Jan. 1 Rams Practice Report: Gurley Doubtful for Season Finale

  • To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.

RamBill

Legend
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Messages
8,874
Practice Report 1/1: Gurley Doubtful for Season Finale

By Myles Simmons

View: http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-practicereport/Practice-Report-11-Gurley-Doubtful-for-Season-Finale/afd3106a-e1f1-4248-b43f-2496b2359b41


NAPA, Calif. -- Like all teams, the Rams have suffered their share of injuries throughout the season. But one from this week will be particularly significant, as it looks like running back Todd Gurley may not play in the season finale against the 49ers with a foot injury.

“We’ve listed Todd today as doubtful, so you can read between the lines there,” Fisher said. “We’re just thinking about the long-term future. He’s got an issue he’s dealing with, and we’re still doing tests. But the difference between him playing and making things worse can be the difference between six-to-eight weeks of rehab during the offseason.”

If Gurley has indeed played his last snap of the 2015 season, he’ll have reached a number of milestones in only 12 starts. He’s rushed for 1,106 yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 total games, including five games of at least 125 yards rushing, and three with at least 140. With his rushing touchdown last week, he joined Eric Dickerson as the second running back in franchise history to rush for at least 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns.


What makes Gurley’s season all the more remarkable is how that he didn’t move into the starting lineup until Week 4 and was coming off a torn ACL. Because of the injury, Fisher said he thinks the running back should be even better in 2016.

“As I said early on when he got started, just wait another year. He’s not 100 percent,” Fisher said. “He’s had a little setback with the foot, so I just don’t want to set him back any more. It just makes sense for the organization, the future of the organization.”

And so Gurley should be fine with a few weeks of rest. Keeping him on the sidelines this week should allow him to not suffer any setbacks and go into the offseason strong.

“Right now we’ve got really good news, and good results, but it’s doubtful that he plays,” Fisher said. “It’s rest for a couple of weeks, and he’ll be fine.”

If there is a silver lining to Gurley’s injury, it’s that running back Tre Mason should get a chance to show his considerable skill set against the 49ers.

“It’s a blessing to be able to start again,” Mason said. “I wish ‘TG’ was out there with me to give us some more power, but I’m willing to take on the role.”


Fisher said the initial plan this season was to balance the carries between Gurley and Mason much more. But, because of the general lack of offensive production, that did not work out.

“Unfortunately, if you look back through the year, our perfect world was 15 and 12 carries apiece [for Gurley and Mason],” Fisher said. “We wanted to carry at least 25 times, 27 times, and split them. We were unable to do that because we just struggled either getting the ball back, or struggled on third down, struggled with opportunities.”

“When you love the game, I know I put my teammates first,” Mason said. “Whatever’s going to put my team first, we’ve got to do it.”

Last year, Mason led the Rams with 765 yards rushing as a rookie, also making 16 receptions for 148 yards. He dealt with a hamstring injury early in the season, which kept him out of the Week 1 matchup with Seattle and may have hampered some early production. But the Auburn product still has confidence he can play.

“I’m a positive person,” Mason said. “I always think positive and just try to be great.”

And while his season has not been what he’d hoped, Mason said he’s enjoyed watching his teammate Gurley have his success.

“We learn from each other,” Mason said. “We take things from each other’s game. We criticize each other’s game to help each other get better.”

If he gets the opportunity, Mason plans to make the most of it against the Niners to cap the season.


“Tre’s in great shape right now,” Fisher said. “He’s fresh and he’ll go.”

“I feel like we’ve got a good plan this week, and we’re ready to attack,” Mason said.

“I love the game,” Mason added, “so every time I step foot out there it’s like I’m playing my last game.”

ROSTER MOVES & INJURY REPORT

The Rams have made another roster move in advance of Sunday’s matchup with San Francisco. Cornerback Eric Patterson has been placed on injured reserve, and the Rams promoted wide receiver Nick Toon to the active roster.

On Thursday, the club claimed cornerback Troy Hill, who arrived in Napa on Friday. Fisher said the Rams became intrigued with the defensive back when they went to work out quarterback Marcus Mariota in the pre-draft process.

“We had worked him out in Eugene when we went out to visit Mariota, and he had a really good workout,” Fisher said of Hill. “Coaches liked him, and for some reason he was waived yesterday [on Thursday], so we thought, let’s take advantage of the opportunity. So, we’ll have him in the offseason program.”

While Hill is with the team, Fisher said it’s likely the corner will be inactive on Sunday given the timing of his arrival.

Elsewhere on the injury report, safety Mark Barron (concussion), defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks (concussion), and defensive tackle Michael Brockers (thigh) are all probable. Offensive lineman Andrew Donnal (knee) is questionable. And, as previously mentioned, Gurley (foot) is doubtful for Sunday.
 

blackbart

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Messages
6,228
Name
Tim
Well that just sux I guess we'll get a chance to see what Mason's got one more time he was a pleasant surprise last year so maybe he'll ball out and surprise us again.
 

JackDRams

Hall of Fame
Joined
Jun 18, 2014
Messages
4,524
Name
Jack
Cool about Toon coming up. Wonder if he'll be active on game day to see what he can do.
 

SuperMan28

Hall of Fame
Joined
Sep 6, 2015
Messages
2,504
With all these late season call ups, makes you wonder if Mannion gets some time. Personally, I don't really see the point with Keenum but should be a fun game. I won't get to watch it, not being shown in SWMO, but I'll be listening.

Glad Gurley made it through the season with only a bump or two. Way to go!! Great rookie year :)
 

JUMAVA68

Starter
Joined
Jun 28, 2013
Messages
870
Name
Manuel
A good start to his career for Gurley the knee held up and he put up some nice stats.As impressive as he was this year's stats will probably be the lowest of his career. And that's good news for all us Rams fans because next year he'll be 100% and blow those stats away.
 

RamBill

Legend
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Messages
8,874
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6
Rams' trip to Napa is strictly business
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_e99608d2-9733-5454-8182-e11587d704bb.html

NAPA, CALIF. • Several players made it down to the Bay Area on Monday night to watch the great Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors do their NBA thing.

Like many other players, quarterback Case Keenum brought his wife along. They saw a little bit of Napa Valley wine country on Monday, and went out to dinner Tuesday.

Asked by a local reporter to name the restaurant, Keenum replied, “I don’t think I can pronounce the name.”

And the food?

“Couldn’t pronounce much of that either, but it was good,” Keenum said. “It was really good.”

This was a homecoming of sorts for cornerback Trumaine Johnson, who’s from the Stockton area. On Tuesday, he went home for dinner.

“I’m 52 miles (from home) to be exact,” Johnson said. “Just went home, had dinner with the family. It was nice. Mom, Dad, three aunties, sister, nephews, cousins.”

Mom’s home cooking?

“No. We went out to eat,” Johnson said. “You know I picked up the tab.”

But like any game week during the season, it was pretty much all football for the Rams this week. After Tuesday, which was the players’ day off, it was all business. And even on Tuesday, there was treatment, weight lifting, and plenty of players watching film on their own.

For many players, such as running back Tre Mason, defensive end William Hayes, and linebacker James Laurinaitis, they used the early part of the week to simply rest and catch up on their sleep after a physical 23-17 victory over Seattle.

To prevent jet lag and avoid about eight hours in the air, the Rams did not return to St. Louis following the Seahawks game. They flew from Seattle to the San Francisco Bay Area, setting up shop in Napa (pop. 74,000) about 90 minutes from San Francisco.

The Rams had been planning this trip for months, anticipating they’d be in the playoff hunt this time of year or even trying to improve their playoff seeding in Sunday’s season finale against the 49ers.

Thanks to a five-game losing streak in November and early December, postseason play is out the window. But the Rams are here anyway, hoping they’ll have a fresher team as they try to win their fourth in a row and finish the season at 8-8 with a victory over the 49ers.

“The guys have bought into it,” offensive coordinator Rob Boras said. “We’ve kind of talked about it as our bowl trip, and the guys are all in their sweats just like when you’re in college going to bowl games.”

The “bowl trip” thing was news to coach Jeff Fisher.

“I never brought up anything (to the team) that had anything to do with a bowl game, so I think that’s a Boras origination,” Fisher said, smiling. “This has been really good. We cut way back on the travel time, and we’ve got great accommodations and meeting spaces are good.”

Believe it or not, the Rams are practicing on middle school fields — at Redwood Middle School to be exact. They used two grass fields for practices on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at a facility the Oakland Raiders use for their training camp in the summer.

“I knew a little bit about it before we got out here because my son (Chase) was in training camp with the Raiders, and so this is where he was practicing,” defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said.

“He talked all about the rooms and the set-up and he said, ‘Dad, you’re going to like it.’ ... It’s a very business-only kind of a setup here. We don’t have guys messing around in the locker room here too long because it’s old-school. Some of them have said archaic, but I don’t think it’s archaic.”

The Rams spent the week at a resort hotel on the edge of Napa, where they also held team meetings and had their weight-training equipment. Every day, they boarded four buses for the 15-minute ride to the middle school for practice, using that “archaic” locker room adjoining the fields to dress before and after practice.

“The hotel’s nice, obviously all the accommodations are really nice,” Laurinaitis said. “I miss my family but a lot of guys have had their families fly out. It was nice not to have to fly back four hours after that Seattle game. So it’s been a good treat.”

But for the players, it’s all about the quality of the practice fields, which is their office.

“The fields are all right,” Laurinaitis said. “They probably were better at training camp, when the Raiders are here. If we were in St. Louis, they’d be super wet obviously.”

Laurinaitis said he has been following the news about the flooding in St. Louis. “It’s sad and it’s really unfortunate,” he said.

Wednesday was cold in Napa with rain at the start of practice. The weather perked up Thursday and Friday — with temperatures around the low 50s during the day, but still dipping down into the 30s overnight.

But all and all this has been no pleasure stop for the Rams. As is the case during the regular season, no fans were allowed to watch practice, although Fisher’s family came up from Southern California and took in the Thursday and Friday practices. There were only a few fans and autograph seekers around at the start of practice each day, but covered fences surrounding the fields kept them — and any 49ers spies — from watching.

The Rams had a curfew Thursday night for New Year’s Eve. More than two dozen players had completed weight training work before the team’s 8 a.m. meeting Friday.

The team is scheduled to depart Napa early Saturday afternoon, making the 1½-hour trek to the San Jose/Santa Clara area for Sunday’s game.
 

RamBill

Legend
Joined
Jul 31, 2010
Messages
8,874
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7
Gurley to sit out Rams' finale
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_4f3b79c1-17e6-5261-a443-64fe25050565.html

NAPA, CALIF. • With Todd Gurley missing Sunday’s season finale against San Francisco with a foot injury, things have come full circle for Tre Mason.

Mason undoubtedly hopes things go better for him this time around. After leading the Rams in rushing as a rookie with 765 yards in 2014, Mason knew he would have to cede the starting job to No. 10 overall draft pick Gurley this season.

But with Gurley not expected to play early in the season as he completed rehab from college knee surgery at Georgia, Mason would have a few games to remind everyone what he could do.

Didn’t work out that way. A preseason hamstring injury sidelined Mason in the opener against Seattle, and he was ineffective in Games 2 and 3, rushing for a combined 42 yards on 16 carries against Washington and Pittsburgh.

Gurley moved into the starting lineup in Game 4, and well, that was pretty much it for Mason this season. With Gurley in the feature role, and Benny Cunningham in the third-down role, there wasn’t much work for Mason.

Mason missed the Cleveland game Oct. 25 with an ankle injury, and was suspended by Fisher for the Baltimore contest Nov. 22 when he (and teammate Isaiah Battle) missed the team bus to Lambert Airport from Rams Park for the game.

Put that all together and he has only 163 yards rushing on 57 carries this season. Who knows how it would’ve played out were it not for that preseason hamstring injury.

“I’m not sure what would’ve happened, but we’re here now so we’re ready to go,” Mason said. “When you love the game, I put my teammates first. Whatever’s gonna put my team first, you gotta do it.”

But he did add: “It’s a blessing to be able to start again. But I wish TG was out there with me, to give us some more power. But I’m willing to take on the (starting) role.”

Gurley suffered a foot injury late in last week’s game in Seattle. He was in a walking boot and didn’t practice all week in Napa Valley. On Friday, Gurley was listed as doubtful for Sunday’s game, and team sources later told The Post-Dispatch that he would not play against San Francisco.

Although coach Jeff Fisher didn’t definitively say Gurley was out following Friday’s practice, his comments certainly indicated that would be the case.

“We’re thinking about the long-time future,” Fisher said. “He’s got an issue he’s dealing with and we’re still doing tests. The difference between him playing and making matters worse could be the difference between six to eight weeks of rehab in the offseason.”

Otherwise, Gurley should be fine in a couple of weeks. It’s not an injury that needs surgery.

“I think it’s rest for a couple weeks and then he’ll be fine,” Fisher said.

Cunningham once again will figure into the backfield mix against the 49ers, particularly in passing situations where he does some of his best work.

“And we brought Malcolm (Brown) up, and shoot, you may even see him carry the ball a little bit,” Fisher said.

An undrafted rookie from Texas, Brown had spent the year on the Rams’ practice squad before getting promoted to the active roster Thursday.

MORE ON INJURIES

Defensive tackle Michael Brockers (thigh), defensive end/tackle Ethan Westbrooks (concussion), and linebacker/safety Mark Barron (concussion) were all listed as probable after being full participation Friday.

Offensive guard/tackle Andrew Donnal (knee) was limited again in practice and is listed as questionable.

ANOTHER ROSTER MOVE

The Rams made another move Friday, placing cornerback Eric Patterson (ankle) on injured reserve and promoting wide receiver Nick Toon to the active roster from the practice squad.

NEXT SEASON’S FOES

Although it remains to be seen whether the Rams will be playing in St. Louis or Los Angeles next season, all but two of their opponents have been determined for the 2016 season.

In addition to NFC West foes Arizona, San Francisco, and Seattle, the Rams will play host to Atlanta, Carolina, Buffalo, and Miami. An eighth home game will be played in London, against the loser of Sunday’s game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia.

On the road, the Rams play NFC West foes Arizona, San Francisco, and Seattle, and also travel to New Orleans, Tampa Bay, New England, and the New York Jets. Their eighth road game will be played against the winner of Sunday’s game between Chicago and Detroit.
 

Memphis Ram

Legend
Joined
Jun 26, 2010
Messages
6,879
Hope Gurley sits out the Pro Bowl, too.

http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/troy-hill?id=2552693

Troy Hill

ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Ultra-competitive, quick-twitch athlete. Stays low and smooth in backpedal and can throw his hips open quickly from retreat to turn and run. Gobbles up combo routes from zone coverage without busting. Plays with improved instincts and readiness. Reads quarterback's eyes and is eager to make a play on the ball. Can overlap and make plays outside his area. Was third in nation in passes defensed with 19. Takes good angles on the throw and gets hand and arm into framework of the receiver at point of catch to knock throw away. Transitions quickly from coverage into tackler against loose wideout or runner. Has adequate play speed and is an explosive leaper. Will come up and hit with as much force as he can muster.

WEAKNESSES
Skinny, lanky body that could take pounding in trying to tackle NFL running backs. Shows slight stutter step when transitioning from backpedal into change of direction mode. Reads receiver’s eyes, but needs to improve with turning to find ball and finish with interceptions. Feisty, but lacking play strength to consistently disengage from big blockers on perimeter. Has to hit low or he needs help to bring down big receivers and running backs as a tackler. Took on 160 yards worth of penalties over last two seasons. Suspended at end of 2013 for violating unspecified team rules and missed bowl game that season following arrest for domestic incident. Plead down to misdemeanor menacing and ordered to take anger control classes. Character must be combed through.

SOURCES TELL US
"When you go back in his history you find out that he's always had a chip on his shoulder and that is what fuels him. He uses it to be a better football player. There are some maturity issues with him that concern me though." -- NFC director of scouting

NFL COMPARISON
Jayron Hosley

BOTTOM LINE

Improved by leaps and bounds from last year to this after becoming a full-time starter. Plays with competitive toughness and improving confidence in coverage. Hill has the athleticism and ball skills to be an NFL cornerback, but his slight frame is a substantial concern. Concerns surrounding his off-field character could hurt his draft stock.-Lance Zierlein
 

LACHAMP46

A snazzy title
Joined
Jul 21, 2013
Messages
11,735
On Thursday, the club claimed cornerback Troy Hill, who arrived in Napa on Friday. Fisher said the Rams became intrigued with the defensive back when they went to work out quarterback Marcus Mariota in the pre-draft process.

“We had worked him out in Eugene when we went out to visit Mariota, and he had a really good workout,” Fisher said of Hill. “Coaches liked him, and for some reason he was waived yesterday [on Thursday], so we thought, let’s take advantage of the opportunity. So, we’ll have him in the offseason program.”

While Hill is with the team, Fisher said it’s likely the corner will be inactive on Sunday given the timing of his arrival.

Troy Hill

ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
Ultra-competitive, quick-twitch athlete. Stays low and smooth in backpedal and can throw his hips open quickly from retreat to turn and run. Gobbles up combo routes from zone coverage without busting. Plays with improved instincts and readiness. Reads quarterback's eyes and is eager to make a play on the ball. Can overlap and make plays outside his area. Was third in nation in passes defensed with 19. Takes good angles on the throw and gets hand and arm into framework of the receiver at point of catch to knock throw away. Transitions quickly from coverage into tackler against loose wideout or runner. Has adequate play speed and is an explosive leaper. Will come up and hit with as much force as he can muster.

WEAKNESSES
Skinny, lanky body that could take pounding in trying to tackle NFL running backs. Shows slight stutter step when transitioning from backpedal into change of direction mode. Reads receiver’s eyes, but needs to improve with turning to find ball and finish with interceptions. Feisty, but lacking play strength to consistently disengage from big blockers on perimeter. Has to hit low or he needs help to bring down big receivers and running backs as a tackler. Took on 160 yards worth of penalties over last two seasons. Suspended at end of 2013 for violating unspecified team rules and missed bowl game that season following arrest for domestic incident. Plead down to misdemeanor menacing and ordered to take anger control classes. Character must be combed through.

SOURCES TELL US
"When you go back in his history you find out that he's always had a chip on his shoulder and that is what fuels him. He uses it to be a better football player. There are some maturity issues with him that concern me though." -- NFC director of scouting

NFL COMPARISON
Jayron Hosley

BOTTOM LINE

Improved by leaps and bounds from last year to this after becoming a full-time starter. Plays with competitive toughness and improving confidence in coverage. Hill has the athleticism and ball skills to be an NFL cornerback, but his slight frame is a substantial concern. Concerns surrounding his off-field character could hurt his draft stock.-Lance Zierlein
From what I remember about this guy, he has excellent ball skills and is a great player....Think he's had some attitude problems...But the talent & speed appeared to be there....I wonder is he still really slight of build. He's had to be in the league for 2 years...I like this pickup...better than Brandon McGee.... but always injured... so @den-the-coach will have a new one rag on....