No shortage of experience among Arizona Cardinals coaches

Arizona Cardinals’ head coach Bruce Arians has surrounded himself with a contingent of coaches who are loaded with experience

Arizona Cardinals’ head coach Bruce Arians will turn 65-years old in October. His age certainly wouldnt qualify him as a spring chicken. He’s been hanging around the NFL for years, developing relationships with many members of the league’s coaching fraternity.

Upon arriving to the desert in 2013, he brought with him many of those colleagues. Teachers equipped to pass on their vast knowledge to whichever students the Cardinals’ front office provides them with.

Assistant head coach/offensive consultant Tom Moore has become a familiar fixture to Cards’ fans. Camera shots throughout the past few years have shown the 78-year old perched right next to quarterback Carson Palmer on the bench. The pair would feverishly be looking down at tablets, analyzing what opposing defenses were doing to try to stop Arizona’s offense.

The idea that an “old-timer” such as Moore would even operate a tablet is almost comical. In the old days, it was pictures that were used in place of the tablets. As the old saying goes, it’s difficult to teach an “old dog new tricks”, but he has apparently adjusted with the times.

More from Raising Zona

Moore has been around some of football’s best. His first NFL job was as wide receivers coach on the great Chuck Noll’s Pittsburgh Steelers’ staff. It was there that he met Tony Dungy, a future head coach he would work under with the Indianapolis Colts.

It was in Indy that Moore oversaw the development of quarterback Peyton Manning. The future Hall of Famer landed in the Pro Bowl 11 times with Moore running the Colts’ offense.

With Moore on the staff, the Cardinals had the number-one ranked offense in the NFL in 2015, led by Palmer. The veteran coach has been in Arizona since 2013.

Pass rush specialist Tom Pratt will turn 82 in June. Like Moore, Pratt joined the Cards in 2013. Incredibly, he was the defensive line coach of the Kansas City Chiefs when they won Super Bowl IV in January of 1970.

Under Pratt’s tutelage, Arizona led the NFL in quarterback sacks in 2016. Two of the squad’s linebackers totalled double-digit sacks (Chandler Jones and Markus Golden). Still, he’ll have his work cut out for him this season after the departure of defensive end Calais Campbell, who registered eight sacks last year.

Linebackers coach Bob Sanders joined Arians’ staff in 2015. The 63-year old has coached with four other NFL franchises besides the Cardinals. Included on his resume is a three-year stint as defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers (2006-08).

Cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross has been an assistant in the league since 2004. He reunited with Arians, his former head coach at Temple University, when he joined up with the Cards in ’13. Patrick Peterson has reached the Pro Bowl four times with Ross as his position coach.

Amos Jones, perhaps the most unpopular coach on Arizona’s staff, has known Arians for a long time. Both resided on the staff of the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant, back in the early 1980’s. Jones’ resume includes stops at seven NCAA programs and two in the NFL (Arizona, Pittsburgh Steelers).

Other Cardinals’ assistants with impressive credentials include Harold Goodwin, Nick Rapone, Darryl Drake and Larry Zierlein.

There’s little argument that the staff Arians has put together is one of the main reasons for the success he has had with the Cards. A staff he without a doubt leans on heavily. A group that has most definitely been around the block a time or two.

Home/Cardinals News