3 reasons why LA Rams RB Xavier Jones can become red zone rusher

The LA Rams had benefitted from the efforts of running back Todd Gurley for as long as he was with the team in one very critical area. Gurley could sniff out the end zone. In five seasons with the LA Rams, Gurley rushed for 58 touchdowns.  He also hauled in 12 touchdown passes. That is 70 touchdowns, or 420 points, over the course of just five NFL seasons. That averages out to 84 points per year, and that all went away.

Yikes!

Even as Gurley’s per-carry yardage dropped, the fact is that he remained a threat to score as soon as the LA Rams entered the red zone. Based upon the LA Rams precipitous drop in scoring on offense in 2020, the team was unable to identify a new go-to guy to ensure the score. Houston, we have a problem.

While some of the inability to score can be traced back to the Rams’ questionable willingness to cough up a turnover when the offense was moving the ball effectively, some of the problems are simply that the Rams didn’t score, period. So it’s back to the drawing board for the Rams offensive brain trust. Somewhere in the playbook are formations and plays that will solve this Rubik’s cube mystery. The Rams need to score, and now they are working frantically to uncover ways to make that all happen.

But if the team were to apply Occam’s Razor to the dilemma, the team might look at this scoring deficit from a completely new angle.  For the longest time, Todd Gurley was that guy until he wasn’t.  In 2020, the Rams attempted to make veteran Malcolm Brown that guy. While five touchdowns in 101 carries are not bad, there simply wasn’t enough production to warrant re-signing him to an extension.