-
Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. — When Arizona Cardinals rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. ran a quick out on first-and-10 on Sunday against the Washington Commanders with 5:10 left in the third quarter, it was the first time he was targeted by quarterback Kyler Murray since the 3:35 mark of the first quarter.
A stretch of 28:25 had passed without the No. 4 pick in this year’s draft and NFL co-leader in touchdown receptions (four) being involved in a Cardinals’ offense that was mired in mud in a 42-14 blowout loss. During that time, Washington had scored 20 points and had 218 yards of total offense while Arizona had not put any more points on the board and had just 44 yards.
In the first quarter, Harrison caught three passes on four targets for 21 yards and a touchdown. Then he had two catches on two targets for 24 yards the rest of the game.
Harrison’s absence was glaring, even to Murray.
“I felt that, too,” Murray said Sunday after the game. “We have to get our best players the ball.”
Sunday wasn’t a one-off for Harrison. His production has dropped dramatically after the first quarter throughout Arizona’s first four games. It’s caught the rookie, Murray, coach Jonathan Gannon and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing’s attention.
In first quarters this season, Harrison has run 29 routes, catching nine passes on 12 targets for 177 yards and four touchdowns. In his breakout game in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams, Harrison was targeted five times for four catches, 130 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter.
After that, despite averaging 24 routes per quarter, with a high of 33 routes in fourth quarters, Harrison’s involvement in the offense all but goes away. In second quarters, he has just two catches on five targets for 11 yards. In third quarters, he has two catches on four targets for 24 yards. And in fourth quarters, he has two catches on six targets for 31 yards.
When looked at from a composite, the difference is striking: He has just 15 targets, six receptions and 66 yards in the second, third and fourth quarters.
“In every game there’s different flows,” Harrison said. “The games flow certain ways, whether you’re down, up, there’s different scenarios and situations throughout the game. That’s not something that I kind of really try to pay attention to. I can try to just control what I can control whenever the ball does come away and make a play.
“So, that’s really all I can say to that. There’s different flows to the games.”
The numbers paint a picture of a passing game struggling to stay consistent after the first 15 minutes every week.
In the first quarter, the Cardinals are averaging 7.7 yards per play and 10.5 yards per pass attempt. However, over the rest of the game, the Cardinals’ averages drop to 5.0 yards per play and 6.0 yards per pass attempt. Murray has completed 86.2% of his pass attempts in the first quarter but just 63.3% the rest of the game.
While the pass game rides a weekly rollercoaster, the Cardinals’ run game has been steady, averaging 5.4 yards per rush in the first quarter compared to 5.3 the rest of the game.
Petzing said there are a “host of things” that have gone into Harrison’s exclusion.
“It takes pass protection, it takes the coverage, it takes the route, it takes the execution,” Petzing said. “So, I really can’t attribute it to one area, but something we certainly need to look at.”
Gannon threw his support behind Harrison, saying the rookie “will continue to get his plays and get his touches, and we’ve got to continue to try to get him the ball.”
The question moving forward is, how?
Harrison said this week that he understands the need to distribute the ball to receivers like Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch, get running back James Conner involved and let Murray make plays however he can. However, to Petzing, there’s a fine line between feeding the ball to Harrison and letting him get touches in the natural course of the offense.
That hasn’t been happening, though.
Murray knows what needs to happen for the Cardinals’ offense to start putting up points and numbers starting this week against the San Francisco 49ers: Harrison needs to touch the ball more throughout the entire game.
“I think there’re times and places for those moments,” Murray said of feeding Harrison. “Obviously, I would love to throw him [Harrison] the ball every play. I’d love to throw Mike [Wilson], [tight end] Trey [McBride], everybody, the ball every play, but that’s not the case.
“Yeah, I can feel it. I feel like during that game, there was kind of a lull in the middle of it where he didn’t touch the ball. I think in order to create explosives, you have to get the ball to your best players, and they need to touch the ball. I know that. Obviously, Drew knows that and we have to be better.”