Jeremiyah Love had his first career NFL touchdown reception. He also had his best game as a member of the Arizona Cardinals. However, Sunday’s game was also yet another learning opportunity for the former Notre Dame football star.
Against the NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers, Love tried to drag his team to a victory single-handedly. Unfortunately, he couldn’t, and Arizona lost 36-30, which was a very different situation than what he saw when he played in South Bend.
Against San Francisco, it was clear the Cardinals’ game plan ran through Jeremiyah Love early and often. He had over 40 yards in the first eight minutes of the game and kept filling up his box score as the day progressed.
Love got 21 carries and five receptions, for 26 total touches. He ran for a career-high 90 yards, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. That, plus his 19 receiving yards and first-ever fourth-quarter receiving touchdown, totaled 109 yards for the rookie. In the process, Love looked like the superstar he was at Notre Dame for the first time since joining the NFL.
Former Notre Dame football star Jeremiyah Love shines as Cardinals defense struggles
Love also looked every bit the dynamic player Arizona drafted No. 3 overall. The running back displayed patience, agility, vision, and post-contact explosiveness. Despite a pedestrian game from Arizona's offensive line, Love consistently pounded ahead for the extra yard.
What should stand out most is that after the first two weeks, the Cardinals have been careful to split up the carries. In last week’s 31-7 loss to the Seahawks, Love had just 9 carries while Tyler Allgeier had 5. Love also caught 3 passes for 16 yards, while Allgeier caught 2 for 9 yards.
In the Cardinals’ season-opening victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, Love had 11 carries for 41 yards and his first career touchdown. However, Allgeier tallied 17 carries for 61 yards.
On Sunday, Love was the obvious workhorse. Not only did he have those 21 carries and 5 receptions, but Allgeier had only 2 carries and 4 receptions. The question now is whether this hints at the future, or if the Cardinals just rode a hot hand and will try to split the carries more evenly moving forward.
Ahead of the former Notre Dame football star’s breakout game, he talked about how different his rookie season has been compared to what he did in college.
"I want to go crazy every single game," Love said Friday, via the team website. "Last week I didn't. It's kind of hard. I come from a place where I'm going crazy every week. It's kind of humbling a little bit. I'm getting used to the situation I am in.”
Now Love has to get used to his defense letting the team down in a way he’s very unfamiliar with. The Arizona Cardinals allowed the San Francisco 49ers 437 yards and 8.5 yards per play in the 36-30 loss.
At Notre Dame, Love saw the defense behind him allow more yards than the Cards surrendered on Sunday three times in his Fighting Irish career.
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