Todd Gurley was one of the many Rams players who had disappointing 2019 seasons. After gaining at least 1,800 yards from scrimmage in each of the last two seasons, Gurley only put up 1,064 yards in 15 games this year.
He averaged 3.8 yards per carry and 6.7 yards per catch, also fumbling it three times. By just about every measure, it was the second-worst season of his career, only better than his terrible 2016 season under Jeff Fisher.
But he’s not entirely to blame. The offensive line regressed, Jared Goff didn’t do much to take pressure off of Gurley and opponents set out to take away the Rams’ wide zone runs. That last factor isn’t something that gets talked about much, but general manager Les Snead says teams deserve credit for doing what they could to take away Gurley.
“What we all know in sports, if we were so successful at those explosive runs in ‘17 and ‘18, and we saw people start trying to calm it down in ‘18, you’re not just going to sit back and do the same thing,” Snead said, via the team’s official site. “It’s a combination of what we have going on (and) what we need to fix. And give the enemy credit for trying to take Gurley away. That’s obviously a compliment to him.”
The Rams were one of the most talented teams in the NFL, but collectively, they couldn’t put it all together. The struggles of several individuals weighed the whole team down and prevented them from making the postseason.
They have a long offseason to adjust and adapt before trying to return to the playoffs in 2020, and it begins with fixing the running game.
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