QUARTERBACK Kyler Murray Says It's "Not His Job" To Get The Ball To Marvin Harrison Jr.
The Cardinals nearly pulled off one of the bigger surprises of the weekend on Sunday as they threatened the Bills on the road in the final minutes. Despite racing out to an early 10-0 lead, Arizona was not able to find magic late to snatch victory away from the Bills. They did have their chances though.
One of the bigger talking points from the game was Marvin Harrison Jr.'s measly one catch for four yards. He was targeted just three times. You might ask yourself, how does that happen? You'd think with the rest of their options, putting 28 points on the board would mean the Ohio State standout had himself a great debut. Quite the opposite actually. Kyler Murray acted like Marvin Harrison Jr. was Medusa and that if he even looked his way he'd turn to stone. The professional video gamer/part-time QB had this to say today about the lack of production from his top guy.
(source) "As a quarterback, obviously, you’re going through your reads. Sometimes the ball goes to him, but that’s not my job. I have a sense and a feel for guys when they don’t get the ball and when they are getting the ball, but I leave that up to Drew [Petzing]. He tells me, ‘Don’t worry about that type of stuff. Just keep playing your game and get the ball to where the ball is supposed to go."
Now I put the full quote in there to be fair to Kyler. A lot of people are just taking the "that's not my job" part on Twitter and running with it. Quarterback (person who throws the ball) says it's not up to him to throw the football to his best player. Outrageous. Still, the whole quote isn't that much better. I get that he's trying to say you can't force the ball to someone just to make sure they're part of the game plan. Sometimes a defense takes away your best option and your wise to look elsewhere to exploit their plan. The Cardinals also leaned heavy on time of possession in the first half to keep the ball out of Josh Allen's hands. That's great and all, but then how do you explain Marvin Harrison Jr. sitting wide open deep down the field with the game on the line? My man could have built a fucking tent down there and camped out. Kyler looked elsewhere.
Orlovsky broke down the play and how it wasn't as blatantly obvious as it seemed.
The play comes down to whether you think it's realistic to hit MHJ right when the corner left him. The blitzing defender didn't jump then and the play was there to be made. Feels like an elite QB have let the ball rip the moment he saw the DB sit on MHJ's route, but that's a lot to ask of Kyler. Plus you gotta factor in he's shorter than I am so he doesn't see everything happening on the field. Once you hesitate there though you have to reset. Thing is, you probably had enough time of him streaking down the field to make it work. I don't know. Feels strange how ignored Harrison was all game.
But Kyler said it's not his job to feed MHJ targets. Out of his hands. Ask somebody else. Who could possibly expect the QB to throw the ball to his star receiver and get him involved? Blame anyone but him. The Kyler Murray experience.
