Arizona Cardinals' Michael Wilson: How Buffalo Bills Slowed Down Marvin Harrison Jr, Passing Attack

pH next Cardinals thrilled to welcome the newest member of our team here throughout the NFL season Arizona Cardinal seconde wide receiver coming off his touchdown performance against the Buffalo Bills Michael Wilson returns to the program how we doing Mike doing well thanks for having me on the show I'm excited to be a part of it Mike the season opening TouchDown for your squad can you take us through that play little fivey Kyler Murray making things happen yeah so honestly it was uh designed between a high low between me and uh Trey McBride and I think the play kind of broke down Kyler could have probably banged it on me early but watching the tape the defensive lineman got their hands up so that's why he started to throw the ball brought it back down and that did does what he does best is extend extending the play and I just kind of found space and he threw a great ball for me to go get it do you guys feel like with the momentum you had in the first half it's like man we're right there as an offense because you know we didn't see you guys at all in the preseason and I was disappointed by that mik I'm like I want to see my guys in the preseason and you guys got to you got to hang out in August and and and then you started fast on Sunday it's like where do you envision this offense going this year because I'm ready for big explosives between you and I for sure yeah I think we started out really good I think as good as any anyone in the building could have hope for I'm sure from from fan standpoint like putting up 17 points going three for three and in the red zone three for three on drives in the first half that's big time in a hostile environment a away game first time we've been all on the field at the same time I think we just weren't able to continue that momentum going into the second half um and I think that's something we're going to have to evaluate whether it like we they were able to double up possessions on us scored obviously going into halftime and then scor coming out the break now it's tied 177 so we hadn't taken the field for like 40 minutes until our first drive going into the second half um and then from there just adversity hit with the fumble and I feel like we just couldn't get things going but to answer your question the first half and I feel like that's been a theme for for our offense since last year is we've always started fast I feel like the LA the first five games I think we're winning in the first half where where we up 10-7 against the commanders week one last year 20 to zero against the Giants week one or week two last year Cowboys I think we're up and then we went toe-to-toe with the Niners until the fourth quarter at the end of the fourth quarter week four and that we were also up against the Bengals week five too so we just have to it has to consciously be on our mind of starting fast going into the second half especially with that first drive coming out for the second half but I think how it looked in the first half we just have to continue that momentum going in to hey I got your back you John you admitt it to us Jonathan Ganon asked you if you wanted to play in the preseason and you said yes so that wasn't your call so my co-host can know all the details and facts on that yeah yep but I'm not going to go against the head coaches wishes he doesn't want you know some players to play I'm not gonna not gonna argue right right I just want them all out there on on the table for us Mike uh you know is that a skill though that that you you view as as something that you could this this group especially on as an offense or maybe just as a complete team is is to finish as you pointed out like it's happened a couple times now where you've got out to a lead and you know for whatever reason can't finish the deal is that is that something that you the team feels that they can learn and and can start to hammer away at yeah for sure I think that's obviously what NFL games are decided by is I forgot the stat but I think we had some NFL Personnel said 70% of all games last year came down were with when were within one score and so knowing that it's either the offense is going to be in a four-minute situation is going to have to end the ball with the game or the game with the ball or we're going to have to go down and score or defense is going to have to get stop late late late in the in the game and so finishing on both sides is going to be at at an emphasis for us if we want to be a playoff team because statist statistically it shows that you're going to have to win the game at the end of the game and it's going to come down to the wire so I think that's definitely going to be our on our mind going through week to week to week to week and we just have to make sure we're on it if we're in that situation to come this uh this Sunday Mike do you like have the rapport with Kwan I'll include Marvin in this as well where it's like end of the game let's get our Playmakers the ball let's stretch the field let's let's go vertical let's let's let's start fast right because there there always seems to be a very conservative effort to to lean on the run early in games and then you know falling behind in the fourth quarter things have to change a little bit with where the game dictates that but do you do you feel like you you can go back to the Huddle now in your TB be like hey I want the football let's go it's fourth quarter yeah for sure I mean I think that's what Buffalo's defensive identity is is they want to play You Know cover three cover four cover two um play deep and then rally did the football and that's what they've been for the last couple years is they don't want to give up explosive passes and so they want to keep everything in front and I I we we hardly got any man coverage and a lot of times with Marvin they essentially play cloud coverage so they had a corner playing underneath and then a safety playing over top so that takes away a lot of deep balls and R opportunities from Marvin as it is and so I think obviously as a receiver you want the ball and you want to contribute to the game but a lot of times that is bound to happen over the course of a 17 Game season is all receivers are going to have one or two games a year where they just don't get the ball the game doesn't allow them to get the ball hopefully that was that that was this one-off game this year or La last last week but I think the other George had eight targets I think he had what six catches and he was able to find space in the middle of the field and kylo was able to check the ball down to him but I think Buffalo executed their plan of not giving up explosives and they're they want to play deep and hopefully have their their dline rush and you know have KY get rid of the ball but I just think that I'm not going to let my ego get in the way and I know Marvin's wired the same way as me like we're not going to let our ego get in the way of being selfish and making a big deal about not getting the ball a lot it's just one game and I think our offense was doing great without us touching the ball as it is anyway and like I said and I've said numerous times throughout the offseason now going into this game it might be a game where they play a lot of man coverage and Marvin might get 10 Targets this game I might get six targets but um yeah it's just it's just it was just one of those it was just one of those games where we just didn't didn't get a lot opportunities to see the ball and we love to see it like the dorch we love G man like uh obviously a former colleague of ours over here at pH andx yeah had the great dorch uh you know allpurpose player pod catch which is fantastic for him to finally get that opportunity Mike it's f it's it's fantastic to see it but and I don't want to justify you know the social media mob out there but you know as far as you know I guess the reaction the knee-jerk reaction to Marv having one catch there was a screen cap that went out there of him streaking down the field like what would be your message to to people out there that this is this is gonna get on track and and that downfield passing game like you guys are GNA be a force yeah for sure I think that's like I said kind of piggybacking up my answer previously to the last question is that's the es and flows of football like obviously the the dream would be for Marvin to come out and have 10 catches 120 yards like I would see that I'm sure the fan base would love to I have that dream every night about both them um and I do de I do truly believe deep down in my heart that that is going to come at some point whether that's next week two weeks from now three weeks from now eventually things are going to open up but OB it takes time like Marvin's 22 years old and he hasn't had a lot of time to play with Kyler and I think when we do get in situations where a team is more willing to play Man coverage and Marvin's able to see the ball more like he's going to make plays on the ball you don't win the blit in the cough and get drafted fourth overall without having Elite traits Elite ball skills and all those things um there's no denying a talent it's just going to take time like it's just like I I keep saying if you look at every receiver every number one receiver if you look at their game log of stats they're bound to have one or two games a year where they just don't get the ball whether that's their fault quarterback's fault the game's fault just some sometimes that's the way it goes as a receivers you have a lot has to happen for you get to get the ball so I'm not overreacting at all because Marvin and myself have the talent to be the receivers that I think I can be he thinks he can be and obviously the fan base thinks he can be we just have to keep doubling down to work and I think it's honestly a good experience for me for him is because the way he's wired is no one's going to put more pressure on him than he is himself like he knows when he plays well he knows plays he should make um he knows if he could wish he could have plays back it's just going to light a fire on him to continue to double down on his process and go harder well we're not ones to overreact on this show thank we keep everything in perspective we're looking ahead to this Sunday and in all seriousness match up divisional opponent LA Rams like Bill's playing the AFC we don't have to worry about them for a hot minute but I mean Cardinals are in a position now you guys are in a position now home opener against the LA Rams team that you know's got McVey it's got Matthew Stafford like what's been jg's messaging this week and what is a very pivotal matchup early in this season yeah obviously divisional games are huge um we really haven't turned the page and started talking about Rams because Monday was about reviewing the take from the Buffalo game today was an off day for us so when we get in the building tomorrow we'll find out exactly the our keys to Victory what we need to do to beat the Rams but it goes without saying obviously it's a it's a divisional opponent so there's just a tick more on the line when it comes to playing divisional opponents and the Rams are a well coach team they got a lot of players I know they're a little bit banged up right now with our puka going down and some other key stars to them going down so um I think it's going to be a good matchup for us but as long as we stick to our plan and and trust each other and continue to to play good ball and rely on Kyler Murray's playmaking I think we have a chance to to win any game and should expect to win every game that we play now I want to kind of get back because you have a history with this show you've been on this show a couple times now you were on draft night and you're gonna have a bright future with the show and we're excited about it but I wanted to follow up on a couple things one you mentioned to us on draft night is you almost had to dial back because you're so locked in as far as your diet your your process your work routine you almost had to kind of relax that a little bit and you didn't really give us too much of an answer as far as how you were going to do that you have any like what's a have you figured out like a cheat day or anything yet as far as how you're gonna ease off of you know being so locked in yeah I think when I when I said that it it more so meant in terms of my diet like I think I was to I played too lean and I played a little bit too lean I don't want to jinx anything now but I think that's been the key or the reason why I've been having these little knick-knack bone injuries CU I think I just didn't have enough fat on me to to take hits and stuff um so with that I'm just like last night I had I had pizza I had a pizza with my lady last night um which was good so just trying to find little things to treat myself like last year I would my diet would be I'm eating this meal at this time and me eating this meal this time I'm getting this amount of sleep and I think I'm still in a regimen but there's a little bit of leniency and not as much 100% all the time like I think I'm trying to find a little bit more balance when it comes to diet sleep um just kind of going off how I feel and I'm committing myself this year getting two massages a week too last year doing one so well I think we can we can help you with that too there's a place by me here in the East Valley it's called Chili's the three of us could go they have they have I don't know if you've heard of this they have this thing called the triple Dipper there and we all can pick kind of an appetizer we want to go with I can make that happen I can get us res if you yeah let's do it let's do next Tuesday we win against the Rams we'll go W go on Tuesday next all right chil fan here happy hour I'm I'm I love the Southwest Ang RS man they're they're Elite uh Mike also uh your fiance now Congratulations by the way your fiance uh Gold Medal winner in the Olympics but they unveiled I think it was good morning America they unveiled their nickname for the trio there was it Triple Espresso yeah that's yeah that's what it was I I know you're a Stanford guy and I don't I don't want to give you homework like I'm your teacher but we we need a nickname for this wide receiver room like to to match what Sophia is going with her teammates all right let me um next week when we get on the show after we all have a big game we'll all come up with one and and we will reveal it next next week on the show I thought you were going to go Bo like we need a nickname for the three of us on this on this podcast and now I'm hurt like I I don't want to disclude Marv and and Greg dorch but that's kind of where I thought you were going but maybe I guess not we're not worthy we're not worthy just yet all right one more for you persus you dropped this on us that's how you describe Marvin Harrison Jr in in the press conference room yeah any uh do we have any um words of the day do we have any vocabulary words of the day that we could we can Enlighten our audience with perspicacious um words of the day words of the day not really honestly I think that that's like my that's my peak of vocabulary but now that now that now that we do that from here on out like when I come up with the name for our group next week I'll try to come up with and think of a word of the day to have like a specific unique word but that's when I dropped that one that was kind of my that was my Hail Mary shot and I guess it kind of caught fire but yeah I'll come up with a couple couple from here on out to bring on real quick Mike before we get you out of here anything stand out like were you able to watch any NFL football this weekend anything stand out to you I watch I watched so I watched the Sunday night game on the plane home with between the Rams and and Detroit um and then I was able to watch a lot of the game last night between the Giants I'm I'm sorry the Jets and the Niners um going back to what you we were all talking about speaking specifically about amond ra who's a good friend of mine he also didn't have you know a ton of targets ton of catches in that game either so and he was a guy that had what 16500 yards yesterday yeah but I think the product of the NFL just I feel like every year it just keeps getting more exciting more competitive I feel like most games were just tight tight tight tight and also I I saw this one set on Twitter there was like the least or this was the one of the years where it was they had the least amount of receiving touchdown since 20 like I don't know 2019 had like 65 and there I think there was less than 40 receiving touchdowns which was one of the lows in the last six years which was I thought that was an interesting stat yeah it is it's fascinating I mean we're seeing like the big plays down field just each and every year just decline yeah and that's a that's a credit to the defenses ke in on Concepts and because I think for the most part most offenses run the same they run similar similar scheme right it might look they might dress it up differently here and there but like a lot of times if you get a far cross concept then you'll have a dig coming behind it with a with a post on the front side like they might dress it up with motions with Personnel it might look a little bit differently but at the same at this that same on that on that concept like the throwing spots are all going to be the same and so I think defenses are just doing a really good job of staying disciplined and and un like de coordinators are just doing really good of studying personnel stud coordinators and stuff they're too damn talented out there we need more big plays in our life across the United States uh we just want it back in our lives but uh we got our big- time playmaker now on phnx Cardinals his name is Michael Wilson and uh he's already got a tutty on his stat line for the season and hopeful a couple more of those against the LA Rams this Sunday in front of the Red Sea at State Farm Stadium Mike we are so pumped to have you on the show thank you so much for your tremendous Insight today and going forward my man yeah thank you guys appreciate [Music] you we allting like the mayor