TEMPE — The Cardinals offense was the biggest reason why Arizona came close to upsetting the Buffalo Bills at home on Sunday. Rookie and No. 1 wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., however, had little to do with that.
Held to just one catch for four yards on three targets, the rookie was ineffective and underutilized.
It was a shocking NFL debut for all the wrong reasons.
And while head coach Jonathan Gannon believes “the ball went where it should” given what the Bills defense gave the Cardinals offense throughout the defeat, he knows that can’t be a repeat performance.
“The game plan with how they wanted to play us dictated a lot of his involvement,” Gannon told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Monday. “They kind of took some of that away. We planned for that — or maybe there was a couple other plans — but no question we got to get him going. We got to get him a little bit involved, but they did some things that took him away and put a lot of resources to him.”
Across his 33 routes ran, Harrison rarely appeared to be the first read for quarterback Kyler Murray with the Bills clouding the rookie with a safety more times than not.
Instead of Harrison getting a healthy dose of targets, it was wide receiver Greg Dortch (eight targets on 23 routes ran) and tight end Trey McBride (nine targets on 31 routes ran) getting the bulk of the looks.
The offense has to take what the defense gives it at times. It also has other play-making options to consider. But there was also a handful of missed opportunities between the quarterback and wide receiver. And that’s without including the viral shot of Harrison wide open down the field.
Some of that included not allowing deeper plays to develop and instead focusing on shorter pickups with other pass catchers. There’s also the fact of just giving the 6-foot-4 wideout the chance to make a play. That’s why you drafted him No. 4 overall after all.
As for how Gannon and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing can get Harrison more involved moving forward, especially if more teams deploy a similar look, there are multiple avenues to consider.
“There’s different ways you can align him and deploy your people, that’s one thing,” Gannon told Burns & Gambo. “I think another thing is to get him on the move a little bit.
“I’m not going to give away all our secrets right now, but there’s ways to do that. Week 1 we wanted to leave him at X and play, so we’ll have some stuff for him if people want to do that to him the whole game.”
‘Marvin will be fine’
For a rookie that has generated as much hype as Harrison heading into Year 1, Sunday’s forgettable showing — that included a surprising drop — can leave a mark and impact the psyche.
That is unless you’re Harrison, says his head coach.
“He’ll be fine. Marvin will be fine,” Gannon said Monday. “He’ll get back at it and go to work. Nobody’s going to put more expectations and pressure … on him than himself.”
