- Should the Arizona Cardinals be concerned about Marvin Harrison Jr.’s struggles?
It has become a weekly ritual around the Cardinals’ Tempe facility. Marvin Harrison Jr. delivers an underwhelming performance — at least statistically — and the team spends the following week defending him.
“He’s affecting the game; he’s a big part of our passing game,” offensive coordinator Drew Petzing said, offering the latest iteration, even after Harrison produced a two-catch, 32-yard outing against the Patriots.
In spurts, Harrison’s talent has been evident.
In his second career game, he had 130 yards and two touchdowns against the Rams, including a highlight-reel grab through traffic for a touchdown. A few weeks later, he willed the Cardinals to a comeback win in Miami, displaying his full skill set on a handful of crucial fourth-quarter receptions.
This week, Harrison took a crossing route 23 yards on the Cardinals’ first passing play. Later, he had a 14-yard reception on a well-executed comeback route, although it was wiped out when Arizona accepted a penalty. On one end zone fade route, he beat Christian Gonzalez — one of the league’s top cornerbacks — off the line of scrimmage, only for Gonzalez to make an incredible recovery. When James Conner broke off a 53-yard run, Harrison was a crucial piece, setting a block on the outside.
The Cardinals, though, didn’t draft Harrison fourth overall for his run-blocking capabilities or to almost make nice catches. They drafted him fourth overall to revolutionize their offense, giving Kyler Murray the game-changing playmaker that he has lacked since DeAndre Hopkins’ departure.
Harrison has seven touchdown catches, but his 687 receiving yards rank 38th, behind four other rookies. He’s hauled in just 47 of his 92 targets. By total receptions, he’s outside the league’s top 50.
But from Cardinals players and coaches, the message has remained consistent.
“He’s doing a great job,” wide receivers coach Drew Terrell said. “He’s a really good kid; he works really hard. He’s continuing to put good things on tape every week.”
Added Murray: “I know he’s gonna get better, I know we’ll get better as our continuity grows.”
And here’s Harrison himself, two weeks ago: “I’m good. I feel good. I feel like I can win many different ways, however Drew schemes me up, I feel like I can win. I think that’s where my confidence is.”
This week, Harrison demurred when asked why the stats haven’t matched the confident rhetoric.
“There’s definitely a lot of factors that can go into that,” he said.
Early in the season, one of those factors was the game moving quickly. In Week 1 against the Bills — when he finished with one catch for four yards — Harrison was surprised by the game speed. He repeatedly looked to be overcomplicating his releases, a recipe for trouble against NFL cornerbacks, especially the top defenders who often cover him.
Recently, the Cardinals believe that Harrison has grown past that. It’s a tricky balance. Receivers have to be decisive but also reactionary enough to find soft spots in the defense, especially against zone coverage.
When he’s going up against lesser competition prior to getting to the NFL, he could have a little more sweetness off the line or be a little smoother in routes,” Terrell said.
That showed up in the Dolphins game when Harrison repeatedly got the better of All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey in man coverage. Since then, though, he has just 276 yards in six games. In that span, he’s caught only half his targets.
Part of that might be down to the finer points of route-running — changes that Terrell will wait until the offseason to implement. Harrison, though, is primarily focused on his work at the catch point, not on his route-running.
“All you can do is when the ball does come your way, make the play,” Harrison said Wednesday.
There’s also the question of Harrison being targeted during the Patriots matchup four times on go routes or fade routes — two concepts that essentially ask a receiver to beat his man with straight-line speed. All four fell incomplete, in large part because of Gonzalez’s excellent coverage.
This season, Harrison has been targeted 26 times on go/fade routes, the second most such targets in the league. He’s caught just four of those balls, ranking 27th.
Neither Harrison nor Murray would outwardly criticize play-calling. Both, though, have seemed to suggest other ways to maximize Harrison’s skill set.
“It just goes back to us finding ways to get him the rock and what the best ways to do that (are),” Murray said. “Obviously he had a pretty good matchup this weekend with Christian. He’s, what, Christian’s probably 6-2, 4.3 speed. Like, yeah, you might not be able to run by him a lot. So there’s different ways for us to attack that.”
