Nobody is more critical of Arizona Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. than himself.
“I mean, obviously it wasn’t great,” Harrison said to reporters after his lackluster debut, which featured just one catch for four yards.
Definitely wasn’t what I expected, what I wanted to happen, what the team wanted to happen. Obviously, you wanted to come out with a victory and we didn’t do that.”
Harrison admitted to thinking too much rather than just playing.
“(I was ) thinking a lot. I was definitely thinking a lot out there and I think that’ll come with reps, thinking less and just going out there and playing. It’ll definitely come with reps and it’s something I’ll get better at, but I definitely say I was thinking a lot out there,” Harrison said.
When meeting with reporters this week, Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray sent a message to his star rookie after Harrison’s flat debut:
“Nothing changes,” Murray said. “We’ve got the utmost confidence in what we’re capable of doing. If you went back and watched the game, I think they did a good job of making sure he wasn’t going to be single covered for the majority of the game.
“But I’ll never lose confidence in Marv.”
Even Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said he believes Harrison will bounce back.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine. Marvin will be fine. He’ll get back at it and go to work, but no one’s going to put more expectation and pressure and or him wanting to do well than himself,” Gannon said.
“He’ll be perfectly fine.”
With no preseason reps together, Sunday was Arizona’s first taste of on-field action together as a unit.
The duo of Murray-Harrison is expected to feed families for years to come – but the connection will come with time.
“I think that comes with time,” Murray said.
“… Obviously my first game with Marv, we didn’t get any reps in preseason. We’ve gotta go out there and prove that we’re capable of that.”