SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Rookie Jeremiyah Love became the Arizona Cardinals' primary running back Sunday, but the rookie felt as if he didn't take full advantage of his additional reps in a 36-30 loss to the San Francisco 49ers -- despite finishing with 90 rushing yards on 21 carries.
"Left a lot out there, I feel like," Love said. "I feel like I could help the team a lot more.
"The runs that I got, I tried to take advantage of them the best way that I could, but there was a lot that I left out on the field. I could have got a lot more yards, a lot more conversions."
Love said he felt he got into a groove in the second half when he ran for 41 yards. Arizona was down 17-6 at halftime and quickly went down 23-6 about 4 minutes into the third quarter, so the Cardinals were forced to throw the ball more than expected in the second half. Yet, Love still made waves.
"Whenever I was getting the ball more and more and more, I was getting in the groove, getting a feel for the game, trying to loosen up a little bit because, at first, I'm getting the ball trying to make sure I'm taking care of the ball," Love said. "If guys come to tackle me, take care of the ball, get down, get as much as you can. Usually I'm the type of guy that likes to finesse and juke and do a lot of extra stuff. So I would say the more I was getting the ball, the more carries I was getting, I was getting back to my old self and trying to finesse a little bit."
Love played in 52 snaps compared to Tyler Allgeier's 30. This was the first game in which Love played more snaps than Allgeier.
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In addition to his added role in the running game, Love was more active in the passing game. He finished with five catches on six targets for 19 yards and a touchdown.
Love said he was ready -- and grateful -- for the increased workload and believes he can get only better. He said had he hit some of his holes full speed "like I usually do, I'm probably going for at least one of them."
"So, statistically, you may look at the statistics and say, 'Hey, 21 for 90, you did pretty good,'" Love said. "But in my head, got to do better."
Whether he gets the same kind of responsibility in the next game against the New York Giants will be determined this week, coach Mike LaFleur said, but LaFleur said Love handled the workload "well."
"I thought he got in a groove right there," LaFleur said. "It's like I just told him, I said, 'Hey, you just keep trusting your reads, keep taking the ball.'
"These guys got to go and play their game and see it and play fast, and I thought he did that."
Arizona's longest run was for eight yards, which happened three times.
Despite the lack of explosive run plans, quarterback Jacoby Brissett said Love looked comfortable Sunday.
"I think he's handled it pretty well," Brissett said. "Obviously, leaning on him a lot today and I thought he answered the bell, made a lot of good plays for us and obviously finding ways to keep it going."