By admin 
The last time the Arizona Cardinals had the ball with a game on the line, Jeremiyah Love was watching from the sideline. The No. 3 overall pick missed the final 17 snaps at the Giants, including four downs from the New York 4, a finish that made it fair to ask whether Arizona forgot about Love.
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A week later, the ankle that limited him Wednesday and Thursday carries no game status. “This week, I feel really, really good,” Love said Friday. The rookie has 223 rushing yards on 55 carries so far. Here are four things to expect from him against the Detroit Lions in what is only Arizona’s second home game of the season, a 1:25 p.m. local kickoff.
More snaps than Tyler Allgeier
Allgeier out-snapped Love 36-30 in Week 4, and head coach Mike LaFleur tied the final drive to Allgeier’s pass protection. The grades do not make that an obvious call. Love has a 71.0 pass-blocking grade through Week 4, according to PFF, to Allgeier’s 52.8, though Love’s comes on only 16 pass-blocking snaps to Allgeier’s 37. A week earlier at San Francisco, Love had most of the carries and snaps. With a full practice Friday and no injury designation, that split should return.
At least 16 carries against the Lions’ run defense
Love’s carries by week are 11, nine, 21 and 14, and his two best averages, 4.3 and 4.5 yards, have come in the past two games. Detroit allows 119.8 rushing yards per game, and coach Dan Campbell said after the Carolina loss that his defense misfit a couple of runs. Lions nose tackle Tyleik Williams is questionable for Sunday with a foot injury. Arizona ran for 123 yards at the Giants, 81 of them on its first two drives.
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The reason to stop at 16 is Love himself. “This is probably going to be the longest year of my life, and I want to manage that workload,” Love said after the Giants game.
A carry inside the 5-yard line
This is the one Cardinals fans want most. Love played two red zone snaps to Allgeier’s 10 in New York, according to NextGen Stats figures cited by the Cardinals’ site, and his only rushing touchdown came in Week 1. Detroit allows 31.8 points per game, so Arizona should get more than one trip inside the 10. After the goal-to-go failure that ended the Giants game, leaving the rookie on the bench there again would be hard to explain.
At least 80 yards from scrimmage
Love is the only NFL rookie with at least 45 scrimmage yards in each of his first four games. He has not reached 100 rushing yards yet, and his 11 catches have produced only 36 yards, which is why there is a case to use Love as a receiver more often. His 72.6 rushing grade through Week 4, according to PFF, suggests the running itself has been sound. Behind a line starting a rookie left tackle and a backup right guard, 80 total yards is a fair bar.
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This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 4:20 AM.