Jeremiyah Love's role grew, and the box score shows how far. The Cardinals rookie out of Notre Dame carried 21 times for 90 yards and caught all five of his targets for 19 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's game.
By volume, that's a backfield takeover. Arizona's other running back, Tyler Allgeier, got two carries and lost a yard. Love's 26 touches (21 rushes, five receptions) against six for Allgeier is the clearest depth-chart statement the Cardinals have made at the position this season.
The passing game explains the appetite. Jacoby Brissett threw 52 times, completing 38 for 280 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 98.2 passer rating. That works out to 5.4 yards per attempt, which isn't an offense humming. It's an offense throwing underneath. Michael Wilson caught 11 of 17 targets for 89 yards and a score. Trey McBride caught nine of 11 for 75. Brissett also scrambled four times, gaining 4 yards and scoring once.
When the quarterback averages 5.4 a throw, a rookie who can take 21 handoffs is a pressure valve, not a luxury.
The precedent is sitting on the same sideline. Allgeier rushed for 1,035 yards as a rookie with Atlanta in 2022, then watched his carries shrink as the Falcons drafted another back. That's the shape of the position since the 2011 rookie wage scale made cheap rookie production the best bargain in football. Teams hand the ball to the young, inexpensive back, then hand it to the next one.
Love's efficiency is the caveat. He averaged 4.3 a carry with a long run of 8 yards, and his 3.8 yards per reception is checkdown work, not a route tree. Arizona got 109 scrimmage yards from 26 touches. That's volume, and volume alone doesn't hold a job.
My read: 21 carries should be the floor for Love the rest of the way, because a 5.4-yards-per-attempt passing game won't win many Sundays. But if the average stays under 4.5, the question that follows him into October is whether he's a lead back or just the only back the Cardinals trust. I'll take the former, and I'll take him over 15 carries next week.
