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Los Angeles Rams: 4 grades for their NFC Championship win against the Saints

By Steve Rivera

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 20: Johnny Hekker #6 and Greg Zuerlein #4 of the Los Angeles Rams celebrate after kicking the game winning field goal in overtime against the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 20, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Los Angeles Rams defeated the New Orleans Saints with a score of 26 to 23. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 20: Johnny Hekker #6 and Greg Zuerlein #4 of the Los Angeles Rams celebrate after kicking the game winning field goal in overtime against the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 20, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Los Angeles Rams defeated the New Orleans Saints with a score of 26 to 23. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JANUARY 20: Todd Gurley #30 of the Los Angeles Rams runs the ball against the New Orleans Saints during the fourth quarter in the NFC Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 20, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JANUARY 20: Todd Gurley #30 of the Los Angeles Rams runs the ball against the New Orleans Saints during the fourth quarter in the NFC Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 20, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Fans may think this is an unfair grade, but fans will be fans. The bottom line is when it comes to Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley, he didn’t just underperform, he practically played himself out of the biggest game in his career.

The one time MVP from not too long ago, went missing in a blur of tentative running, and a dropped pass. He looked so bad that the FOX booth made the obvious observation that running back C.J. Anderson was the better option for Sean McVay and the Rams offense.

Duh.

Most confounding was his game last week against the Dallas Cowboys where he rushed for 115 yards on 16 carries and had one touchdown. Gurley looked fresh a week ago, and absolutely lost eight days later.

In all fairness to Gurley, fans and the media may not know what caused such an out of character game for the Pro Bowl running back. Perhaps his injury flared, perhaps the moment got to big for him, or perhaps it was that Anderson found a groove that McVay knew he couldn’t pass up in the biggest game of the year.

Either way, the best player to wear a Rams uniform for the bulk of the the 2018 season was an absolute head scratcher. His four rushes for 10 yards in the NFC championship Game will be a topic of discussion in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, and more than likely beyond.

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