'He lit it up': Harrison stars in Cardinals' win

GLENDALE, Ariz. — By the time the first quarter of the Arizona Cardinals‘ 41-10 blowout win over the Los Angeles Rams was over, rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. had entered the record books and avenged his dismal showing in his NFL debut last week.

Harrison finished the first 15 minutes with four catches on five targets for 130 yards and two touchdowns, the first two of his pro career. He didn’t have another catch the rest of the game, but when asked after the game if his first quarter was as good as it gets for a receiver, the 22-year-old smirked.

“Yes,” he said.

Harrison followed it by saying he was sure there were areas to improve while adding that he needs to “get the rest of the game to go as well.”

Harrison had a stretch early in the first quarter where he made three straight plays for the Cardinals over three drives: his first career touchdown on a 23-yard pass from quarterback Kyler Murray in the back of the end zone, a 60-yard touchdown pass from Murray on the only play of that drive and a 15-yard pass from Murray to start the subsequent series. Six plays after that last catch, he hauled in a 39-yard play on third-and-5.

Murray’s favorite completion to Harrison was their first connection, which was Harrison’s first career touchdown.

“This is big for him. Big for him,” Murray said. “I mean, his first touchdown, obviously. After last week, to come out here again, get the jitters out last week and put everything to rest, just come out here and play hard, play together and get a win. It was good.”

Murray went to Harrison on the Cardinals’ first offensive play but the pass was broken up by Rams cornerback Tre’Davious White. It came a week after Harrison had just one catch on three targets for 4 yards.

The plan wasn’t to get Harrison the ball right from the start, coach Jonathan Gannon said. The ball, he added, went where it “should go.” However, Murray said he wants to get his receivers involved quickly, hoping to spark them.

“You want to get your guys the ball early so they can feel like they’re in the game, get them going, get their juices flowing,” Murray said. “I feel like we did a great job of that today.”

Harrison didn’t let last weekend’s showing affect him much, Gannon said.

“He’s a mature, serious person, so he doesn’t listen to any noise and he holds himself to a high standard,” Gannon said. “He practiced his ass off this week and he went and played well.

“So, I’m happy for him. It is good to see him smile. But, yeah, he lit it up.”

A few days after saying his debut “wasn’t great,” Harrison described his performance Sunday as “solid.” However, Harrison was hard on himself for being responsible for all four of Murray’s incompletions against Los Angeles, a stat he noticed while looking at the box score on the sideline Sunday afternoon.

“I’m not very happy about that,” Harrison said. “We definitely got to get that fixed, but we’ll continue to build on our chemistry and as the season goes on.”

He became the fourth rookie since 2000 to have 100 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter of a game, joining Marquise Brown in 2019, Allen Hurns in 2014 and Torrey Smith in 2011, according to ESPN Research. Harrison’s 130 yards in the first quarter were the most in the first quarter by a Cardinals player in the past 30 years, according to ESPN Research.

Harrison reached 100 yards and two touchdowns in a quarter quicker than his father, Hall of Fame receiver Marvin Harrison Sr., did. Harrison Sr. did it just once in his illustrious career, in the third quarter of Week 9 in 2001 against the Miami Dolphins.

Harrison Jr.’s 130 yards in the first quarter were more than his father had in any game during his rookie season in 1996. Harrison Sr.’s season high that year was 106 in Week 15.

And Harrison Jr. is the first Cardinals receiver with three catches of 20 or more air yards in a game since Michael Floyd did it in Week 17 of the 2014 season. In all, Murray threw five completions that traveled at least 20 yards in the air, the most such catches in his career.

The Cardinals’ offensive assault was record-tying. They tied their most points in a home opener in the Super Bowl era with their 1985 home opener, which they won 41-27 over the Bengals.

Murray was nearly perfect Sunday. He finished 17-of-21 passing for 266 yards and three touchdowns to go with five carries for 59 yards.

“He was lights out,” Gannon said. “He is a premium player for a reason. You take him against anybody. That’s how I feel. That’s what he did today.”

He became the second player in NFL history with at least 250 passing yards, at least 50 rushing yards and a perfect 158.3 passer rating, joining Ken Anderson who did on Nov. 3, 1974.

Sunday was the first time since 2021 — a stretch of 24 games — that Murray threw for at least 250 and ran for at least 50.

Murray’s 148 passing yards Sunday were his most ever in the first quarter. He had never exceeded 100 in any game entering today. Murray is also the seventh quarterback in NFL history to record a perfect passer rating in a team’s home opener. He’s the second Cardinals quarterback to do it, joining Kurt Warner in 2008.

Murray became the first Cardinals quarterback with an 80% completion percentage and three passing touchdowns in the first half of a game since 2000 while also becoming the third quarterback to do so in the first half of a divisional matchup in the past three seasons, joining Patrick Mahomes last season against the Chargers and Josh Allen last season against the Dolphins.

“When he’s on,” Gannon said of Murray, “he’s going to be tough to beat.”

Running back James Conner contributed 122 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, extending his streak of games with a score to seven, which tied the longest streak in Cardinals history.

“He is tough to bring down when he gets going,” Gannon said. “But when the run game gets going, you guys know that’s how we want to play. When it’s balanced and you’re ahead of the chains, we can go.”

Arizona dominated time of possession, 36:54 to 23:06, thanks in part to give sacks. Outside linebacker Dennis Gardeck set a career high with three. He thought the last time he had three sacks in a game was during his last season in college.

“I love that more than how we played, honestly,” Murray said of the defense. “Just that they had our back. They had our back again. It was a complete team win. Complimentary football at its finest. All three phases of the game played well.”

Sunday’s win was the club’s first over the Rams at home since 2014.