When the media arrived in the Arizona Cardinals dressing room following the Buffalo Bills’ 34-28 victory at Highmark Stadium on Sunday, Marvin Harrison Jr. remained silent. Regarding his one-catch, three-target, four-yard NFL debut, the source had no commentary. There was no deliberate attempt, according to quarterback Kyler Murray, to keep Harrison out of the offence.

According to coach Jonathan Gannon, it was just a result of what the Buffalo defence was doing and what Murray could do within the parameters of the offense’s flow and philosophy.Regarding the additional coverage the Bills were providing Harrison, Gannon remarked, “When I looked, I saw a lot of cloud to him, so they obviously were trying to take him away.” However, I believe that some guys caught balls. Guys, that’s how our offence will be constructed. We’ll involve him, but the ball should go where it should based on the coverage. Both of those justifications fell short of appeasing the enraged public following Harrison’s pitiful offensive performance in Orchard Park. Fans of the Cardinals wanted someone to burn and assign blame to.

Respondents to Drew Petzing’s offensive coordinator tweets were not amused. Murray came under fire for a variety of reasons, including his height and his alleged inability to spot a wide-open Harrison on a play that some felt should have resulted in a touchdown. Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky demolished this argument with a thorough description of what actually happened on the play.

Respondents to Drew Petzing’s offensive coordinator tweets were not amused. Murray came under fire for a variety of reasons, including his height and his alleged inability to spot a wide-open Harrison on a play that some felt should have resulted in a touchdown. Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky demolished this argument with a thorough description of what actually happened on the play.At the Cardinals’ Tempe training facility on Tuesday, Petzing told the media, “Certainly, as a play-caller, you feel that throughout the game.” “The amount of respect they showed him early in the game caught me off guard, and I believe it opened up certain things, particularly in the run game’s red zone. But he’s one of our best players, so we definitely think of him first when it comes to getting the ball to him. I believe they took some positive action in removing him, and I could have called certain plays differently in an effort to try and include him a little bit earlier.

Harrison had a quiet day, but Murray didn’t entirely blame the Bills defence for it. He emphasised to all of them that his role is to lead the offensive that Petzing has designed for him. “Obviously, as a quarterback, you’re going through your reads,” he remarked. “It’s not my responsibility, but occasionally the ball goes to him. Though I leave that up to Drew, I have a sense and a feel for guys when they are getting the ball and when they are not. “Don’t worry about that type of stuff,” he tells me. Simply keep playing your game and direct the ball where it should go.

In a game where he had man-coverage on 11 routes, Harrison may or may not have contributed to getting so few targets; the other routes received greater attention. This was something that no one really discussed in detail. Petzing remarked hazily, “I think he got some things out of the way.” “There were definitely some jitters there, along with a new opponent and coverage. You’ll undoubtedly want him to produce more, and I, not him, will be the main source of that.

Additionally, Harrison made an ugly incompletion well behind him along the sideline on a play in which it was evident that he had misread the defence. These are shown in the film below, which has a very biassed headline.

Furthermore, Harrison misread the defence on a play where he made an ugly incompletion deep behind him down the sideline. These may be seen in the movie below, which includes a headline that is incredibly biassed.

That’s our first time playing together, but I was trying to back shoulder him because the route we were trying to run wasn’t going to be completed downfield,” Murray said. “Safety’s over the top so the back shoulder was there. I think again, that’s just something that we’ll click on; we’ll get better at.”

You have to wonder if Harrison was partially to blame for his quiet day. You have to wonder whether the decision to sit Murray and Harrison for the entire preseason contributed to a lack of chemistry. You have to wonder if Harrison needed those reps to better acclimate to the NFL.

However, it has to be seen if Petzing ought to have called Harrison more often in the first half to get him engaged and in the flow, and then even more in the second half when the Bills loaded the box and eliminated the short game that the Cardinals had used to take a 17-3 lead. And then you have to ask yourself if it would have mattered if the Cardinals had scored the game-winning touchdown on the last possession and Greg Dortch had not drawn a flag. You have to wonder if, when the Cardinals play the Rams on Sunday, Harrison shows up, this whole story will be forgotten.

When it’s difficult to distinguish fact from fiction, the NFL is designed for in-the-chair examination. The players’ play-by-play duties are unknown to the media and fans as the team isn’t sharing its playbook with them. They aren’t always aware of who made the wise or foolish decisions, the brilliant moves or the bad ones.

In relation to that, I did question Petzing about his thoughts when he hears the media assessing players or dissecting plays without providing important context. “There are definitely moments when I laugh and think, ‘Well, you would feel a whole different way if you were in the building viewing tape with this,” he admitted. We won’t always be able to afford you that luxury. However, there are other occasions when one realises, “Hey, I had the exact same thought that guy did.”

Petzing was being kind, I think, but the Cardinals were merely promising to include Harrison more and without providing any more details. That is usually the plan, according to Petzing. “I believe that ultimately, winning the game is the only thing on our minds. Ultimately, it’s fantastic if we are accomplishing that. If not, the task was not completed.

That, in my opinion, will always be the attitude. Later, we’ll review the video and ask ourselves, ‘Did we give our best players the best opportunities possible, given what they were doing?’ Could we have done anything more? Here’s how we should proceed in order to achieve that. Or, well, the game kind of required that. There will be a change in the next game. “Let us ensure that we are prepared.”