All week, ever since the Arizona Cardinals’ 27-22 win over the Carolina Panthers, criticism has flowed from the fan base toward Drew Petzing, blaming the offensive coordinator for Marvin Harrison Jr.’s underwhelming stat line. Harrison finished the win with two catches for 27 yards on five targets.

Standing in front of his locker after practice on Wednesday, Sept. 17, Harrison hit back at that criticism.

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“That’s a silly conversation, really,” Harrison said. “We’re 2-0.”

He then expanded on that thought.

“That’s the most important thing,” Harrison said. “Two big games coming up, one big game this week. So, that’s really my only focus.”

In his own news conference earlier in the afternoon, quarterback Kyler Murray offered a similar sentiment.

“I say it every time, do I wish all of (the pass catchers) could get 10 targets a game? Of course,” Murray said. “But there’s only one ball. We’ve been playing this game for a long time. We all understand how it goes. Some days he’s gonna get 10. Some days he might get three.”

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Harrison, though, did acknowledge that it can be personally disappointing when his presence isn’t felt on the field.

“It’s always frustrating when you may not get the impact that you probably want in the game, especially when you put in so much work,” Harrison said. “… But at the end of the day, you’re very happy that we’re 2-0, sitting in here, we got a victory.”

Harrison’s minimal impact was not only due to his target total. He also dropped an open pass along the sideline in the first half and failed to come down with a contested target in the end zone.

He explained what he saw on that play.

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“I definitely tracked it a little later than I wanted to,” Harrison said. “Easy to say now, I wish I could’ve went back up for it. … But when you’re out there, things move fast, and I wish I just had tracked it a little earlier, turned my head around, be able to give myself a better chance. But it was a great ball by Kyler.”

Harrison’s best play of the week came on a crossing route over the middle, when he stiff-armed a defender to pick up a first down.

He highlighted that as a product of his offseason work, adding 11 pounds of muscle. As a rookie, he finished with just 158 yards after the catch, ranking 157th in the NFL. This year, he’s on pace to nearly double that mark.

“Yeah, that was nice,” Harrison said, smiling. “I need more of that for sure.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Marvin Harrison Jr. hits back at Arizona Cardinals critics