How Love can change everything for the Arizona Cardinals

                                                       Anna Carrington/Imagn Inages

By Walter Mitchell

Check out this "Cardinals Overtime: Love is in the Air" video. It is a ten-minute treat.

Cardinals Overtime: Love Is In The Air | Arizona Cardinals 2026 (youtube.com)

What stands out to me about Jeremiyah Love and his family is their integrity. Everything they do is about choosing that hardest path to putting in the honest hard work that it takes to keep getting better. No BS. No corner cutting. No hidden agendas. No special treatments.

Jeremiyah Love turned down millions of dollars to go, work his tail off and patiently wait his turn at Notre Dame. 

When you watch this video, you can see how genuinely excited he is to be a new member of the Arizona Cardinals. Vice versa, you can see how genuinely excited the Cardinals are to welcome the All-American multi-purpose game breaker to the team. 

What was readily apparent to me as I watched J-Love's arrival to Arizona was how he immediately brought out the best in everyone he embraced.

* Michael Bidwill

* Paris Johnson Jr.

* Monti Ossenfort

* Marvin Harrison Jr. 

* Mike LaFleur

If the Cardinals are going to become a relevant and highly competitive team, the one word more than any other that needs to emerge as a daily, integral part of the organization's modus operandi is integrity. 

As in practicing honesty and gravitas in everything they do. 

No more lying to the fans --- no more lying to each other --- no more offering banal excuses.

Can one person change all of that for the good and for good?

Yes. 

Look at what Christian McCaffrey has done for the 49ers. 

In 2022, when the 49ers desperately traded for McCaffrey (sending their 2023 2nd, 2023 3rd, 2023 4th and 2024 5th round picks to the Panthers in return) --- they were 3-3 coming off a 28-14 drubbing at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons. 

They also lost their first game with CMC on board, 44-23 to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, to drop to 3-4.

Then, once Kyle Shanahan was able to assimilate CMC into his multi-dimensional offense as both a running back and slot wide receiver, the 49ers ripped off 10 wins in a row to finish the season 13-4 and win the NFC West. 

In the playoffs they extended their winning streak to 12 games by virtue of their Wild Card round win over the Seahawks and their Divisional Round win over the Cowboys, before losing to the Eagles in the NFC Championship game, thanks in large part to losing QB Brock Purdy to an elbow injury in the first quarter. 

Fact is that since 2022, when Christian McCaffrey plays for the 49ers, the 49ers have a combined regular season and playoff record of 36-12. In the combined regular season and playoff games during those years when CMC does not play, the 40ers are 17-21. 

With: 36-12

Without: 17-21

The biggest questions for the Cardinals:

1. Can Jeremiyah Love generate a similar effect on the Cardinals' offense that Christian McCaffrey has with the 49ers'?  

2.  Is it possible that Jeremiyah Love can have a profound impact on the team's struggling defense?

My answers:

1. Yes. In a big-time way. If James Conner, Trey Benson and Emari Demercado were able to average over 5+ yards per game at various times over the past three seasons, imagine what Jeremiyah Love can accomplish as a runner. Then, when one considers what David Johnson was able to accomplish in 2016 as both a runner and receiver when he combined for 2,118 yards, one has to wonder whether J-Love, with his array of physical talents, can eclipse that record-setting achievement in Arizona.

(Note: it gave me goosebumps to hear J-Love and his dad gush about watching Ottis Anderson during his hay days in St. Louis --- one of my proudest moments as a Cardinals' fan was watching Ottis Anderson from the 40-yard line of the Meadowland in his 2nd game as a Cardinals' rookie rush for 109 yards and add 57 yards via the air versus the Giants while sparking the Cardinals to a beautiful 27-14 win!)

2. I believe J-Love can have an immediate and lasting effect of the Cardinals' defense. First of all, having to defend him in practice is going to make every player on the defense stronger and better prepared to take on the top RBs in the NFL --- both versus the run and, very importantly, versus the pass (where the Cardinals for years have struggled mightily to cover the likes of Christian McCaffrey, Kyren Williams, Kenneth Walker III and Zac Charbonnet). 

As most of you know, I have been shouting for years that the Cardinals are making a huge mistake playing ILBs who don 't have the requisite speed and range to cover RBs out of the backfield on the simple flares, quick outs and, especially, on the back-breaking deep sideline wheel routes that McVay and Shanahan have exploited the Cardinals' defense with ad nauseum. 

Hopefully having Jeremiyah in practice every day could mean the Cardinals will see the need to play the two ILBs who have the speed and range to cover RBs in Cody Simon and Owen Pappoe. Cody Simon won the Defensive MVP award during Ohio St.'s 34-23 Natty win over Notre Dame thanks in part to how well he was able to tackle and cover Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price (now on the Seahawks). 

I also think it was very cool and auspicious that Walter Nolen has embraced the challenge of squaring off versus J-Love in practice, saying, "Man, he's got to go against me." 

As they say, "iron sharpens iron." 

"Choose Hard"

If the Cardinals' players, to a man, can aspire to the mantra that Notre Dame head coach, Marcus Freeman, ingrained in Jeremiyah Love, to "choose hard" to aggressively "find ways to get better," think of how stronger the core of this team could be.

Marcus Freeman:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/starting-a-business/why-notre-dames-football-coach-tells-his-team-to-choose/471100

“It all started a couple of years ago when I was in the Notre Dame weight room and was working out as our players were being pushed hard. And I remember thinking that you can choose to go through the motions or you can choose to go as hard as you can. And that’s when I came up with this thought of ‘Choose Hard.’ We put up a sign you see when you walk into this building that says ‘Choose Hard.’ Because when you walk into Notre Dame football, you’ve got to have that mindset. We’re going to choose hard today in practice, choose hard today in meetings, choose hard today in the weight room. And for the players, you’re going to be challenged in the classroom, right? You’re going to be in class with some of the most intelligent people in this world. And it’s difficult, but ultimately you’ve chosen to come here so choose hard, accept it, and know that the rewards from choosing hard every single day can’t be found anywhere else.”

Freeman's "Choose Hard" mantra aligns perfectly with Mike LaFleur's intention for the Cardinals to treat every day of practice and every game day with "great urgency." 

When star players show "great urgency" in practice the way Larry Fitzgerald always did, great things can happen.

Enter Jeremiyah Love.

Enter "Choose Hard" with Love.