and gone to work. And you see his game starting to elevate.
Rallis: So I think we've actually played the year offensively last year. What kind of challenge is this for the secondary? Yeah, it's a tremendous challenge. I mean, there's weapons all over the board for these guys. And they do a phenomenal job of moving people around playing different roles and finding ways to get him the ball and really not always the primary. So you can't just completely dedicate it to him. So they do a phenomenal job. And going back to San Francisco, that's a similar tree. They do a phenomenal job of kind of moving pieces around. And sometimes he's the first read. Sometimes he's part of the second progression and ball finds him. But he does a hell of a job of just getting free and making contested catches. So good player. We got to have awareness for him without a doubt.
Rallis: Yeah, they do a phenomenal job with that. We definitely got our hands full and it's something we got to work on. But yeah, that's a difficult play. How do you start with that? Yeah, it's really technique driven. Not a comfortable technique to teach, to be honest, because it does require you to drop your head a little bit. But the ones that get stopped, you have to get underneath their pad level because they're firing out very low. So yeah, like I said, not a comfortable thing to talk about. But it's the truth.
Rallis: Have you talked to Jeremiah about any tips on his former running name? Yeah, I mean, like whatever information we can get on our opponent, we'll utilize that.
Rallis: When did you start working on the Seahawks? You ask me this every week. You know, this probably right after the Chargers back in the spring and then, you know, Monday.
Rallis: There's a way that Sam goes down and then you realize that you have a good quarterback. How much did that change what you put into it already? Yeah, some things change, some things don't. I mean, you got to be ready to adapt. You have to have a plan if it happened mid game, right? So you always got to have your backup plans and your hey, if this happens, what are we going to go to? And it's not always something that you'll flood the players brains with throughout the week, because they're pretty good at hey, if within a drive and we're coming off on the bench or it's at halftime, if you present something new, they generally can grasp it very fast. So I'd rather them go into a game with a very clear mind and then be able to adapt and as coaches, we know what are those adaptations that need to happen. And, you know, this one happens to be going into the week. We know that Drew is going to play. So yeah.
Rallis: Yeah, I mean, knowing who you're playing at quarterback definitely helps. But, you know, there's certain things that it just it doesn't affect either. You know, it's about us and us going out there and executing and playing with playstyle.
Rallis: What stands out about his game? Say it one more time. Going back to Jarian. Yeah, explosive. You know, I can just feel like once he gets that hand off, he presses that line. And when he finds his cut, it explodes into the hole. So you can tell there's a lot of juice there. I think he's he's multiple with the run types that he can get, whether that's mid zone, wide zones or your downhill run. So you definitely see the talent against small sample size to to go off of so far, but he's definitely a good player.
