Marvin Harrison Jr.'s day Sunday, when he had just two catches on five targets, "doesn't concern me," Jonathan Gannon said on Monday. But the coach also noted that from his top wide receiver, "we need more production there."
"He needs his touches for us to be effective overall as an offense," Gannon said.
Harrison drew a 38-yard defensive pass interference call early in Sunday's game, hidden yards that won't show in his stats that set the Cardinals up at the Carolina 5-yard line. (Unfortunately, they settled for a field goal.) He didn't have a catch until the 10:45 mark of the third quarter, however.
The Cardinals are still working on finding that MHJ consistency within the offense. He was targeted more than six times in only eight games last season. This season, he has been at 6 and 5 in two weeks.
Gannon said he doesn't get caught up in targets (and the Cardinals only ran 48 offensive plays officially Sunday, drastically slicing into potential throws.) It was interesting to hear that on the play Murray had his magnificent 31-yard scramble, Harrison was the intended target of the playcall.
The coach also reiterated yet again Harrison and Trey McBride are the linchpins of the passing offense. "We're not confused about that."
"I know (Marvin) has a certain number of plays where he is the read in," Gannon said. "If they play a coverage that says the ball is not going to go there it's not going to go there. Saying that, I know he needs to touch the football for our offense to be at its premium."
