The Todd Gurley Blues

[ArkyRamsFan]

Alright, I've let 24 hrs or so pass before commenting but there's some stuff I need to say on this sordid affair.

Look, I get that the cap played a significant role in his being released but I am very disappointed that Coach Mac and crew didn't give him an opportunity to work with our new OC K. McConnell and our new RB coach (forgot his name.....)
There's not a doubt in my mind that McVay needed an OC and last years declining offensive production is far more a result of that than any decline in T Gurley's performance.
I had big hopes that Coach McConnell could scheme Todd more effectively and keep McVay balanced in the play calling. I was really hoping that our new OC/RB coach could carve out a significant role for both Todd Gurley and Darryl Henderson. I liked to idea of a two-headed RB monster to smash defenses with.
I was hoping that Sean's increased use of the 12 formation and of Tyler Higbee would actually help Gurley to elevate his game as the extra TE would be a more effective blocker in the run game.

I think the major cause of TG's decline last year falls squarely on the shoulders of Sean McVay. He never figured out what role Gurley was to play. He had him in games and then just used him as a decoy or to block. As if somehow those actions wouldn't cause wear and tear and stress on his knee. I don't get that at all.

Then McVay channeled his inner Mike Martz and became pass-happy and made the entire offense predictable and much easier to defend. Heck, he didn't even incorporate Todd in the passing game. Whatever happened to those devastating screen passes and passes to Gurley in the flat and whatnot?

At any rate I could go on and on but suffice to say it's not accurate to use numbers as the sole criteria for TG's decline. It's not accurate because he was not given enough of an opportunity to prove he could still perform at a high level. Maybe not the Todd Gurley of a few years ago but I am certain that a Todd Gurley at 75% is still a force to be reckoned with.

Well I'm done for now. No doubt a lot of fellow Rams fans will tell me to get over it and move on because that's the way it is. And there's a level of truth to that....but I can't help thinking about what could have been. I keep thinking that we let Todd Gurley go one year too early. One year that could have proven once and for all what he had left to give to the Rams.
And now we'll never know.....

Just my .02

~ArkyRamsFan~

 

[Oregonram]

How coach McVay uses the next RB will tell whether he was neglecting Todd or trying to save him. If we get a good bell cow and he’s getting fed, then Coach was trying to preserve Todd...but if he goes pass first as another website has suggested, then Coach was feeling tethered to needing to use Todd because of what he was getting paid, not because of what he wanted to really run. Go back and look at how many carries Todd had against the Falcons in the playoff loss when Todd was healthy.

 

[Ramlock]

Alright, I've let 24 hrs or so pass before commenting but there's some stuff I need to say on this sordid affair.

Look, I get that the cap played a significant role in his being released but I am very disappointed that Coach Mac and crew didn't give him an opportunity to work with our new OC K. McConnell and our new RB coach (forgot his name.....)
There's not a doubt in my mind that McVay needed an OC and last years declining offensive production is far more a result of that than any decline in T Gurley's performance.
I had big hopes that Coach McConnell could scheme Todd more effectively and keep McVay balanced in the play calling. I was really hoping that our new OC/RB coach could carve out a significant role for both Todd Gurley and Darryl Henderson. I liked to idea of a two-headed RB monster to smash defenses with.
I was hoping that Sean's increased use of the 12 formation and of Tyler Higbee would actually help Gurley to elevate his game as the extra TE would be a more effective blocker in the run game.

I think the major cause of TG's decline last year falls squarely on the shoulders of Sean McVay. He never figured out what role Gurley was to play. He had him in games and then just used him as a decoy or to block. As if somehow those actions wouldn't cause wear and tear and stress on his knee. I don't get that at all.

Then McVay channeled his inner Mike Martz and became pass-happy and made the entire offense predictable and much easier to defend. Heck, he didn't even incorporate Todd in the passing game. Whatever happened to those devastating screen passes and passes to Gurley in the flat and whatnot?

At any rate I could go on and on but suffice to say it's not accurate to use numbers as the sole criteria for TG's decline. It's not accurate because he was not given enough of an opportunity to prove he could still perform at a high level. Maybe not the Todd Gurley of a few years ago but I am certain that a Todd Gurley at 75% is still a force to be reckoned with.

Well I'm done for now. No doubt a lot of fellow Rams fans will tell me to get over it and move on because that's the way it is. And there's a level of truth to that....but I can't help thinking about what could have been. I keep thinking that we let Todd Gurley go one year too early. One year that could have proven once and for all what he had left to give to the Rams.
And now we'll never know.....

Just my .02

~ArkyRamsFan~

Good post

 

[TexasRam]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and i am aware I could be wrong.

But from my observation Gurley was only a shell of his prime self after the knee injury.

The stats bear it out but more important to my eye was the lack of burst, the lack of concentration when attempting to
Catch balls, the hesitation through contact at times, the lack of cutting ability etc.

For those that saw Marshall Faulk towards the end it was real similar.

Did we see moments where we had a flash of the old Gurley? Yes.

Gurley did so much for this organization and fan base. So many awesome memories. Running through Seattle to claim the division, taking an 80 yard screen to the house at Tennessee. Catching the ball down the middle vs the Cowboys and taking it to the house. Countless games where he grinded out the clock for the win.

Gurley will go down as one of the top Rams RB of all time.

But in the NFL when a RB’s Knee isn’t right it’s going to affect him and also the team.

I don’t like people blaming McVay. He’s making a hard decision that I’m sure he hates but believes is the right decision for the team.

It’s an unfortunate situation and not anyone’s fault. But it was clearly the right decision in my mind.

 

[OntarioRam]

You might well be correct. Time will tell. But I agree, McVay's tendency to get too pass happy - even when Gurley was undeniably healthy - and the fact that Todd was apparently deemed healthy enough to pass block endlessly last year cast uncertainty over the entire situation. People say it might have been an attitude problem as well. But as I've said a few times, if Gurley truly was at 100% and able to be a bell cow, and McVay refused to use him despite looking good when being given the carries, then Gurley's "attitude" makes perfect sense, and it is McVay who should have been shown the door for his arrogance. Not Todd for his "attitude".

The frustrating thing is that we may never know the real answer. Although if Gurley goes on to be a middling RB for the rest of his career, a degenerative-knee could be deduced as the likely culprit, in the end.

If I had to pick a cause, I'd pick the knee. Everything was going great in 2018 until the end of the season, when Gurley got banged up. Then we had to bring in CJ Anderson. You don't do that if you bell cow is healthy. If memory serves Brown might have been injured at the time as well, which might explain the move. And CJ got hot, so that muddles things further - did they just want to ride the hot hand, even if Gurley was capable of coming back and starting? And did that offend Todd? All I know is that Gurley never looked quite the same after, and the sample size was large enough that I lean to the problem being physical rather than psychological or relationship-based.

 

[Loyal]

I think Gurley’s attitude was almost a bigger problem than his arthritic knee. JMHO.

 

[FrantikRam]

People can be upset obviously because Todd was a superstar and we'll liked player.

But just watch the tape last year - he was clearly a shell of himself. The staff releasing him tells us that he will continue to be a shell of himself.

 

[Pancake]

But even if Gurley was a shell of himself that doesn't explain why McVay couldn't give other RB's some carries in place of Gurley.

 

[TheTackle]

He used to take games over. That hasn’t happened since he re-injured his knee. He can still impact a game and might rebound this year, but they decided that they had to get out of the contract and he wasn’t willing to take a pay cut for the team.

He signed for $5 million in Atlanta’s which tells you there was a problem between him and the staff. He would have earned more here and had a contract beyond 2020-21. He didn’t want to be here and so had to go

 

[kurtfaulk]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and i am aware I could be wrong.

But from my observation Gurley was only a shell of his prime self after the knee injury.

The stats bear it out but more important to my eye was the lack of burst, the lack of concentration when attempting to
Catch balls, the hesitation through contact at times, the lack of cutting ability etc.

For those that saw Marshall Faulk towards the end it was real similar.

Did we see moments where we had a flash of the old Gurley? Yes.

Gurley did so much for this organization and fan base. So many awesome memories. Running through Seattle to claim the division, taking an 80 yard screen to the house at Tennessee. Catching the ball down the middle vs the Cowboys and taking it to the house. Countless games where he grinded out the clock for the win.

Gurley will go down as one of the top Rams RB of all time.

But in the NFL when a RB’s Knee isn’t right it’s going to affect him and also the team.

I don’t like people blaming McVay. He’s making a hard decision that I’m sure he hates but believes is the right decision for the team.

It’s an unfortunate situation and not anyone’s fault. But it was clearly the right decision in my mind.

While i don't agree with it clearly being the right decision, i agree with everything else you said. Tough situation for the team.

For most of the 2018 season the contract extension was the right move as Gurley would have cost a lot more after the season, seeing he was playing at mvp level again. Then the injury struck. Then they had to manage his usage.

Once they had to manage his touches the contract suddenly became onerous. There was no right or wrong decision. I would have preferred the rams toughed it out with Gurley, he was still serviceable, but they wanted to move forward without him. I'm not gonna cry about it but I'm not gonna say it was the right decision.

.

 

[IBruce80]

If Gurley passes the Falcons medical, it must mean the knee is a moot point at this time, right?

Then it surely is something behind the scenes.
The Rams press conference gave nothing, unsurprisingly, away.
Gurley seems in very good spirits.

He's gone; I'm disappointed.
Time to move on because if there was any bad blood, it has been an amicable split.

 

[CGI_Ram]

If Gurley passes the Falcons medical, it must mean the knee is a moot point at this time, right?

Interesting, and yes you would think. But, not really knowing what I am talking about, if it’s arthritis.... it’s difficult to determine the impact? I don’t know.

 

[AlphaRam]

I really don't think coaching was an issue, if his knee is as bad as everyone think's it is then it's over for him. He's a running back and sadly it happens. We all saw it last year, he didn't have the burst, he couldn't cut the way he used to. There were a few players here and there where you saw "it" from season's passed but the majority was him struggling.

 

[mikedlo23]

does anyone remember a specific game in which the "IT" factor went away with todd.

I have watched every play for the last 10 years and i never miss a play.....i remember thinking to myself and mentioned it to my father as the game was going on....1st qt in our red zone against KC on that unbelievable monday night game....he ran to the left side of the field and landed awkwardly out of bounds. I remember saying wow that looked pretty bad but the announcers didn't mention it.... if you watch it back...after that series i believe he only had a handful of carries after the 1st qt and i kept commenting that he got hurt. he stayed in the game but didn't look the same. i did a bit of digging but it could mean nothing....after that game here are his stats for the rest of that year

KC- 12 FOR 55
BYE
DET- 23 FOR 132 (believe he had only 40 yards going into 4th qt)
CHI- 11 FOR 28
PHL 12 FOR 48
ARI- OUT AND I BELIEVE HURT
SF- OUT AND I BELIEVE HURT

DAL- 14 FOR 45 (ALSO HAD 2 LATE CARRIES FOR 70 YARDS) the reason i bring this up is the fact that 2 carries defined this game for gurley.....yes CJ was running all over them as well but for someone who should have been far superior.... todd should have really balled out and shouldn't need 2 plays to make his stats look more appealing....in comparison CJ HAD 23 FOR 123

NO- 4 FOR 10
NE IN SUPERBOWL- 10 FOR 35

I get people saying that he looked good in the dallas game....but im just simply saying some stats could be decieving... if he has 24 carries for 130 yards yet 1 carry went for 98 yards....some people look at the stat sheet and not look closer and say oh he had a good game...

ever since that KC GAME i feel like he lost something...i love todd gurley and wish he was still a ram. But something about the attitude and the way he played really had me sour this past year....we all know what happened last year so no need to bring it up but im willing to tie with henderson.

If anyone has an idea of when todd really starting looking different to you id love to hear about it

 

[CGI_Ram]

1st qt in our red zone against KC on that unbelievable monday night game....he ran to the left side of the field and landed awkwardly out of bounds.

That’s a good observation and I’ve heard others point to that play as well.

 

[PhillyRam]

Anyone notice that only Johnny Hekker, Ramsey, and Aaron Donald expressed themselves in anyway on social media about Gurely leaving?

Goff was quiet, saw nothing from the OL, WR's, etc...

Now maybe I missed it and maybe they talked to him privately, but it seems odd.

 

[tempests]

DAL- 14 FOR 45 (ALSO HAD 2 LATE CARRIES FOR 70 YARDS) the reason i bring this up is the fact that 2 carries defined this game for gurley.....yes CJ was running all over them as well but for someone who should have been far superior.... todd should have really balled out and shouldn't need 2 plays to make his stats look more appealing....in comparison CJ HAD 23 FOR 123

I get people saying that he looked good in the dallas game....but im just simply saying some stats could be decieving... if he has 24 carries for 130 yards yet 1 carry went for 98 yards....some people look at the stat sheet and not look closer and say oh he had a good game...

By that definition all of Gurley's stats could be deceiving. He's never been a grind it out chain mover. He's been a player that exploits lanes and punishes defense with chunk yardage plays. His very first start in the NFL, he gained 102 yards on three 4th quarter carries and 44 on the other 16.

Gurley played just fine against Dallas and why wouldn't he...our offensive line was blowing holes in Dallas run defense from start to finish.

todd should have really balled out

Yeah, well, for me it's hard to complain about him averaging 7 yards a carry on a day when our team rushed for 273.

 

[Ramlock]

He signed for $5 million in Atlanta’s which tells you there was a problem between him and the staff.

I can’t make that leap.

 

[Ramlock]

By that definition all of Gurley's stats could be deceiving. He's never been a grind it out chain mover. He's been a player that exploits lanes and punishes defense with chunk yardage plays. His very first start in the NFL, he gained 102 yards on three 4th quarter carries and 44 on the other 16.

Gurley played just fine against Dallas and why wouldn't he...our offensive line was blowing holes in Dallas run defense from start to finish.



Yeah, well, for me it's hard to complain about him averaging 7 yards a carry on a day when our team rushed for 273.

Now he’s being dinged for explosive, chunk yardage which is what people say he can’t do anymore?
Which is it?

 

[Ramlock]

For all the attitude, body language posts....not so sure.

There were so many games in 2019 where play-calling and game-planning were suspect...where Goff was asked to throw too much...I know many don’t want to fault McVay but Coach owns SOME of it.


It’s the contract...not the ‘tude, IMO.

I’m not on board with blaming Gurley’s press conferences and locker room interviews as the reason he was moved...not at all.

It sucks and I’m not happy that he’s gone and I’ll have to get over it and I will.



View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1064684380298199040?s=20

Todd Gurley! WOOOOOO!