What to make of Cardinals’ usage of Jeremiyah Love, Tyler Allgeier in Week 1 win

TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals rushing attack has been a main talking point since Jeremiyah Love was the No. 3 overall NFL Draft pick in April.

With Tyler Allgeier already on the roster, how would the Cardinals deploy the rookie and the veteran when the regular season rolled around?

We all finally got a glimpse of that in the Cardinals’ season-opening win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Allgeier did a lot of the dirty work as Arizona’s bruiser, out snapping Love 44 to 32. He also registered 19 touches compared to Love’s 13.

When the Cardinals were bleeding away the clock and trying to keep the ball out of harm’s way, it was Allgeier getting the nod.

According to Next Gen Stats, 29.4% of Allgeier’s carries came against stacked boxes. Love had no such attempts.

The snaps deficit didn’t stop Love from finding the end zone in his NFL debut, though, flexing his speed and pass protection chops throughout the game.

 

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As for Love’s ankle issue, the running back looks past it.

“We didn’t have a pitch count, per se. But just like any of our guys that haven’t practiced in three or four weeks, we were naturally kind of monitoring (Love’s usage). … I thought that was a fair amount given he hasn’t really practiced in three or four weeks.”

The healthy split in reps is getting plenty of attention, especially on the fantasy football side of things.

 

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And although LaFleur said game flow had a lot to do with how snaps were divvied up, it’s clear Arizona feels a type of way about utilizing its top tandem of running backs and not overloading one or the other.

That’s not to say Love won’t start piling up more reps as the season goes on.

With more full days of practice and improved conditioning, Love should be seeing his touches creep up in no time.

Jeremiyah Love forced six missed tackles in the Cardinals’ season-opening win over the Chargers.

38 of his 41 rushing yards came after making a defender miss, per @NextGenStats. pic.twitter.com/8qZARO3jY5

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) September 14, 2026

Allgeier is still very much going to get his as Arizona’s bruiser much like he did against the Chargers.

But that shouldn’t discount Love’s potential whatsoever. He’s a house call waiting to happen. And just because Allgeier is in the picture, doesn’t mean the veteran will be the lead back all year.

Arizona should very much keep people guessing on how they are going to deploy the tandem from game to game. Having two successful running backs can be a gamechanger for an offense.

David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs were the prime example of that before the former landed in Houston this year.

Love and Allgeier have the potential to bring that mix of physicality and speed (and then some).

Having them on the field at the same time feels like a cheat code, too.

They only got four snaps together on Sunday, but the opportunities for success are ripe for the taking when both Love and Allgeier are in the backfield.

Allgeier carried the rock twice, while quarterback Jacoby Brissett looked Trey McBride’s way on two plays. Love, meanwhile, was out in the flat or running up field just waiting for the opportunity to make something happen.

He’s a walking explosive in a LaFleur-led offense built on simplicity with the illusion of complexity. It’s only a matter of time before the defense is caught sleeping and Love finds an opening.

And his next chance is Sunday’s home opener against a stout Seattle Seahawks defense.

The Cardinals head into Week 2’s tilt riding a major high with their season-opening win.

But even with backup quarterback Drew Lock getting the start and the Seahawks barely scraping out a win against New England, the defending Super Bowl champions are in a much better spot than the Chargers.

They kept the Patriots’ ground game in check last week, with Rhamondre Stevenson finishing with 51 yards on 18 carries. He averaged just 2.8 yards per attempt in the loss.

Outside of quarterback Drake Maye, there wasn’t really any other rushing threat Seattle had to deal with.

Where Love could find that opening this week, though, is through the air after Stevenson reeled in five catches for 44 yards.

Nothing against Stevenson, but Love presents a much more dynamic pass-catching option out of the backfield.

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