The Arizona Cardinals are dealing with a myriad of issues heading into week six of the season.
Arizona is riding a four-game losing streak, including two in blowout fashion. While many of the issues surrounding the team are on defense, questions remain on offense as well.
This includes the manner in which rookie running back Jeremiyah Love is working into the offense. Read more on what Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur had to say about how the running back’s role is evolving within the offense below.
LaFleur Contextualizes Love’s Usage Within Cardinals’ Offense
Darren Urban (azcardinals.com) brought a very important quote from Arizona’s first-year coach into the fold.
This is in regards to questions surrounding Love’s usage (or lack thereof) in the passing game.
“I wasn’t too confident in terms of getting into some of those ‘scat’ protections and stuff like that and five-man protections. We wanted to have that extra body in there. There were a couple of times where I wanted to get him on some choice routes and stuff like that, but like I said I didn’t feel confident that we were going to be able to execute at the level that we needed to. But it is a good question.”
Arizona’s Issues Compound Existing Conundrums
While Love is a versatile runner, he is at his most effective when running to the outside. The curious position the tackle positions are in make this a bigger challenge. The coaching staff seeing Love serving as a blocker being a necessity places a damper on his receiving upside as well.
There are many concerns facing the Cardinals’ offense, with Love’s usage serving as one of the chief ones. The failed experiment of the Marvin Harrison Jr. partnership serves as an extraordinary cautionary tale.
This places the onus on LaFleur to find creative ways to get the ball to Love. To involve the versatile star in a manner that will maximize his skillset.
The avenues to accomplish this are shrinking, as the Cardinals are continuing to face challenging defenses. This includes the Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, and Kansas City Chiefs – all of which own relatively strong run defenses.
One more way the Cardinals can lift the ceiling of the offense?
Starting rookie QB Carson Beck, who is on the precipice of receiving his opportunity to prove himself. Playing a quarterback that is unafraid to throw the ball vertically is beneficial to everyone, including Love.
Cardinals’ Mike LaFleur Clarifies Jeremiyah Love’s Role in Passing Game