Cards' Harrison flops early, lights up 4th with TD

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Despite Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. struggling through the first three quarters against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night, quarterback Kyler Murray didn't shy away from continuing to throw his way.

The result was nearly a comeback win on national TV.

Harrison caught all four of his targets in the fourth quarter for 42 yards and a touchdown, helping Arizona tie the score late only to lose 23-20 on a field goal by Seattle as time expired.

"He needs me, I need him," Murray said. "This is a team sport, four-quarter game, and I understand he's not coming out of the game. I don't want him to come out of the game.

"So, we got to get this going. And that's really just what it is. Just conversations on the sideline, keeping his confidence up."

Through three quarters, which ended with the Cardinals down 17-6, Harrison had caught only two passes on six targets for 24 yards, was the target on both of Murray's interceptions, bobbling a pass before the second one. He also was part of another miscommunication on a route with Murray.

Murray said he was sure the interceptions were lingering in Harrison's mind after the game because "I just think Marv expects so much from himself."

"But I love the way that he fought back and continued to play hard and continued to make plays," Murray said. "Obviously, he's probably going to go home thinking about that s---. But at the end of the day, again, it's football. We all make mistakes. But he continued to battle. I'm excited."

Murray went right to Harrison on the Cardinals' first play of the fourth quarter for a 3-yard gain. He looked Harrison's way again on the last play of the drive for a 16-yard touchdown. Harrison high-pointed the ball as he fell backward deep in the end zone. After the catch, Harrison took a knee to celebrate -- the emotion of the moment was obvious.

"He came up clutch in the stretch," Murray said. "That's part of football. I got the utmost confidence in Marv. I will continue to have the confidence in Marv. We just got to go back to the drawing board and be better. ... The whole offense understands that we got to start faster and play better, complementary football. Because right now it's too all over the place, and it's not good enough."

Coach Jonathan Gannon said he wasn't concerned about Harrison and called his strong finish after a rocky start "fantastic."

"I thought he came and lit it up in the second half," Gannon said.

Despite struggling in the first half, the Murray-and-Harrison connection flourished in the second half. Murray was 5-for-5 for 58 yards and a touchdown targeting Harrison after halftime.

"He played his ass off in fourth quarter," Murray said. "When he got man, he made [the] plays. The touchdown catch was an amazing catch. So, again, I got the utmost confidence in him. I think he should have it as well."

Gannon told Harrison he wanted him to play faster Thursday, and he said after that he felt Harrison did just that. There were moments Thursday when Harrison looked dejected, but Gannon said to come back from those emotions, Harrison needed to "control the controllables," and the team's psychological training helped him in those situations.

"He wants to help the team win," Gannon said. "He gets down on himself. He's got to let that go and control the controllables, which for me for him is just play fast. Control your effort, your mode of play and play fast, and I thought that's what he did."