At the age of 33, Mesa, Arizona native and Arizona Cardinals wide receivers coach/pass game coordinator Drew Terrell is already in his seventh season as an NFL assistant coach and second with the Cardinals.
Terrell met with the media Friday and discussed in depth what he has seen from rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. this season. His thoughts are presented in our weekly Q&A.
Q: With Marv and where he is in his development, what have you seen from his first 13 games and what might he still be able to do in the last four game of the season?
A: I think the big focus for Marv is just continuing to get better and improve every week. He’s a guy that’s had a ton of spotlight on him his entire life for obvious reasons. But at the end of the day, he’s still a rookie and there are still going to be things along the way that he has to learn and get accustomed to. But he’s handling all that with grace. He’s doing a great job. He’s a really good kid. He works really hard. He’s continuing to put good things on tape every week. The thing that’s hard, and I tell these guys about the receiver room, is you’re judged and perceived based on other’s opinion of success, which is most of the time statistical and that’s the nature of our position. But as long as you turn on the tape and there’s a product that you’re proud of, when people see and they know they have to match up with you and defend you and you’re launching off the ball and you’re making contested plays and you’re doing your job; that’s what success is on tape.
Q: What are some of those things you’re seeing that maybe not everybody’s seeing because they’re just looking at statistics? What he is doing well?
A: I think he’s doing a great job with his play speed verse man. Getting on edges, going fast, being decisive at the top of routes. He’s such a talented kid and when he was going up against lesser competition prior to getting to the NFL, he’d have a little more sweetness off the line or be a little smoother in routes. And then you’re playing against these better guys, you’ve got to be a little bit more decisive, go faster with certain things. I think he’s done a great job buying in and doing that from week to week.
Q: Do you think he needs to get bigger, stronger?
A: I don’t think so. One of the things that makes Marv great is he’s a big guy that has a lot of fluid movement ability that a smaller receiver would have. So, like any of our guys there’s times where it’s like, ‘Hey be more physical at the top of this route with this guy because he’s gonna try to be physical with you.’ But I don’t think that’s like something specific to him. He’s 210 whatever right now, 6-3. He’s a physical guy and when we need him to be physical, he can be physical.
Q: A little but over half the targets haven’t been completed. Are you good with that number? Would you like to have seen it a little bit higher or is that kind of where it should be?
A: Anytime you miss a pass, I’m pissed off that we missed the pass for whatever reason. Obviously, you always want it to be higher, but that’s just part of it and part of him and Kyler growing a rapport and part of them growing their communication. Like ‘I saw this on this route. I saw this verse this coverage.’ That’s the ongoing communication which I think they’re doing a really good job of. They just got to keep improving that. But any time there’s an incompletion, I want to know why the hell it was incomplete. You want to get to the bottom of it.
Q: What’s your focus on with him right now and his development in terms of on-field stuff?
A: I think just keeping his mind locked in on the task at hand. Not wandering and getting caught up in the, ‘Oh you’re supposed to have this number this year, you’re supposed to be this guy.’ All that noise. He’s a very calm demeanor kid. Good kid. He works his tail off, practices like a pro. It’s just keeping him locked in on that all the time, which he’s done a great job of. And then the other thing is just staying on him consistently about dictating to the defense, which I think is something that’s very important for receivers. At the end of the day, this might sound dumb, but their (opponents) job is to defend us so you should be dictating every route to them. Not reacting to, ‘Oh, this guy’s playing me firm, so I’m going to creep off here.’ No, like he’s got to defend you. So go with speed, go with juice, be decisive at the top of routes and put some fear in his heart. And that’s another thing and I do that with all the rookies because there’s an adjustment period in the passing game to get into the pro game because windows close up so much faster. Guys are better coverage guys, so they’re tighter to you. There’s a ton of little things that guys can improve on.
Q: What’s the balance between when there are times when you’re reading a defense as a receiver and finding those weak spots but then also do what you’re saying and not play too much based off what they’re doing?
A: I think a big part of that is the scheme we’re playing against. How much zone coverage versus man coverage they play? How aggressive the corners are. So if we’re playing against a firm press corner, we’re not wasting any time on any routes with him; that guy’s going to be tight to us. We’re getting on edges, we’re going fast. If we’re playing a soft motor corner as we call it, then there’s times to mix a little sweetness in there. We call it a step-and-a half release and which Marv does a great job of naturally. He’s got a lot of natural finesse in his game, kind of like a basketball player on a crossover. So we’ll mix that in if we’re playing that type of corner. We’re playing more zone defenses, you’ve got a little bit more time. You’ve got to be able to feel more windows. If we’re playing a team that’s going to match us up in man, we’ve got to go fast and be decisive and dictate to them.
Q: In terms of handling the outside pressure, the expectations, did he come that way or is that something you had to coach him on throughout the season?
A: For the most part, he’s come that way because like his entire life he’s been the son of Marvin Harrison a Hall of Famer. So you know like any of us that would be a ton of quote-unquote pressure and he does a great job of handling that in approaching the game just like it’s, it’s football. Same game you’ve been playing your entire life. If you keep your process the same, none of the external has a chance to get its way into your brain. I would say he’s done a great job of that. I just check in with him to confirm like just keep working on the things that you can control and are within your grasp and everything is going to be all right.
Q: Do you see defenses paying a lot of extra attention to him?
A: Yeah, I think it depends on the week. Sometimes you definitely notice they’re kicking coverage to him. They’ve got two guys there. You get down in the red area, they might pay a little bit more attention to him. Third down, they might roll a little bit to him. They might have a guy matching him. That varies week to week. It depends on the scheme and the confidence they have. But we’ve got plans in place every week so if they’re rolling coverage to him this is where we need to get to or this guy’s got to have a big day if they’re following him with this. But there’s definitely been some of that this year that we’ve seen. And we kind of expected it coming in.
Q: We have four games left and this might be the last time we talk to you this season. What do you want to see from this offseason? Where do you want to see him take strides?
A: I want to see him keep smiling. Continue to grow. Continue to have a profound joy in playing this game. I think what’s going to come naturally is he’s gonna take a deep breath and exhale, and be like, all right, ‘I’m in the NFL.’ This is what I’ve worked my whole life for, and this is what it is, you know what I mean? Because like when you’re working your way up to this level, it’s always like this massive thing you’ve got to attain and it’s almost … I don’t want to say you’re putting too much weight into it, but it’s kind of like there’s an expectation of what it’s supposed to be like. And now he knows. So, I hope I see him in this offseason exhale. And like, all right, I’m Marvin Harrison Jr. I’m a bad mother (expletive) and they gotta feel me next time I’m out there.
Q: Will you wait until the offseason and judge these last four games before constructing the technical side of that offseason plan, or are you already just sort of adding bullet points on a weekly basis?
A: I’ve been bullet pointing that since Week 1. Things we need to get better at as a group, things he needs to improve at. Different messages I need to give him and the rest of the group. And then once the season’s over, whenever that is, just exhaling myself and taking a look back at our receiver play, our passing game as a whole and seeing how we can improve and that type of thing. That’s been an ongoing process and then at the end, they’ll kind of be some finality of all right, this is how we need to approach this moving forward.
Q: What are the things you’re willing to address week-to-week as the season goes along and what are the types of things that you say this should wait until the offseason?
A: I think things that may be super technical to the position, you wait until the offseason because a lot of the time during the week is spent on, how is this going to help us beat this opponent or this matchup that we have. So if I want to tweak something about the way he runs a certain route, I’ll wait until the offseason before I get in his head about that because also the thing about Marv is like once you tell him, he’s gonna work his hardest, he’s gonna make damn sure he gets it right. So, I don’t want his mind; say it’s like a super technical thing with a route, like, let’s go off this type of footwork for this route and completely change it. I don’t want him thinking like, ‘OK, I need to make sure I get this right. OK, why is he changing it? Why did he ask me to change it? OK, why would he do that against this corner?’ Like calm down. We’ll get that fixed at the end of the season. Right now, we need to focus on beating Christian Gonzalez or whatever it is. So if it’s super technical, I’ll wait. If it’s something that’s going to help us win right now, I address it right now.
Q: Around the league like historically, it’s kind of an outspoken position. How do you kind of keep your group team-first?
A: Man; I think a lot of credit goes to those guys on that. First of all, the two top dogs in the room, Michael Wilson and Marvin, are as good of teammates as you’re gonna have at that position. And sometimes I tell those two guys, ‘You’re being too damn nice.’ Like receivers got to have a little bit of like, ‘Hey, like, throw me the ball on that,’ you know what I mean? But in all seriousness, those guys are great. They do a great job and they set the tone for the rest of the room on how to carry themselves.
Q: I know there’s some stats you don’t always base success off of, but when you’re looking at yards of separation, which around the league is a lot less for the Cardinals receivers as a whole, but the plus is making a lot of contested catches. As a coach, what’s your perspective on the yards of separation and whether or not they need more or are you happy with it?
A: I think that’s a goofy stat because there’s so many factors that go into that. Like a guy could be running wide open the entire play and for whatever reason the ball is late, the quarterback got hit, ball’s offline, he was third in the progression. By the time the ball gets to him, there’s no separation. And now the guy wasn’t open. So that irritates the hell out of me. It’s like watch them on film when he’s matched up in man-to-man, OK? And if he’s not winning we need to fix it. If he’s winning and then at the point the ball gets there, there’s not a lot of separation in and you’re measuring that, to me, that’s not always an accurate indication of what the wideouts do. There’s so many factors that go into a receiver having that or having what people perceive as success. That’s not realistic in my opinion.
Q: How much progress has Michael shown in Year 2?
A: Man; he’s so locked in on doing his job, getting it right and being as good a player as he can be. Like he’s probably the most deliberate guy I’ve ever been around in terms of you tell him something like, ‘Hey Mike, this needs to improve.’ It’s getting improved and he’s going to be on you like pestering me. He hit me up over the bye week. ‘Hey, can you give me a list of three things I need to work on over the bye week?’ Like, ‘You need to sit your (butt) down over the bye week and we’ll address this when they get back.’ He’s so astute, so locked in and one of the things with him, I was like, ‘Hey, you need to continue to work on plucking the ball away from your body when you’re in traffic. It’s going to help you transition to the run a lot better. It’s the next phase of your game. Contested catch numbers will go up. You’ve got great hands. You gotta have confidence in it.’
“And then he made two unbelievable plays with his hands in these past two games. He caught a basic in-route against the Vikings where he took a shot in the ribs but plucked the ball away from his body with his hands. That corner out he caught for a touchdown. He’s running 40 yards down the field. Most guys body-catch that. He turns his hands over, plucks it with his body and goes seamlessly in transitioning to the run. Like those are big-time things that show up in games that nobody really pays attention to. But like, ‘Hey Mike, you need to fix that.’ Fixes it. Awesome.
A: He looks like a thousand-yard receiver with the stuff at the catch, getting open. Why do you think that hasn’t quite translated to the stats for him?
A: Like I said, there’s a million factors that go into that. Obviously, the receivers are part of it. There’s so many things that go into that perceived success. But like I said, when you turn on tape, if guys are doing their job, they’re creating separation when they need to create separation. They’re in the windows they need to be in versus zone. I think at some point those things come, but we as coaches have to continue to come up with ways to improve that. Whether it’s what we’re designing. What we’re getting to. Those type of things. I think that’s an ever-evolving process for us.
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