Marvin Harrison Jr. sped past Rams’ defense en route to breakout performance

The first week of the 2024 NFL season had analysts asking several questions on the day commonly known as “Overreaction Monday.” A question perhaps at the top of that list?

Where was Marvin Harrison Jr.?

The heavily-anticipated debut from the rookie wide receiver was a letdown in the minds of many analysts, as Harrison was held to just one catch for four yards in Week 1, as the Arizona Cardinals fell to the Buffalo Bills by a final score of 34-28. Harrison struggled to get consistent separation on his routes, and many wondered if this was just a Week 1 blip or a worrying sign of things to come.

Perhaps those fears are now eased.

Harrison exploded on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams, catching four passes for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns — all of those coming in the first quarter — as the Cardinals blew out the Rams 41-10.

Harrison’s first NFL touchdown came due to a combination of a perfect play call against the given coverage, a precision pass from Kyler Murray, and incredible body control from the rookie receiver. With the Cardinals facing a 2nd and 8 from the Los Angeles 23-yard line, the offense aligns in a 2x2 formation with Harrison on the left, and tight end Trey McBride inside of him.

Harrison and McBride run a post/out combination, and the Cardinals catch Los Angeles in Quarters coverage, a perfect route combination against this scheme. With McBride, the inside receiver, running the out route against this coverage, the safety will be tasked with breaking on his route, giving the tight end a leverage advantage to the inside. That also means that Harrison will break to the inside — against a cornerback using outside leverage — and there will be no safety help in the middle of the field.

Harrison gets a step on the cornerback as Murray puts in a perfect throw. But watch the body control from the WR as he tracks this over his shoulder, high-points the throw, and gets his feet down before crashing out of bounds:

Harrison’s next catch also goes for a long touchdown, and while scheme also plays a role, his athleticism is again showcased. Arizona faces a 1st and 10 on their own 40-yard line, and Murray aligns under center. After a run fake to the left Murray rolls to the right, as the Cardinals are trying to sneak McBride away from the flow of the play and up the left sideline on a “Leak” concept. Harrison, meanwhile, aligns on the left side of the formation and runs a deep crossing route.

Los Angeles is in Cover 3 on this play, and the cornerback aligned over Harrison starts to stick on his crossing route, before peeling off to pick up McBride. Kamren Curl, aligned underneath, peels back to try and stick on Harrison using a “robot” technique, but the rookie receiver accelerates away from him, hauling in another perfect throw from Murray:

From there it is a footrace to the end zone, one which Harrison wins.

One of the concerns raised after Harrison’s Week 1 performance was that he looked slow on the field. According to Next Gen Stats Harrison hit 20.03 miles per hour on this play, one of the fastest marks recorded in Week 2.

Harrison’s other two catches again highlight his body control and his feel for the position. His third catch of the game comes on this back shoulder throw from Murray, which Harrison can pull in while shielding the defender from the football:

His fourth, and final, catch of the game comes with Arizona facing a 3rd and 5. Harrison aligns on the left, across from a press-aligned defender. He works off the jam and gets into his route quickly, which is a vertical route along the sideline. With Los Angeles in Cover 2, there is a window for Murray to try and jam in a throw along the sideline before the safety can break over, but pressure forces the quarterback off his spot, and the Cardinals into “scramble drill” mode.

Harrison, seeing Murray break the pocket, bluffs as if he is going to cut toward the line of scrimmage. The safety rotating over toward him sees that and tries to jump any potential throw, but that is when Harrison quickly changes direction and breaks vertically. Murray spots that, and puts the throw on his rookie teammate:

Again, this is an example of Harrison’s feel for the position, and being able to work yourself open in scramble drill situations is a critical skill for an NFL WR. Doubly so when your quarterback is as athletic as Murray.

The NFL even leaned into the notion of Harrison silencing the doubters on social media:

Note: For Apple News readers you can see the above post from Threads by clicking on the above link.

Now, was this a flawless game from Harrison? Not exactly, and skeptics will still have moments to point to when reviewing the film. He was targeted on a pair of goal-line fade routes — a tough route to complete — and he and Murray could not connect on either. There was also this comeback route early in the game where he did not get a great deal of separation:

However, the throw was a bit lower than needed and the cornerback might have gotten away with a bit of a hold on this play.

Still, after what we saw from Harrison in Week 1 — or perhaps, what we did not see — his performance in Week 2 certainly looks more like the receiver we expected coming out of Ohio State.