Cardinals rookie running back Jeremiyah Love will miss Sunday's game against the host Los Angeles Rams as he continues to nurse an injured left ankle, coach Mike LaFleur said Friday.
Love did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. Friday's injury report will be released Friday afternoon.
LaFleur said there haven't been discussions of putting Love on injured reserve to allow him to rest the ankle. LaFleur said that Love playing Sunday "wouldn't be in the best interest of him" and added that Love would be reevaluated Monday.
LaFleur said that he knew Monday that Love would get Wednesday off to rest and that the plan was to reassess on Wednesday, but the coach said he knew all along that Sunday was a "long shot."
While LaFleur said Love is "doing good," there hasn't been much progress on the ankle injury.
"We felt like it wasn't improving and maybe even getting a little bit worse," LaFleur said. "At that point, it's like, if it's not improving, it's getting a little bit worse, we got to do what's right for the player."
LaFleur said the first time the injury could been "visually" evident was during Arizona's loss at the New York Giants, when trainers were seen working on Love's ankle. But he said the way Love plays makes it all the more important for him to get his ankle right.
"He cuts hard," LaFleur said. "That's a superpower of his. When he's putting his left foot in the ground, it's just not right right now. And to get him to be to his best ability, it's what's right, so he can go out and perform the way that he wants. So, he can go out and, honestly, run the routes that he wants. To run routes and separate, you got to be able to put those feet in the ground and it's got to be deliberate, so we want to get him healed so he can do that in the pass game and in the run game."
