The lack of impact by Todd Gurley over the final two games of the postseason will be a topic the Los Angeles Rams can’t escape over the next few months.
Over the last two years, Todd Gurley has built a strong enough case for being one of the top running backs in the league for the Los Angeles Rams, and the 40 total trips into the end zone will back that statement up.
Plenty of players on the Rams benefitted from the hiring of Sean McVay after the head coach proved right away just how much of an offensive mastermind he is, and while Jared Goff tends to stand out the most, Gurley isn’t too far behind him.
Watching where Gurley was at this point two years ago when the running back was coming off a 2016 campaign in which he failed to record a single 100-yard rushing game shows just how far the former Georgia star has come along since McVay came on board.
With that being said, Los Angeles finds themselves in a difficult situation now that the offseason is officially underway for the NFC West champions since they have some explaining to do in regards to Gurley.
Towards the end of the regular season, Gurley was unfortunately dealing with a minor knee injury that would prevent him from suiting up for the final two games before returning in the Divisional Round to face the Dallas Cowboys.
One can only imagine how different the Super Bowl run was for Los Angeles if the team never decided to bring C.J. Anderson on board back in December since the veteran played a key factor in helping the offense succeed during the team’s Super Bowl run.
While Anderson led the team in rushing against the Cowboys with 123 rushing yards to go along with two scores, Gurley made his contributions as well after receiving 16 carries for 155 yards and a score.
After this, that minor knee injury Gurley was dealing with towards the end of the regular season didn’t seem like that much of a factor in the playoffs, but then the NFC Championship got underway.
As Rams fans know, that win over the New Orleans Saints was one of the most disappointing and surprising performances from Gurley’s career after he was limited to just four carries for 10 yards with a touchdown.
Speculation was high throughout the contest that Gurley’s knee injury was bothering him again, and while McVay constantly shut down this narrative by claiming this wasn’t the case, how can Rams fans not think it’s actually an issue after watching the Super Bowl?
With two weeks to prepare for New England, Los Angeles wanted to make it clear there were no concerns for Gurley heading into the Super Bowl, and their beloved running back would be good to go for the biggest game of his NFL career.
But after watching Gurley only receive 10 carries for 35 yards in the loss to the Patriots, the Rams can’t avoid the excuses anymore, and need to provide some sort of clear update over what has taken place these last few weeks.
Just acknowledging the fact that Gurley only saw 14 carries between the NFC Championship and Super Bowl is the perfect example of why so many fans are furious since a valuable running back like Gurley should have easily seen 20+ carries each game.
Hopefully, Los Angeles can provide some sort of update over the next couple days in regards to what really is going on with Gurley since hearing all of the nonsense surrounding his knee being a non-issue doesn’t seem believable at this point.
Gurley certainly deserves plenty of credit for saying the right things after the tough loss since one can only imagine how Rams players are feeling after an embarrassing performance like that one. But at least with a long offseason to get healthy and recover, there’s every reason to believe that Gurley will help Los Angeles bounce back to continue being a strong contender during the 2019 season.