Kyler Murray apparently still has some chemistry to build with his new teammate Marvin Harrison Jr.
The Arizona Cardinals fell Sunday in their season opener against the Buffalo Bills by the final of 34-28. Despite Arizona storming out to a 17-3 lead in the first half, their offense sputtered during the second half, allowing Buffalo to storm back and take a one-score lead with inside of two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
During the ensuing possession, the Cardinals QB Murray led the team on a would-be game-winning drive but suffered an absolutely brutal whiff at a key moment. With a 2nd-and-6 from the Buffalo 39-yard line, Murray was forced to throw on the run and eventually hit wide receiver Greg Dortch for a modest completion. But replays showed that Murray missed a completely wide-open Harrison streaking towards the end zone on the right side of the field, totally unmarked.
Check it out.
Kyler Murray danced in the pocket for 6 seconds and somehow NEVER SAW A WIDE OPEN MARVIN HARRISON JR FOR A GAME-CHANGING TOUCHDOWN pic.twitter.com/HG5ysapKB8
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) September 8, 2024
Cardinals writer Theo Mackie also shared a damning photo from the press box of how Murray somehow missed Harrison, even despite looking in that general direction seemingly.
On 2nd and 6 with 1:10 to play, Kyler Murray did not throw to Marvin Harrison Jr. He was wide open at the bottom of the screen here. pic.twitter.com/eWqA4Al7EP
— Theo Mackie (@theo_mackie) September 8, 2024
It was a forgettable afternoon overall too for the No. 4 overall pick Harrison. He finished with just one catch for four yards on three total targets. While it is possible that the Harrison skunking was the result of some extra defensive attention by the Bills, his stat line would have been far better if Murray had just looked further up the field on that 2nd-and-6 play. But instead, Murray gave us a candidate for the single worst quarterback miss of Week 1 (along with Lamar Jackson’s folly on opening night).
