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Marvin Harrison Jr. Catches First NFL Touchdown as Cardinals Win
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Marvin Harrison Jr. Catches First NFL Touchdown as Cardinals Win

GLENDALE, Ariz. — By the time the first quarter of the Arizona Cardinals’ 41-10 win over the Los Angeles Rams was over, rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. had already entered the history books, getting revenge for a poor performance 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 grinned.

“Yes,” he said.

Harrison then said he was sure there were still areas to improve, but added that he “had to improve the rest of the game 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 ensuing series. Six plays after that final 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 back here, get the nerves out of last week and calm everything down, 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 give Harrison the ball from the start, coach Jonathan Gannon said. The ball, he added, went where it “was supposed to go.” Murray, however, said he wants to get his receivers involved early, hoping to get them to spark.

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

According to Gannon, Harrison wasn’t too affected by last weekend’s performance.

“He’s a mature, serious person, so he doesn’t listen to noise and he holds himself to a high standard,” Gannon said. “He trained really hard this week and he went and played well.

“So I’m happy for him. It’s nice to see him smile. But yeah, he was beaming.”

Days after saying his debut was “not great,” Harrison described his performance on Sunday as “solid.” However, Harrison was hard on himself for being responsible for all four of Murray’s incomplete passes against Los Angeles, a statistic he noted as he watched the score from the sidelines on Sunday afternoon.

“I’m not too happy about that,” Harrison said. “We definitely have to fix that, but we’re going to keep building 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 first-quarter yards 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 faster than his father, Hall of Fame receiver Marvin Harrison Sr., did. Harrison Sr. has done 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 was more than his father had in any game during his rookie season in 1996. Harrison Sr.’s season record that year was 106 in Week 15.

And Harrison Jr. became 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 of his career.

The Cardinals’ offense was record-breaking. 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 on Sunday, completing 17 of 21 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns, along with five carries for 59 yards.

“He was great,” Gannon said. “He’s a premium player for a reason. You’re going to 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 passer rating of 158.3, succeeding Ken Anderson, who accomplished the feat on November 3, 1974.

Sunday marked the first time since a 24-game stretch of 2021 that Murray threw for at least 250 yards and ran for at least 50 yards.

Murray’s 148 passing yards Sunday were his most ever in the first quarter. He had never topped 100 in a game entering today. Murray also became the seventh quarterback in NFL history to have a perfect passer rating on a team’s home field. He is the second Cardinals quarterback to do so, following Kurt Warner in 2008.

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

“When he performs well,” Gannon said of Murray, “he’s tough to beat.”

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

“He’s tough to take down once he gets going,” Gannon said. “But when the run game gets going, you know that’s how we want to play. When it’s balanced and you’re in front of the chains, we’re good to go.”

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

“I like that more than the way we played, honestly,” Murray said of the defense. “Just the fact that they backed us. They backed us again. It was a complete team win. Complimentary football at its best. All three phases of the game played well.”

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