LaFleur: Love (ankle) will be game-day decision

Asked about Love’s lack of route running — he has a 29 percent route participation rate on the season — LaFleur said the Cardinals’ pass blocking struggles often prevent Love from functioning as a pass catcher. “I wasn’t too confident in terms of getting into some of those ‘scat’ protections and stuff like that and five-man protections,” LaFleur said. “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.” Love, who has 13 targets and has been targeted on 21 percent of his pass routes, would need much more pass game involvement if he were to operate as an RB1 in fantasy leagues this season.

Love played extensively early in the game. He was the only Cardinals running back to record a carry in the first quarter. The Lions began running up the score in the second quarter, and Love was seemingly simply phased out as Jacoby Brissett repeatedly fired passes downfield. Later, in the fourth quarter, the camera suddenly showed Love standing on the sideline without his helmet. A reporter chimed in to say that Love had not received attention from the training staff, but noted that Love told her he is still managing the ankle injury he suffered in training camp. Reports also indicated that he tweaked his other ankle last week. Love’s weekly floor is sinking as his production becomes increasingly touchdown-dependent. That said, he should be in fantasy lineups as an RB2/3 against the Rams next week.

Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur said “It’s a maintenance thing with ankles, you guys see the way he cuts...I don’t know what he’s totally feeling, only he knows...but he’s doing good.” Great, not cryptic at all, Mike. Love is a reasonable low-end RB2 if his ankles decide he wants to play his full allotment of the 50/50 split against the Lions in Week 5.

The Cardinals’ star rookie running back appeared downtrodden after last week’s game after injuring his other ankle. His continued participation puts him on track to play, but his comments about occasionally preferring a snap count, coupled with his new injury, put him in the RB2/3 category. That said, the Cardinals’ game environment against the Lions this week should be fantasy-friendly.

Love was listed as a limited practice participant after he tweaked his ankle in the Cardinals’ Week 4 loss to the Giants. Though he seemingly seized command of Arizona’s backfield in Week 3, Tyler Allgeier was heavily involved in Week 4 as Love hurt his ankle. He was already nursing his other ankle heading into the season and may see limited touches again with this latest tweak. Love is still trending to play Week 5 against the Lions but may sit back on the RB2/3 borderline as his ankle heals.

Love will presumably have his practice reps monitored, but he isn’t at risk of missing Week 5. He went down with a new ankle injury late in the second quarter of Week 4. Love played sparingly in the second half but denied getting injured at all after the game. It sounds like it’s not a major issue, but it’s hard to feel confident in him handling a heavy workload after how things unfolded last week. He is tumbling back into the RB3 ranks for his upcoming game against the Lions.

It’s been an odd 24 hours for Love, who was quoted after Sunday’s game saying this is shaping up to be the “longest year” of his career while also adding that he’s “tired” and would be willing to pass off work to Tyler Allgeier or Bam Knight in the event that he doesn’t think he can do what is being asked of him. As for this latest injury, LaFleur said the ankle injury isn’t the same one Love injured in the preseason, meaning he now has two ankle injuries to manage for the rest of the season. The Cardinals’ backfield was already proving hard to predict, and the latest quote from Love, coupled with the injury news, doesn’t exactly instill more confidence in him going forward. He draws a plus Week 5 matchup against the Lions, but should be treated as a fringe RB2/RB3 for now.

Love engaged in a long, candid conversation with Cardinals beat reporters after the game today, saying his snaps are being managed because he currently is “not able to go out there and do spectacular plays every single time.” Love said this is probably going to be the “longest year” of his life, and his preseason ankle injury is not the only thing he is dealing with. Love said his body is sometimes just “tired,” and that he would “probably just hinder the team” if he took on more work in his current state. He rhetorically asked, “why not put somebody else out there that’s playing better?” For those wondering, the Cardinals don’t go on bye until Week 14. They face the fantasy-friendly Lions defense in Week 5, which could help Love get his confidence back with an efficient performance.

Love “added” a -8 yard reception. One week after seeming to seize complete command of the Cardinals’ backfield with a 26-touch, 109-yard performance, Love out-touched Tyler Allgeier just 15-10. It was Allgeier who notched a 22-yard touchdown. Asked about it afterwards, coach Mike LaFleur lamely mentioned something about the Cardinals’ two-minute offense. Twitter doctors were claiming Love — who had only one fourth quarter touch — was dealing with some sort of injury, but we didn’t see it. Neither LaFleur nor Love made any mention of any kind of supposed issue after the game. We assume he will be fine ahead of a potential Week 5 shootout with the Lions.

Love tallied a career-high 26 touches in Week 3, gashing the 49ers’ banged-up offensive line for over 100 total yards. The rookie out-snapped Tyler Allgeier 55-to-31 while also out-touching him 26-to-6. Nearly all the high-value touches went to Love, who scored on a play-action pass at the one-yard line. The path to true workhorse usage is wide open for Love after a monstrous workload and productive fantasy day against the 49ers. He is a high-end RB2 for Week 4 against the Giants.