Shorter week for Rams makes it seem Todd Gurley will struggle against Seahawks

Todd Gurley and the Los Angeles Rams will face the Seattle Seahawks on a shorter week Thursday night.

Back in the offseason, the Los Angeles Rams made it clear early on they would be taking a different approach with Todd Gurley at running back since the knee was clearly an issue after the results of last winter.

But when it comes to what took place this past Sunday in the embarrassing 55-40 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Rams have some explaining to do in regards to what exactly is going on with Gurley.

Over the years when healthy, Gurley has proven to be one of the most dangerous running backs in the league, and could even be described as an absolute workhorse in the backfield when looking at some of his previous performances.

And while most fans weren’t making too big of a deal over the fact that Gurley’s touches were down through the first three games since the Rams were winning game, watching the running back only receive five carries in Week 4 was ridiculous.

Even if the argument can be made that Los Angeles trailing most of the game resulted in Gurley only seeing five carries for 16 yards, there’s no excuse for this lack of production, that is unless there’s more to the story.

No one needs to explain to Rams fans just how frustrating the situation surrounding Gurley has been since last winter, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better anytime soon.

To make the situation even more frustrating, for a player who has already been limited in action each game to make sure the knee situation doesn’t become worse, Gurley and the Rams now have to face the Seattle Seahawks on a shorter week Thursday night.

If Sean McVay didn’t feel confident in giving Gurley more than five carries in a game against the Buccaneers in which the offense clearly needed the help, why should fans feel good about the approach for Seattle?

As bad as it sounds, it seems like there would be more concern over using Gurley more on a shorter week since Los Angeles has already been taking an extra cautious approach, so it’s going to be interesting to see how things play out on Thursday.

Clearly, Gurley is feeling just as much frustration over the situation as well, but instead of the Rams acting like all is fine, why not just come out and be honest with the fan base?

With all due respect to Los Angeles, no running back with Gurley’s ability should be limited to just five carries in a key game like this past Sunday when the offense clearly could have used his help.

So with this in mind, Thursday’s contest in Seattle could be even more interesting for Gurley with the Rams continuing to “monitor” their approach with the running back.