Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. said after the team’s Week 3 loss to the 49ers that he felt he was hurting the team because he wasn’t playing at “a high enough level.”
Harrison made plenty of people agree with him through three quarters of Thursday night’s game against the Seahawks. A miscommunication with quarterback Kyler Murray led to an interception in the first quarter and Harrison dropped another Murray pass into the hands of Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones in the second quarter. Harrison had two catches in the first 45 minutes and the Cardinals trailed 17-6, but the final 15 minutes provided some hope about better days to come.
Harrison caught four passes for 42 yards in the fourth quarter, including an impressive 16-yard touchdown grab that helped the Cardinals’ comeback bid. That bid ultimately failed, but Murray said after the 23-20 loss that he has the “utmost confidence” in Harrison and praised his perseverance.
“I love the way that he fought back and continued to play hard and continued to make plays,” Murray said. “Obviously, he’s probably going to go home thinking about that s—t. But at the end of the day, again, it’s football. We all make mistakes. But he continued to battle. I’m excited. . . . He needs me, I need him. This is a team sport, four-quarter game, and I understand he’s not coming out of the game. I don’t want him to come out of the game.”
The Cardinals have now lost back-to-back games on last-second field goals and there will be a lot of close games in their future. If Harrison can put together 60 minutes like his closing quarter on Thursday, it will help their chances of pulling them out.
