Seattle’s last-second win Thursday in Arizona will be remembered as a game that had a bit of everything: a blowout-in-the-making that came down to a final kick; a hold that negated a Seahawks touchdown; a late offensive revival by a Cardinals offense that was booed by the hometown crowd for much of the first half; and the points that were traded, back and forth, during a flurry of fourth-quarter drives.
And by showcasing a bit of everything from Cardinals receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., it was also an almost uncanny distillation of the promise and puzzling plays that have defined the first 21 games of his career.
In his second season, the can’t-miss former prospect still can’t quite be figured out.
Official statistics recorded a team-high 66 yards, on six catches, including a touchdown, for Harrison in Week 4 of the young season. Yet in the eye of the beholder, the game provided compelling and competing evidence for both sides of the argument over whether Harrison will ever reach the potential that his college offensive coordinator predicted, before Harrison had even declared for the 2024 NFL draft — that he would eventually be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame alongside his namesake father, one of the most productive receivers of all time.
Teams apparently agreed that the assessment wasn’t too sky-high. Arizona selected Harrison fourth overall in 2024, the highest a receiver had been taken in nine years.
As a rookie, Harrison, 23, finished with 885 yards, but three first-year wideouts drafted after him finished with more than 1,100 yards even though two played in fewer games. Of the 12 rookie receivers who were targeted at least 50 times last season, Harrison posted the ninth-best catch percentage. He caught eight touchdowns; he also dropped five passes. The projected Hall of Famer spent his offseason trying to project confidence.
“I feel like I have all the expectations and pressure kind of off my shoulders now a little bit,” Harrison told Arizona Sports this summer. “I can go out there and be more free and be more confident with my abilities. But Year 1, it’s just like expectations, the pressure, people expect you to be certain people and where you get drafted and all that takes a toll on you a little bit.”
Yet inconsistency followed him into his second season. On Sunday, Harrison became emotional discussing his wide-open drop in a loss at San Francisco.
“I’m not doing my job at a high enough level at the moment,” he said.
Four days later in Arizona, Harrison and Arizona quarterback Kyle Murray appeared to miscommunicate on several routes in the first half Thursday, but the nadir came early in the second quarter when Harrison bobbled a pass right into the arms of a Seahawks defender for an interception.
“You see a guy who’s uberly talented just not playing with confidence,” Amazon analyst Kirk Herbstreit said on Amazon Prime Video’s broadcast. “It’s like his mind is paralyzing his ability to be the receiver he can be.”
The receiver Harrison was expected to be was on display, however, as the Cardinals staged an unlikely fourth-quarter comeback.
With a cornerback draped all over him, Harrison was able to use his 6-foot-3 length, and the 10 pounds of muscle he added in the offseason, to catch an acrobatic touchdown pass with less than six minutes to go.
Then, with a minute left in the fourth quarter, Harrison twisted in midair to catch an 18-yard pass while falling just barely inbounds, resulting in a first-and-goal situation. The Cardinals went on to score a game-tying touchdown.
Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said he told Harrison days earlier that he wanted the receiver to play faster.
“The response was fantastic,” Gannon said. “I thought he came and lit it up in the second half. He got involved, made some big-time plays, a touchdown catch, big-time play. Couple catches in those drives he’s winning one-on-one.”
Gannon added: “I’m not worried about Marv at all. I thought he’s resilient.”
Harrison did not speak with reporters after the game, but Murray said that he was to blame for the first-half miscommunications.
“It’s football. We all make mistakes, but he continued to battle,” Murray said. “I’m excited and I’m glad he continued to — he played his a– off in the fourth quarter.”
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