Josh Weinfuss
TEMPE, Ariz. — When Arizona Cardinals broad receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. takes the sector at AT&T Stadium on Monday night time in opposition to the Dallas Cowboys, his dad shall be sitting at house, 1,500 miles away in Philadelphia, watching on TV.
That shall be a battle for the Corridor of Fame broad receiver.
Any time Marvin Harrison Sr. activates his son's video games, he sees an NFL that appears vastly completely different from the game he left in 2008 after enjoying 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. He sees a quarterback primarily within the shotgun, his son being moved across the subject from wideout to the slot and again once more, and motions from each course.
He additionally sees a Cardinals offense that is struggled to provide yards and factors because it has slogged to a 2-5 file, heading into “Monday Night time Soccer” on a five-game dropping streak.
“It's totally arduous for me to look at the Cardinals' offense,” Harrison Sr. instructed ESPN. “And you'll quote me on that.”
A season and a half into his son's NFL profession, the elder Harrison has been pressured to grapple with being a former participant who's the daddy of a present participant. The steadiness wanted to navigate that is not all the time simple to seek out. Harrison Sr. can not help however watch his son's video games with the vital eye of a former participant, and he desires, desperately, to assist his son, to inform him what to do, to attempt to repair Arizona's points. However Harrison Jr. is an grownup, a well-compensated skilled, a fourth decide, and Harrison Sr. is aware of it is his time to take a seat on the sideline, watch and attempt to take pleasure in his oldest son's skilled profession.
But it surely's arduous. The 53-year-old Harrison Sr. is conscious of how he sounds.
“The fashion of offense that I'm accustomed to, that I am used to watching as an expert eye, as a large receiver … I simply cannot relate to watching that [current] offense, that fashion of offense,” Harrison Sr. stated. “Mainly, I am unable to relate to what goes on there.
“I believe that is simply peacefully put, with out pointing fingers or something. It is simply me. I am providing you with the skilled eye. I am unable to relate to it. It do not add as much as me. I am unable to take care of it.”
These phrases aren't new to his son.
Harrison Jr. has heard his dad's considerations and complaints relationship again to final season. However Harrison Sr. walks a tightrope when he brings up soccer together with his son, a uncommon prevalence nowadays. He stays away from speaking in regards to the day-to-day, not eager to be an armchair quarterback from throughout the nation as a result of he isn't there, within the conferences, and he does not perceive the intricacies of the Cardinals' scheme like he did the Peyton Manning-led offense in Indianapolis.
“I do not get into what goes on the sector and the issues that I see,” Harrison Sr. stated. “I simply go away it alone. I do not even hassle bringing it up no extra.”
That may be smart, contemplating the Cardinals' struggles, particularly within the passing recreation. They're twenty third in passing yards per recreation at 199.9, twenty sixth in passing yards per play at 5.78 and quarterback Kyler Murray is twenty fourth in QBR at 44.1. Murray is ranked twenty ninth in yards per try, thirty first in yards per dropback and thirty third in yards per try whereas throwing six touchdowns and three picks in 5 begins.
Jacoby Brissett will begin a 3rd straight recreation instead of Murray (foot) on Monday, however it's doable Murray will see some motion.
Harrison Jr. averages 56.6 receiving yards per recreation and has 40 targets over seven video games, which is 54th, and he has simply two landing catches. ESPN's receiver score ranks him because the NFL's Forty eighth-best receiver — a notable enchancment from 2024, when he ranked 93rd.
He's second on the Cardinals in targets and receiving yards per recreation behind tight finish Trey McBride (66 targets, 60.1 yards per recreation).
When father and son speak on the cellphone, whether or not that is a few days in a row or if weeks cross between calls, they usually persist with discussing Harrison Jr.'s youthful brother, Jett, a highschool sophomore at St. Joseph's Prep College in Philadelphia who's in line to be the subsequent nice Harrison receiver. Or they do not discuss soccer in any respect.
“It takes a number of self-restraint and duct tape,” the household patriarch stated. “I received to shut my mouth and simply do not say nothing.”
That hasn't been simple, however Harrison Jr. understands what his dad goes via.
“I believe our conditions are completely different,” Harrison Jr. stated. “I believe the period of soccer is completely different, the system I believe … to be trustworthy with you guys, it is similar to he performed with Peyton Manning, clearly a Corridor of Fame quarterback.
“It is arduous for him to look at. I believe it is a mixture of what he is used to. Clearly, if you happen to're a dad or mum who's by no means performed soccer and also you see your child enjoying, that is all , however he is been within the locker room, been on an NFL crew, been in the very best offense with probably the greatest quarterbacks of all time. So, he form of sees all of it from a special perspective. I believe that is what sort of makes it arduous to look at for him.”
It has grow to be unhealthy sufficient for Harrison Sr. that he does not go to video games as a result of he desires to guard his “psychological capability.” It does not hassle Harrison Jr., who stated he has by no means been somebody who wants bodily assist at video games.
Regardless of being disenchanted with the Cardinals' offense, Harrison Sr. has stopped in need of assigning blame. He does not need to single anybody out.
That, nonetheless, hasn't restricted his unhappiness.
He did not need to touch upon how the Cardinals are utilizing his son, primarily as a result of he does not know what's being mentioned, taught and assigned in conferences.
“What I do know is you'll be able to put Marvin Harrison Sr., in my prime, in Arizona proper now, and guess what occurred?” he stated. “Canton, Ohio, [home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame] goes to ship me a pay as you go envelope and say, ‘May you please ship that jacket again?' So, I am not talking for anybody. I am talking for me.
“I am simply telling you that jacket, they'd be sending a pay as you go envelope. ‘Thanks for all of your assist, however ship that jacket again, please.'”
To Harrison Jr., the Cardinals' offense beneath offensive coordinator Drew Petzing is all he is aware of, however he has gotten a small style of what else is on the market via conversations together with his former Ohio State teammates catching passes across the league. Seattle Seahawks star Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the NFL with 117 receiving yards per recreation and is tied for fourth with 70 targets, and New Orleans Saints wideout Chris Olave is fourth in receptions with 52.
Harrison Jr. has heard about their experiences, how they line up and what they get to do inside their offenses.
“I really feel like every form of system can work in case you have the 11 guys executing at a excessive degree, whether or not that is sure receivers getting perhaps extra targets than others,” Harrison Jr. stated. “I believe all of it actually nonetheless comes all the way down to execution.
“I believe you'll be able to nonetheless make it work, however you bought to play the playing cards you are dealt.”
Manning as soon as instructed Harrison Jr. that his dad by no means needed to ask for the ball as a result of “I received it to him.”
“It was like, effectively, that is not the case for everybody,” Harrison Jr. stated.
Harrison Jr. has found out in a short while to deal with what he can management. He can management getting open, discovering separation and catching the ball when it is thrown his method, he defined. Harrison is averaging 2.79 yards of separation this season, which ranks 79th amongst receivers with at the very least 20 catches. Nevertheless, he is ranked fifth within the league with 5 catches in tight home windows, which is when a defender is lower than a yard away when the ball arrives, in keeping with ESPN Analysis. Whoever is throwing Harrison the ball is assured he'll make a play. He is ranked fifteenth in tight-window goal share and sixteenth in tight-window receiving share.
“I am unable to management some issues, and that half is irritating since you need the ball and also you see the opposite guys and [it's] only a pure comparability,” he stated.
The one participant he sees as a pure comparability is the Cincinnati Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase as a result of Chase, like Harrison Jr., was a top-five decide in 2021. That may be the place the comparisons cease due to their respective conditions.
They're in numerous methods, in numerous offenses with completely different kinds of quarterbacks. Joe Burrow was an MVP finalist final yr. It led to Chase having the fourth-highest share of targets per route run, in keeping with ESPN Analysis. Harrison Jr. is ranked one hundred and twentieth.
That is not one thing Harrison Jr. can change on his personal, but when he seems to be at his dad's profession, he is aware of he can take a lesson from how his dad approached targets — albeit a tad in another way.
Harrison Sr. stated he'd go in on a Monday morning after contributing 100 yards and two touchdowns and nonetheless complain to former Colts basic supervisor Invoice Polian and Manning that he needed extra.
“That is how I'm and that is how my mentality is,” Harrison Sr. stated. “That is why I'm who I'm. That does not level the finger at nobody.
“That is the perspective it's important to have on this league.”
It is one which Harrison Jr. is attempting to undertake whereas being acutely conscious that his persona is light-years from his father's.
“Man, he is like a church mouse,” Harrison Sr. stated of his son.
Harrison Jr. by no means needed to demand the ball in highschool or faculty, so doing it within the NFL could be a detour from who he's each day.
Cardinals broad receivers coach Drew Terrell stated Harrison Jr., who is not shy about calling himself quiet and reserved, is not one to hunt out confrontation or disagreement. He does not need to ruffle any feathers.
However Terrell is “completely” good with Harrison Jr. demanding the ball.
“You need to be virtually delusional in that you just suppose you are open on a regular basis whenever you're most likely not, however ‘I do not care, throw me that s— anyway,'” Terrell stated. “Wideouts ought to all have that kind of confidence.
“So, yeah, I received no points if he is pissed off about not getting the ball through the recreation.”
It might be simpler if that trait had been inherited from his father, however Harrison Jr. stated he is working at being extra assertive.
“I'm not the primary to say it, however [Harrison Sr.] demanded the ball much more than perhaps I'd have demanded the ball,” Harrison Jr. stated. “I am getting there. I believe I am attempting to get there. Simply how I'm going about it's a little completely different than he did.
“I am in a special territory now. I do not even know how one can go about it, however I am attempting to determine it out and clearly simply nonetheless do my half and do my job to the very best of my skills. However yeah, it is robust.”
