The Arizona Cardinals enter a winnable Week 4 road matchup against a New York Giants team that already finds themselves playing without rising quarterback Jaxson Dart. Between the Cardinals' stopgap veteran Jacoby Brissett and the Giants' replacement rollercoaster that is Jameis Winston, this is expected to be more of a grind-it-out game than either team is accustomed to. That plays to the strengths of the Cardinals' offense... this season.
Last year that wouldn't have been the case, as their rushing yards ranked 31st in the league behind only the Las Vegas Raiders. But this is a new era in the Valley thanks to their offseason moves, particularly the decisions to draft Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love No. 3 overall and sign Mike LaFleur as their first-year head coach.
Cardinals are finally unleashing game-changer Jeremiyah Love
We finally got a vision of what this explosive Arizona offense could look like in Week 3, despite the 36-30 road loss to the San Francisco 49ers. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Love was more of a featured part of LaFleur's offense the week they finally broke out. His individual breakout was the silver lining to their loss to another divisional rival, as Love recorded 21 carries for 90 yards while adding five receptions for 19 yards and a touchdown.
The Cardinals' steep draft investment was relatively limited through the first two weeks. That gradual start to the season was in part due to Love's high-ankle sprain suffered in the preseason. He is finally back to the electric three-down back at Notre Dame, justifying the Cardinals' decision to spend highly at a premium position in the process.
That's an incredibly promising development as there were legitimate questions as to whether Love would even get enough of a bellcow role to return value on the pick. He's already proven capable of it, but the rebuilding Cardinals also added former Atlanta Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier. His arrival has been both good for preserving Love and bad for letting him loose. We finally caught a glimpse of that game-changing skill set he has at the position when the Cardinals gave him more touches to find a rhythm.
Following the loss to the 49ers, Love mentioned that he was getting back to his old ways in terms of seeing the defense the more his touches ramped up. The increased touches allowed Love to finally seem settled in as a focal point of the Cardinals' attack, particularly when he found his groove in the second half.
That "groove" Love talks about is important for Arizona going forward. It will be a key in not only winning games but also separating Love from being a good to elite running back. He was clearly more comfortable in Week 3, and the production spoke for itself.
Now, the Cardinals are just hoping that translates to a win in Week 4. With Love now finally emerging as that workhorse many envisioned when the Cardinals took the Notre Dame product, the Giants have another game-changer to worry about in an Arizona offense that only continues to get better.
If Love can pick up where he left off in Week 3, he could prove to be the X-Factor this team envisioned to get them back to .500.
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