Todd Gurley has topped 100 rushing yards in four of last five games for Rams
By Dan Parzych
This year has been a completely different story for Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley when compared to 2016.
Even though it wasn’t entirely his fault, there were some concerns surrounding Todd Gurley entering his third NFL season when it came to whether he was the right answer for the Los Angeles Rams at running back. But when seeing how the Rams have quickly become one of the teams to beat in the NFC following a 5-2 start, it’s becoming clearer that Gurley is the perfect fit for Sean McVay‘s offense.
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Disaster doesn’t even begin to describe how bad last year was for Los Angeles on offense after the team ranked dead last in the NFL by only averaging 14 points game, and the worst part is it was Gurley who took a majority of the blame. The fact that Gurley failed to record a single 100-yard rushing game the entire 2016 season drove Rams fans nuts when looking at all of his success from the year before as a rookie, but also as mentioned before, it was unfair to put the blame on him.
Between a poor offensive line along with Los Angeles relying more on a weak receiving corps from trailing in most games, any running back would have struggled to produce solid numbers in that system from last season, so Gurley should have received some benefit of the doubt. Luckily, McVay’s first season has already shown just how much of a difference this offense with Gurley can be when the right system is put into place, and hopefully this is just the beginning for the Rams, as the team hopes to remain hot following their bye week.
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To see Gurley go an entire season without a single 100-yard rushing game to reach the mark in four of the last five games shows how much of a difference one year can make thanks to having the right coach in McVay. After all of the unfair criticism received last year, it’s amazing to see Gurley bounce back in 2017, and play a major role in helping Los Angeles’ offense rank near the top of the league from a production standpoint.