Todd Gurley saw limited carries in the Rams’ 26-23 overtime win against the Saints in the NFC Championship. It raised a lot of questions considering Gurley has been one of the NFL’s most dominant running backs the past two years.
Gurley had two drops in the first half, and finished the game with just four carries for 10 yards and a touchdown, including one reception for three yards on three targets. His backup, C.J. Anderson, had 16 carries for 44 yards.
He also had fewer overall touches:
With no report of injury or any other reason as to why one of the NFL’s best running backs wasn’t getting any burn, people were understandably wondering where Gurley was. He did miss the last two weeks of the regular season with inflammation in his knee, after he injured it in the third quarter of Los Angeles’ 30-23 loss to the Eagles in Week 15.
For what it’s worth, he seemed (understandably, duh) happy that the Rams were going to the Super Bowl:
After the game, Jared Goff told Fox’s Chris Myers, “You just have to feed off what we are doing, and C.J. was running the ball well. I expect Todd to have a hell of a game in the Super Bowl though.”
Gurley also spoke to ESPN’s Josina Anderson:
Things could actually be fine with Gurley, only based on what Sean McVay said before the NFC Championship.
Here’s what McVay said during the week leading up to the game:
“I think it’s more of a feel than anything else based on the flow of the game. Thought (RBs Coach) Skip (Peete) did a great job,” McVay said Thursday. “We want to be able to get those guys both involved, but certainly, when Todd is rolling you want to keep him rolling. I think it’s more of a result of, OK, how is the flow of the game going? Certain situations that come up.’ But you do feel good about having two very productive backs and their ability to be able to kind of spell each other.”
In the previous week, Anderson had more carries than Gurley (23 vs. 16). Going with the flow of the game worked that week, as Anderson had 123 yards and two touchdowns. But Gurley was also effective with 115 yards and a touchdown.
At the very least, Gurley has time to get right for the Super Bowl.
Whether he’s just in a funk or injured, Gurley’s got two weeks before the Rams compete for the Super Bowl in Atlanta.
