What was a tad concerning about Marvin Harrison Jr.'s 1 catch, 1 drop on 3 targets debut is that the Cardinals' coaches seemed surprised that the Bills elected to "cloud" the rookie.

If you are going to cloud any of the Cardinals' WRs, who would it be?

Therefore, it seemed odd that the Cardinals' coaches were not quite prepared for the Bills' heavy use of Cover 2 as it pertained to giving MHJ a fighter's chance to crack the shell.

Both Jonathan Gannon and Drew Petzing said after the game that the good news about the Bills' clouding of MHJ was how it gave other players a chance to shine in the offense.

Problem was, none of the Cardinals' playmakers put up more than 50 yards.

Yesterday, Kyler Murray offered his own solution for the shell Cover 2 for the nest time they see it:

Kyler is 100% correct.

Cover 2 entails patrolling the deep thirds and middle with 2 high safeties who are in perfect position to bracket the other team's top WRs.

If the offense starts rushing the ball with success, then the DC will counter by dropping one of the safeties down into the box. Which means, so long Cover 2. Hello Cover 1.

So, how could the Cardinals have given MHJ a fighter's chance to have a successful debut?

Run the ball better than 3.6 yards per carry and for MHJ:

Problem is -- - neither Petzing -- - nor Kyler -- -or perhaps both -- - appears to be a fan of employing WR motion.

You might recall hearing that during Kyler's 8 games last season, the OC and QB completely shunned the use of WR motion. Regardless, the team's running game was top 3 in the NFL in virtually every key category and TE Trey McBride emerged as one of the most productive go-to TEs in the NFC. Yet, it really wasn't until the last 2 games that Kyler was able to develop chemistry with Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch.

You also may recall that Brett Kollman and E.J. Snyder of Bootleg Football Podcast engaged in an enlightening discussion of what the Cardinals could achieve by adding motion to their play calling schemes this season -- - especially now that they drafted MHJ and are starting the "Dortcher Chamber" (per Kollmann)!

A few weeks ago, on the Red Rain Podcast, Brett Kollmann predicted that whether the Cardinals decide to incorporate motion into their play calling this season will depend on "just how comfortable Kyler is with it."

Turns out, without playing the starters at all during the pre-season, the Cardinals' Week 1 game plan versus the Bills, which started off clicking, was eventually a whole tub of vanilla, with a small cherry of a screen or swing pass every now and then. Per Steven Patton @PattonAnalytics:

Easy Button Play Percentages Week 1:

"How often did play callers deploy "easy buttons" in their offense? Easy buttons include RPOs, play action, motion, and screen plays.

The four play callers with an easy button percentage of 30% or less are Drew Petzing, Joe Brady, Dave Canales, and Kevin Stefanski."

The result? To quote ESPN's Josh Weinfuss,

"Murray averaged only 2.9 air yards per completion and failed to complete a single pass thrown 10 or more yards downfield, finishing 0-of-6 on those throws, according to ESPN Stats & Information. It was the first time he failed to complete such a throw in a game since Week 14 of 2022, when he only threw one pass.

Not being able to connect on an explosive play was one of the reasons Arizona's offense stalled in the second half."

Cloud over Miami Tonight?

Tonight, the Bills are down in Miami to play the Dolphins. It may be interesting to take a look at how Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa attack the Bill's secondary and to see how they are going to handle the Bills throwing their cloud this time, no doubt, on Tyreek HilL

Here are Kupp's Week 1 highlights versus the Lions. See how early in the game Sean McVay was running Kupp on out passes, digs and corner routes out of the slot, with Puka in the other slot. Once Puka was out of the game, notice how McVay put Kupp in constant motion so that the Lions would have a harder time matching up with him. Notice how well the notion worked.

(1) Cooper Kupp's best plays from 14-catch, 110-yard game vs. Lions | Week 1 - YouTube

Why run motion?

What the Cardinals could do is run MHJ in motion and at times like the Rams do with Kupp, line him up in the slot (where he has ample room to both sides of the field) or motion him into the slot (short or opposite) for clean releases.

That would help and it would naturally increase the volume of his targets.

So, what's the Cardinals' quandary?

You might recall me saying this about the Cardinals' decision to draft MHJ at #4 -- - when you draft a supremely talented WR at #4, it behooves the coaches to reconfigure their offense in order to find numerous ways to get the WR the ball.

My concern was just how much of an integration of MHJ into the offense could change the run-heavy, TE-centric formula that the offense appeared to be making a fabulous identity of last season.

After the game, Kyler Murray seemed a little peeved when talking to the media about getting MHJ the ball. Why?

There is a significant amount of local and national pressure on Kyler to get MHJ the ball. Locally, from stoked-up 2-tear "Tank for Marv" fans especially.

Nationally, one of today's headlines on ESPN's home page was how MHJ admitted that his debut "wasn't great."

All Eyes on a Legacy

The eyes of the football world are on MHJ, which also means those eyes are on Kyler -- - and for that matter, all eyes are also on Drew Petzing, whom Kyler reminded everyone:

There was more context to Kyler's remarks that he has since clarified -- - he just meant that he's not the one calling the plays. Drew is. But that it's both his and Drew's job to get MHJ the ball, and, for that matter, to get every other playmaker the ball.

Ram the Rams Game Preparation

It may be tempting this week for Drew Petzing to draw up and do a quick install on some motion plays for MHJ -- - that is, if there aren't any of those type of plays for him already.

But this week that could be a mistake. Because the primary focus for the Rams needs to be on re-establishing the BIG RED running game.

In Week 1, the Rams gave up 163 yards rushing to the Lions at 5.3 yards per carry. The Cardinals need to piggyback on the Lions' success by exposing a defensive interior where only Kobie Turner earned a PFF grade over 60 and the two starting linebackers, Christian Rozeboom's and Troy Reader's grades were 47.8 and 47.1 respectively.

Secondly, the Cardinals' focus should be on delivering precisely executed play-action passes to the intermediate and deep areas of the field.

The one simple tweak that Drew Petzing could make this week, is to line up MHJ in the slot from time to time so that he can do what he does very well -- - win on crossers, fades, corners and double-move oppo-leverage passes.

Experienced coaches will tell you, coming off defeat, stick to your priorities, improve on them and make them stronger this week, with adding maybe just one or two wrinkles.

That said, can we just imagine the roar when MHJ scores his first TD in Glendale?

The Cardinals should cue up the Rolling Stones' "Hey-Hey, You-You Get Off of My Cloud!"