The first showed his grace and touch. The second showed tremendous speed and explosion. But Gannon swore this was not a concerted effort by the Cardinals to get their big-play rookie going.

“Honestly, you guys are going to think I’m a liar,” he said. “The ball went where it was supposed to go.”

Gannon said the Rams threw “some curveballs” on defense, forcing Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray to throw at the advantageous matchup. And the rookie delivered.

By the end of the first quarter, Harrison had four catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Amazingly, all of Harrison’s catches came in that first quarter — and specifically the first nine minutes.

“I thought it was a good plan,” Gannon said, “and we had 18 start today.”

Harrison became the first rookie with four or more catches and two or more touchdowns in a first quarter since, incredibly, his father did so in 1996 with the Indianapolis Colts. And Harrison Jr. even managed to one-up his father, totaling more receiving yards (130) in that first quarter than the elder Harrison had in any game as a rookie in 1996.

Harrison downplayed his own performance, calling it “solid.” He praised the offense as a whole, but noted that he was irritated by something he saw on the scorecard.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve seen Kyler’s stats,” Harrison said. “(Murray) had four incompletions; they were all (thrown) to me, so I’m not too happy about that.

“We have to fix that. But we’ll continue to build our chemistry as the season progresses.”

Murray later tried to hit Harrison on a deep shot and missed. They also couldn’t connect on a red-zone target early in the fourth quarter before the starters came out. Still, it was the kind of breakout play the Cardinals were happy to see.

“They’re just going to get better and better the more they play together,” Gannon said. “And I know they want some plays back. You saw some plays they want back that we’ve got to convert. Every day on the practice field, they’re getting better. Every day in the meeting room, they’re getting better.”

Murray said his favorite throw to Harrison was the first touchdown, which he threw for a score of 23 yards into the end zone.

“It was big for him. His first touchdown,” Murray said. “Obviously, after last week, to get the nerves out of last week and just calm everything down, just come out here and play hard, play together and get a win, it was good.”

Harrison said he made sure not to dwell on his difficult first game, and it paid off Sunday as the Cardinals evened their score at 1-1.

“You can never get too high, you can never get too low,” he said. “Last week I knew I couldn’t get too low. This week I know I can’t get too high on a successful day. You just try to approach every day with the same mindset, same preparation, same routine, no matter what the results are. …

“I don’t think I’ve ever lacked confidence in myself or the rest of the team. I’ll continue to improve and grow every week.”