Baldy’s critique of MHJ mirrors college tape concerns
Despite Jonathan Gannon, Drew Petzing and Kyler Murray feeling “comfortable” with the direction of the team’s offense, Brian Baldinger offers a starkly different point of view. Thanks, as always, to Johnny and Bo for their enlightening and often educational interviews with Baldy. Kudos to PHNX.
“It’s bizarre.” @BaldyNFL breaking down the usage of Marvin Harrison Jr. so far in the Arizona Cardinals offense.
FULL INTERVIEW:https://t.co/fHdhW1nNx4 pic.twitter.com/SpMVXApu3V
— PHNX Cardinals (@PHNX_Cardinals) October 17, 2024
Baldy: “it’s so bizarre how they are using him (MHJ).”
Prior to the 2024 NFL Draft, I tried to offer a few of the same concerns about MHJ’s playing habits that Brian Baldinger elucidates in this interview.
And, if you recall, I reiterated time and time again that having MHJ in the offense was going to divert attention away from the 12 and 13 personnel packages that made the offense so hard to stop last season.
Sensing from the get-go how difficult it was going to be for MHJ to assimilate into the NFL, and knowing how much immediate pressure would be on Marv and the Cardinals to produce, I have tried to offer all kinds of creative ways in which to make the assimilation easier for him, the most recent of which was last week:
Op-Ed: How to get Marvin Harrison Jr. more catches in Drew Petzing’s offense – Revenge of the Birds
I worried from the get-go that if Marvin could pick an offense that would maximize his skills —- the Cardinals’ current offense ain’t it. Therefore, the Cardinals were going to have to have a creative plan that ultimately was going to have to alter Drew Petzing’s offensive modus operandi.
Problem is —- a Stefanski-style NFL offense is not particularly QB or WR friendly. Just ask Baker Mayfield.
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky had this to say about Marvin’s struggles on Doug and Wolf yesterday:
“It’s obviously a challenge, We don’t see receivers, we’ve had some over the past couple years step right in and have jaw dropping performances as rookies. My mind goes to a Ja’Marr Chase when he stepped in with Joe Burrow as a rookie. Very different offensive scheme. That was a scheme in Cincinnati that was going to be 11 personnel with three wide receivers. … That’s not who the Cardinals are.
“We just had this call with our crew, and one of the questions some of the people in our production crew asked was why is Marvin not dominating like a Malik Nabors is? … The Cardinals are playing with three tight ends on the field. They’re a run-first offense right now. And so that doesn’t mean Marvin’s not incapable of being that number one. It’s just not being asked because that’s not what’s best for their offense right now. The second thing is I think corners have started to get up at the line of scrimmage and challenge him a little bit more physically.”
Is it any surprise that the Cardinals have not had a creative plan for Marvin?
How is this for an answer from Drew Petzing when asked about the struggles this season at WR:
Drew Petzing when asked if we are getting what we wanted out of the wide receiver:
Thoughts?
@AZCardinals #BirdGang pic.twitter.com/xu1tVyPYm3
— The AZ sports fan! (@TheAZsportsfan1) October 15, 2024
Your reaction?
Drew Petzing’s assessment of how Mavin is doing in the offense:
“I think I got to do a better job of giving him that opportunity maybe more throughout the game.”
Arizona Cardinals OC Drew Petzing believes Marvin Harrison Jr. is doing a good job getting open and he thinks he can help him get more looks in the offense @PHNX_Cardinals pic.twitter.com/7Ka1IZqvwF
— Bo Brack (@BoBrack) October 15, 2024
Your reaction?
Kyler’s Frame of Mind
Now let’s take a look at where QB Kyler Murray’s mindset is these days. Here is an excerpt from Kyler’s recent interview with Kevin Clark:
Kyler Murray self reflection through 6 weeks. Expected a slightly diff response. QBR is up but stats are down and the offense has been inefficient. Interesting to see K1 much more optimistic than previously when we struggled. Hoping we can turn it around
Via @bykevinclark pic.twitter.com/G3FkLFZDSB
— K1SinceDay1 (@KSzn2021) October 16, 2024
Kyler: “this is my best season statistically (through 6 games), even when we went 7-0 in 2021.”
Stat Check:
Kyler Murray’s 1st 6 games in 2021:
Game 1: W 38-13 @ TEN —- 21/32, 65.6%, 289 yds, 9.0 ave, 4 TDs, 1 int, 2 sacks, 121.0 RTG, 88.3 QBR, 5 rushes for 20 yds, 5.0 ave, 1 TD
Game 2: W 34-33 vs. MIN —- 29/36, 80.6%, 400 yds., 11.1 ave, 3 TDs, 2 ints, 3 sacks, 117.6 RTG, 78.5 QBR, 5 rushes for 31 yds, 6.2 ave, 1 TD
Game 3: W 33-19 @ JAC —- 28/34, 82.4%, 9.3 ave., 0 TD, 1 int, 0 sacks, 93.1 RTG, 66.7 QBR, 7 rushes for 19 yds, 2.7, 1 TD
Game 4: W 37-20 @ LAR —- 24/32, 75.0%, 268 yds, 2 TDs, 0 int, 3 sacks, 120.3 RTG, 87.7 QBR, 6 rushes for 39 yds, 6.5 ave, 0 TD
Game 5: W 17-1110 vs. SF —- 22/31, 71.0%, 239 yds, 1 TD, 0 int, 2 sacks, 104.1 RTG, 35.2 QBR, 7 rushes for 1 yard, o.1 ave, 0 TD
Game 6: W 37-14 @ CLE —- 20/30, 66.7%, 229 yds., 4 TD, 0 int. 2 sacks, 129.0 RTG, 77.1 QBR, 7 rushes for 6 yds, 0.9 ave, 0 TD
TOTALS: 144/195, 73.9%, 1,741 yds., 9.1 ave, 12 sacks, 14 TDs, 4 int, 114.0 RTG, 72.3 QBR
Kyler Murray’s 1st 6 games of 2024:
Game 1: L 34-28 @ BUF —- 21/31, 66.7%, 162 yds., 5.2 ave., 4 sacks, 1 TD, 0 int, 91.1 RTG, 82.5 QBR, 5 rushes for 57 yds, 11.4 ave, 0 TD
Game 2: W 41-10 vs LAR —- 17/21, 81.0%, 266 yds, 12.7 ave, 1 sack, 3 TD, 0 int, 158.3 RTG, 97.5 QBR, 5 rushes for 59 yds, 11.8 ave, 0 TD
Game 3: L 20-13 vs DET —- 21/34, 61.8%, 207 yds, 6.1 ave, 1 sack, 1 TD, 1 int, 76.5 RTG, 42.2 QBR, 5 rushes for 45 yds, 9.0 ave, 0 TD
Game 4: L 42-14 vs. WAS —- 16/22, 72.7%, 142 yds, 6.5 ave, 4 sacks, 1 TD, 0 int, 104.7 RTG, 30.9 QBR, 3 rushes for 3 yds, 1.0 ave, 0 TD
Game 5: W 24-23 @ SF —- 19/30, 63.3%, 195 yds., 6.5 ave, 1 sack, 1 TD, 1 int, 79.2 RTG, 63.9 QBR, 7 rushes for 83 yds, 11.9 ave, 1 TD
Game 6: L 34-13 @ GB —- 22/32, 68.8%, 214 yds, 6.7 ave, 0 sacks, 1 TD, 1 int., 97.7 RTG, 56.0 QBR: 56.0, 7 rushes for 14 yards, 2.0 ave, 0 TD
TOTALS: 116/170, 68.2%, 1,186 yds., 7.0 ave., 11 sacks, 8 TD, 2 int, 98.8 RTG, 65.9 QBR
Side by side comparisons of 6-game stats:
- W/L: 2021: 6-0 —- 2024: 2-4
- Comp. %: 2021: 73.9% —- 2024: 68.2%
- Yards Passing: 2021: 1,741 —- 2024: 1,186
- Average Yards Passing Per Game; 2021: 290.2 —- 2024: 197.7
- Average YPA: 2021: 9.1 —- 2024: 7.0
- Sacks: 2021: 14 —- 2024: 11
- TD Passes: 2021: 14 —- 2024: 8
- Interceptions: 2021: 4 —- 2024: 2
- Yards Rushing: 2021: 87 —- 2024: 261
- Yards Rushing Average Per Game: 2021: 14.5 —- 2024: 43.5
- Rushing TD: 2021: 3 —- 2024: 1
- RTG: 2021: 114.0 —- 2024: 98.8
- QBR: 2021: 72.3 —- 2024: 65.9
Question: in what football universe are these numbers even remotely comparable?
Kyler avowed to Kevin Clark, “this (2nd year with Drew Petzing) is the best I’ve felt in an offense.”
Dan Orlovsky, who will be ESPN’s color commentator the Cardinals MNF game versus the Chargers, had this to say:
“I think you’ve seen development and growth from Kyler, and they’re running a relatively, with Drew, a kind of unique system. It’s a system that, in many ways, has really cool positives with a ton of the tight end usage and all the different things they do with those tight ends. But there is a cap to it … it certainly hasn’t been a runaway offensive performance, but I do think there have been a good amount of highs.”
Tyler Drake, Arizona Sports’ beat writer for the Cardinals, in reaction to Orlovsky’s assessment of Kyler and the Cardinals’ offense under Drew Petzing, wrote:
“Murray is getting more comfortable in Year 2, running Petzing’s heavier system than the offense he ran with Kliff Kingsbury over his first four seasons. He has been extremely accurate inside 10 yards, finding his tight ends and running backs underneath and over the middle with some high-level throws downfield like his touchdown pass to Michael Wilson on Sunday.
But the Cardinals have struggled to get their vertical passing game going down the field, as Murray is 25-for-54 beyond 10 yards, per Pro Football Focus. He has completed 68.2% of his passes, his highest since 2021, but his passing yards per game are below 200.
The lack of downfield success is evident in the production from No. 4 pick Marvin Harrison Jr., who has 81 receiving yards over his last three games as he and Murray continue to build their chemistry.”
These are some of Brian Baldinger’s, Dan Orlovsky’s, Drew Petzing’s Kyler Murray’s and Tyler Drake’s thoughts.
What are your thoughts?
I will jump in and share mine after you have your say. The comments lately have been outstanding. As they say in my generation, “Keep on keepin’ on!”