Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur flipped this game upside down when he replaced Jacoby Brissett with Gardner Minshew II at quarterback. But don't let the Minshew Mania distract you from the fact that Tyler Allgeier also just had his best game as a Cardinal by far.
The surprising Minshew-Allgeier duo proved lethal through the air and on the ground, leading the Cardinals to a 33-30 overtime road win over the Dallas Cowboys. Arizona's exciting comeback extends its winning streak at AT&T Stadium to 5-0 all time.
That never would've been possible without Allgeier's game-changing performance. He finished with a season-high 147 yards rushing on just 11 carries (13.4 YPC), plus one touchdown on the ground. He also had a season-best game through the air, catching all 5 targets for 44 yards and another touchdown.
This was the three-down skill set the Cardinals thought they'd get from No. 3 overall pick Jeremiyah Love. Unfortunately, his rookie campaign hasn't gone according to plan up until this point. That trend continued in Dallas, as he finished the game with just nine carries for 23 yards rushing.
Some of that was due to injury, as Love was ruled out to start the second half due to an ankle injury -- the same right ankle that he injured during preseason. But he wasn't effective when he was in, especially compared to Allgeier.
Tyler Allgeier is finally turning a corner with the Cardinals
LaFleur likely would've continued to ride the hot hand regardless of Love's injury, given how effective Allgeier was against a flawed Cowboys defense. But hopefully, this serves as a breakout performance for Allgeier, because LaFleur hasn't really had the luxury of relying on Allgeier up until Sunday.
Even in Love's absence, it has been Bam Knight emerging as the RB1 for the Cardinals. That was a surprising development given the Cardinals invested a two-year, $12.25 million contract in Allgeier this offseason.
But now approaching midseason, it seems Allgeier is finally settling into his new role with the Cardinals. We were high on him after that signing. He had a 1,000-yard rushing season as a rookie with the Falcons in 2022, and it felt like this first season could've been a chance to return to that mark with the Cardinals.
That stock fell a bit after the polarizing decision to spend a top five pick on a running back in Love. Still, we viewed the situation in Arizona as similar to what Allgeier had when he was backup to superstar Bijan Robinson with the Atlanta Falcons -- not close to expectations of being a 1,000 yard rusher, but still one of the best backups in the league.
That contract is still good value for Arizona considering how desperately they needed to address the position. The Cardinals ranked near the bottom of the league in rushing yards per game last season.
Their offensive line unfortunately remains a bigger problem that they still need to address. That's part of the reason Allgeier's fresh start in Arizona hasn't translated as smoothly as expected.
It remains to be seen how much of this Week 8 performance was due to the Cowboys being the Cowboys when it comes to lackluster defense, and how much Allgeier is finally turning the corner fans have been waiting for. He'll be immediately put to the test in an upcoming matchup against the stout Seattle Seahawks defense.
Given how much Allgeier just contributed to this upset in Dallas, he should have a role in the offense regardless of Love's availability. But if Love's ankle injury that caused him to exit the game against Dallas sidelines him against Seattle as well, Allgeier would immediately become even more important to this offense.
Time will tell if he's ready for that increased role permanently, but this 147-yard rushing night is a promising sign of things to come. He's always showcased the talent in Atlanta, and we're finally seeing that translate to production with the Cardinals. It's finally looking like the good signing we initially thought it was. Most importantly, it's translating into more wins than expected, after the Cardinals pulled off their third upset of the season.
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