NFC Notes: Marvin Harrison Jr., Geno Smith, Cardinals, Seahawks

Cardinals

Cardinals first-round WR Marvin Harrison Jr. has shown flashes throughout his rookie year but hasn’t produced to the level of other rookie receivers. Arizona WR coach Drew Terrell talked about Harrison staying the course with his development and addressed where Harrison could use to improve.

“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,” Terrell said, via Howard Balzer of the Cards Wire. 

“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.”

Terell also praised WR Michael Wilson for doing exactly what he’s asked on a weekly basis. 

“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.'”

• Cardinals TE Trey McBride (knee) is off the injury report for Week 15 against the Patriots, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

Seahawks

Seahawks QB Geno Smith suffered a second-half knee injury in Week 15 and never returned to the game. Seattle HC Mike Macdonald doesn’t believe there’s anything structurally wrong with Smith’s knee but said they will do more testing.

“I’ll tell you this, this guy’s probably the toughest player I’ve been around,” Macdonald said, via NFL.com. “(It was) severe enough for him not to come back in the game. We’ll do all the tests tomorrow and kind of figure it out as we go. Right now, structurally it looks like it’s OK. We’ll get him imaged and all that stuff.”

“We’ve got to get the tests done. I know we’ll do everything humanely possible to go play, but just don’t know right now.”