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From Peter King
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/10/05/nfl-quarter-season-surprises-disappointments-mvp
Now we know why Gurley went 10th
Thirteen games Sunday, and the most compelling thing I saw was Todd Gurley’s fourth quarter. About 10 months past the reconstructive knee surgery that put the draft status of this Adrian Peterson run-a-like in doubt, here was the quarter-by-quarter performance of Gurley in his second game as a professional:
First quarter: One carry, minus-3 yards.
Second quarter: Three carries, 5 yards.
Third quarter: Six carries, 38 yards.
Fourth quarter: Nine carries, 106 yards, all in the final 12 minutes of the game.
Total: 19 carries, 146 yards.
Final score: Rams 24, previously unbeaten Cardinals 22. At Arizona.
“I got one game ball!” St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher said in the Rams’ locker room. “Where’s 30? Thirty! Come up!”
Fisher handed Gurley, No. 30, the football.
“This is just the beginning,” Fisher said.
Afterward, what everyone was marveling about was the eight yards Gurley didn’t gain. On his last carry, the Rams were nursing the 24-22 lead. Arizona was hoping to make a stop at the Cards 38 on third-and-12 with 1:17 left in the game. The Cards had no timeouts left, but if they could stop the Rams and force a punt, they’d get the ball back deep in their territory with maybe 30 seconds left, and maybe Carson Palmer could pull out one stunning drive to a winning field goal.
Gurley took a handoff from Nick Foles and darted left, through some traffic around left end and down the field. He didn’t need an escort. He broke into the clear past some exhausted but pursuing Cardinals, and as he galloped down the left sideline—looking so much like the man he was compared to a hundred times pre-draft, Peterson—teammate Tavon Austin started waving him downfield toward his first NFL touchdown. A Cardinal safety, Tony Jefferson, was all that stood between him and the touchdown.
Then Gurley slowed a bit. He didn’t appear hurt, but maybe he tweaked something as he slowed some more and lowered himself to the ground inside the 10, falling at the 8-yard line.
He wasn’t hurt. He was smart.
Before the play, Gurley knew Arizona had no timeouts left, and he knew if he could get the first down and kill some clock, the Rams would be able to run the clock out without Arizona touching the ball again. If he scored with 65 seconds to play, what would happen if the Rams missed the extra point? They’d have an eight-point lead, and would be kicking to one of the most explosive offenses in football. Lying down inside the 10? A no-brainer.
“The way I’ve been coached here,” Gurley said over the phone after the game, “I know in a four-minute situation at the end of the half or the end of the game, if you have the lead, you don’t go out of bounds, and you don’t stop the clock. On that play, I didn’t care about the touchdown. I just cared about the win.”
Gurley shouldn’t get a medal for that. He should get some appreciation for making the smart play in that situation. It capped an impressive quarter, with runs of 52, 20 and 30 yards (the final run) that only emphasized to the Rams that picking him, higher than virtually any other team would have, paid off, at least on a day when the Rams pulled the upset of Week 4. Gurley, from the University of Georgia, talked some SEC trash with LSU product Tyrann Mathieu after Mathieu hogtied him down to halt the longest run. But for the rest of the day, he let his legs do the talking.
“Oh man, it feels great to have a day like this,” Gurley said. “It definitely means a lot to me, and to us. Some of these runs give me confidence that I can really do this here. I definitely knew what I was capable of, and I felt the support from the coaches and my teammates.”
And the knee? “It’s fine, fine,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me. I keep up on my ice, my cold tubs, whether I think I need it or not. I feel fine now, no pain. I’ll probably feel it tomorrow.”
After his debut—six carries, nine yards last week—Gurley was hearing from those around the team that he’ll be fine, don’t worry, better days are ahead. He knew it. The lack of impact wasn’t a big deal to him. “Listen,” he said to one team employee, “nobody’s gonna remember my first four games. What’d Adrian Peterson do his first four games?”
Peterson, in his first four games in 2007: 76 carries, 383 yards.
Gurley’s right: No one remembers. But for the record, Gurley’s got 228 yards to get in the next two games if he wants to catch up. I doubt he's too concerned with chasing yards like that—he gave up eight, and a touchdown, that he could have had pretty easily in his coming-out party.
============
OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Todd Gurley, running back, St. Louis.
After his inauspicious debut last week, coach Jeff Fisher said that trained eyes could see Gurley was close to breaking some of his runs. Fisher, evidently, knew what he was talking about. Gurley owned the previously unbeaten Cardinals on the road Sunday. He ran 19 times for 146 yards, and did the smart thing on the final insurance drive, going to the ground instead of running into the end zone. Gurley knew the Cardinals wouldn’t get to touch the ball again if he played it that way. The Rams drafted Gurley 10th overall last spring, when he was only five months removed from reconstructive knee surgery. For one day at least, it looks like a brilliant pick.
===========
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think this is what I liked about Week 4:
a. Devonta Freeman. What burst and power.
b. The fight of the Rams.
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/10/05/nfl-quarter-season-surprises-disappointments-mvp
Now we know why Gurley went 10th
Thirteen games Sunday, and the most compelling thing I saw was Todd Gurley’s fourth quarter. About 10 months past the reconstructive knee surgery that put the draft status of this Adrian Peterson run-a-like in doubt, here was the quarter-by-quarter performance of Gurley in his second game as a professional:
First quarter: One carry, minus-3 yards.
Second quarter: Three carries, 5 yards.
Third quarter: Six carries, 38 yards.
Fourth quarter: Nine carries, 106 yards, all in the final 12 minutes of the game.
Total: 19 carries, 146 yards.
Final score: Rams 24, previously unbeaten Cardinals 22. At Arizona.
“I got one game ball!” St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher said in the Rams’ locker room. “Where’s 30? Thirty! Come up!”
Fisher handed Gurley, No. 30, the football.
“This is just the beginning,” Fisher said.
Afterward, what everyone was marveling about was the eight yards Gurley didn’t gain. On his last carry, the Rams were nursing the 24-22 lead. Arizona was hoping to make a stop at the Cards 38 on third-and-12 with 1:17 left in the game. The Cards had no timeouts left, but if they could stop the Rams and force a punt, they’d get the ball back deep in their territory with maybe 30 seconds left, and maybe Carson Palmer could pull out one stunning drive to a winning field goal.
Gurley took a handoff from Nick Foles and darted left, through some traffic around left end and down the field. He didn’t need an escort. He broke into the clear past some exhausted but pursuing Cardinals, and as he galloped down the left sideline—looking so much like the man he was compared to a hundred times pre-draft, Peterson—teammate Tavon Austin started waving him downfield toward his first NFL touchdown. A Cardinal safety, Tony Jefferson, was all that stood between him and the touchdown.
Then Gurley slowed a bit. He didn’t appear hurt, but maybe he tweaked something as he slowed some more and lowered himself to the ground inside the 10, falling at the 8-yard line.
He wasn’t hurt. He was smart.
Before the play, Gurley knew Arizona had no timeouts left, and he knew if he could get the first down and kill some clock, the Rams would be able to run the clock out without Arizona touching the ball again. If he scored with 65 seconds to play, what would happen if the Rams missed the extra point? They’d have an eight-point lead, and would be kicking to one of the most explosive offenses in football. Lying down inside the 10? A no-brainer.
“The way I’ve been coached here,” Gurley said over the phone after the game, “I know in a four-minute situation at the end of the half or the end of the game, if you have the lead, you don’t go out of bounds, and you don’t stop the clock. On that play, I didn’t care about the touchdown. I just cared about the win.”
Gurley shouldn’t get a medal for that. He should get some appreciation for making the smart play in that situation. It capped an impressive quarter, with runs of 52, 20 and 30 yards (the final run) that only emphasized to the Rams that picking him, higher than virtually any other team would have, paid off, at least on a day when the Rams pulled the upset of Week 4. Gurley, from the University of Georgia, talked some SEC trash with LSU product Tyrann Mathieu after Mathieu hogtied him down to halt the longest run. But for the rest of the day, he let his legs do the talking.
“Oh man, it feels great to have a day like this,” Gurley said. “It definitely means a lot to me, and to us. Some of these runs give me confidence that I can really do this here. I definitely knew what I was capable of, and I felt the support from the coaches and my teammates.”
And the knee? “It’s fine, fine,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me. I keep up on my ice, my cold tubs, whether I think I need it or not. I feel fine now, no pain. I’ll probably feel it tomorrow.”
After his debut—six carries, nine yards last week—Gurley was hearing from those around the team that he’ll be fine, don’t worry, better days are ahead. He knew it. The lack of impact wasn’t a big deal to him. “Listen,” he said to one team employee, “nobody’s gonna remember my first four games. What’d Adrian Peterson do his first four games?”
Peterson, in his first four games in 2007: 76 carries, 383 yards.
Gurley’s right: No one remembers. But for the record, Gurley’s got 228 yards to get in the next two games if he wants to catch up. I doubt he's too concerned with chasing yards like that—he gave up eight, and a touchdown, that he could have had pretty easily in his coming-out party.
============
OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Todd Gurley, running back, St. Louis.
After his inauspicious debut last week, coach Jeff Fisher said that trained eyes could see Gurley was close to breaking some of his runs. Fisher, evidently, knew what he was talking about. Gurley owned the previously unbeaten Cardinals on the road Sunday. He ran 19 times for 146 yards, and did the smart thing on the final insurance drive, going to the ground instead of running into the end zone. Gurley knew the Cardinals wouldn’t get to touch the ball again if he played it that way. The Rams drafted Gurley 10th overall last spring, when he was only five months removed from reconstructive knee surgery. For one day at least, it looks like a brilliant pick.
===========
Ten Things I Think I Think
1. I think this is what I liked about Week 4:
a. Devonta Freeman. What burst and power.
b. The fight of the Rams.
