LA Rams Elbowgate: Why Rams aren’t worried. Why fans are.

I: Why LA Rams fans are worried

Surprises come to us almost every day. But as a rule, we eventually seek out a causal relationship that triggers that surprise. What made that happen? is a common investigation in our daily lives. We look under the hood if we hear an unexplained noise in the engine. We have plenty of concern if we awake to unexplained pain or nausea, and many of us will schedule an appointment with a medical professional.

When it comes to football players and sore joints, the LA Rams fanbase is both quite experienced and quite tainted. This is the team that had one of the most versatile and dangerous running backs in the NFL,  Todd Gurley. Gurley rushed 1,265 times in the regular season for the Rams and another 44 times in the playoffs. He would go on to add another 195 rushes for the Atlanta Falcons. His NFL career lasted six NFL seasons. And the first warning signs for the decline of Gurley for the Rams? Knee soreness.

Those were events that were downplayed by Todd Gurley, and by the LA Rams organization at the time too. But history is the truth serum, isn’t it? After all, Gurley’s struggles that began in 2018 just before the NFL Playoffs would not fade away, and were not resolved with ‘take two aspirin and call me in the morning.’

We know that all good things must come to an end and that the LA Rams will eventually overextend financial commitments to top-tier veteran players, and will eventually need to regroup, redirect, and reform around a newly restocked roster. The organization believes that day will come in five years or more. The fans hope that is true.

There are many causes of elbow pain and soreness, some are non-threatening and normal. Some are concerning but treatable. Some are harbingers of bad things to come. Because Rams fans have diverse experiences and have gone through the team’s era of Todd Gurley, there are natural worries and concerns that accompany the enduring soreness of the starting quarterback’s throwing elbow. It may not mean anything, but it might.

For now, it’s being ‘managed.’  For now, everything is okay. For now, there is nothing to worry about. The LA Rams have issues to overcome once more. Bad luck or bad planning? Hey, it’s hard to argue with a team that just won a Super Bowl and is projected by some NFL analysts to win the next Super Bowl.

Worries? Concerns? A lack of reliable and trustworthy information? Fans simply are reconnecting emotionally with a team that they support each and every NFL season. Not all emotional connections wind up euphoric. Recall all the ‘Fire Raheem Morris’ outcries from a year ago?  Sometimes fans’ concerns are simply that: Fans’ concerns.

Other times, fans see the bigger picture. Right now, we all see “Elbowgate” from different angles. When the 2022 NFL season begins, we’ll all have a chance to see it from the same angle.