Marvin Harrison Jr. turns heads during joint practice in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS — Arizona Cardinals rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. has quite a few memories of Indianapolis growing up. Having a father who played 13 years for the Colts will do that to you.

But while the young Harrison admits some memories are a bit fuzzy from his time in Indy, the ones he made during Day 1 of joint practice in Indianapolis were anything but.

Harrison didn’t take long to make his presence felt on Wednesday. After drawing a pass interference call up against cornerback Dallis Flowers during 1-on-1 drills, the No. 4 overall pick had fans in the stands in awe.

Come for the catch, stay for the route-running.

Harrison wasn’t just wowing the spattering of Cardinals fans in attendance, either.

At one point during the practice, a young fan was overheard as he walked away from the practice field where the Colts’ first-team offense was operating saying he’d rather watch Arizona strictly because of Harrison.

Harrison wasn’t the only Cardinals wideout handing it to the Colts defense, though.

Greg Dortch continued to do Greg Dortch things, burning defenders in the middle of the field. Michael Wilson remained consistent throughout practice.

The first-team offense as a whole had its ups and downs, though.

After starting off strong, the offense struggled to put a bow on Day 1 of joint work behind a botched snap, a few penalties and a sack on quarterback Kyler Murray deep in their own territory during team drills.

For Murray, these two days of practices mark his only action against another team ahead of the regular season after it was decided he would not suit up for any of Arizona’s preseason games.

But at the end of the day, Arizona’s offense put a lot of good on the tape, knowing there’s still plenty of work to be done in the Crossroads of America.

“It was good. High energy. I feel like the guys are ready,” wide receiver Zay Jones said post-practice. “There’s a lot of stuff we need to be better at, but overall, it feels great to come out and compete against a good football team and it’s great for the experience.”

Owen Pappoe keeps stacking days

The Cardinals offense had its moments throughout Wednesday’s work.

The same can equally be said for the Colts, who had Arizona’s secondary huffing for a good portion of the practice.

While there were groans on one side of the practice fields — where Cardinals receivers were taking it to Colts defenders — it was the complete opposite on the other.

The 6-foot-4 Michael Pittman Jr. was a big reason for that. Much like Harrison, Pittman quickly asserted his presence during 1-on-1 drills before kicking it up a notch in team drills.

One of the final plays of 11-on-11s, a deep touchdown over cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, was the exclamation mark on his evening.

But while there’s plenty for Arizona’s secondary to clean up heading into Day 2, there were some positives elsewhere, most notably in the inside linebackers room.

Second-year pro and inside linebacker Owen Pappoe picked up where he left off from in Saturday’s 16-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Proving effective against the Colts’ second-team offense, Pappoe made easy work of a forced throw by Joe Flacco, snagging the interception and finishing things off with a jaunt to the end zone for the pick-6.

“It was cool. I tried to bait him a little bit. He didn’t even see me coming. I had a really good break and took it to the crib. It felt really good, especially it being Joe Flacco.”

“It feels great. I’ve been working with my DBs trainer. The exact way that I just got that pick right now, we run that drill all the time,” he added. “I gotta send a clip to him. He’s going to be real happy about that one. It feels great seeing the hard work pay off.”

Pappoe, who many around the team believe has taken a big step forward, continues to stack days this offseason and is seriously making a case for added playing time in 2024 behind Kyzir White and Mack Wilson Sr.

No fighting

Head coach Jonathan Gannon was confident there would be no fighting ahead of Wednesday’s action.

He was onto something, as nothing appeared even close to a disagreement between the two sides.

There’s always tomorrow, though.

Emari Demercado, others back

After missing some time with a shoulder issue, running back Emari Demercado was back practicing on Wednesday.

He returned to his first-team role directly behind James Conner.

Also back practicing were cornerback Garrett Williams and defensive lineman Justin Jones.

Up next

The Cardinals take on the Colts for another round of joint practice on Thursday before meeting at Lucas Oil Stadium for Saturday’s preseason game.

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