Todd Gurley touched the football only three times in the first half of Super Bowl 53. This continues a somewhat baffling trend of the league’s highest-paid running back staying on the sideline in a do-or-die game for Los Angeles; he had only five against the Saints in the NFC Championship.
He averaged 22.5 touches per game during the regular season.
Why is Gurley being kept on the sideline? The Rams have dismissed all suggestion that he’s injured — even though that thought has persisted.
The truth, though, seems to be something easier to explain: The Patriots are doing everything in their power to stop the Rams’ staple run concept, the outside zone.
The Patriots are playing with six men on the line of scrimmage with their two edge defenders lining up wide and forcing runs back inside.
After calling an outside zone on the first snap of the game — as a way to diagnose how the Patriots would react — the Rams called mostly inside zone runs for Anderson. When Gurley did re-enter the game, Los Angeles continued with the inside runs — but with limited success.
Gurley has been the Rams’ preference on those outside runs throughout the season, but with the way the Patriots are setting their front, Los Angeles is better served attacking the middle with inside runs, which C.J. Anderson is better suited to execute. The same was true against New Orleans, as we wrote at the time:
The Saints defensive line is strongest on the edges, and with DT Sheldon Rankins out injured, the interior of their line was short-handed. So instead of leaning on perimeter runs, where Gurley is at his best, the Rams when with a more downhill attack, which suits Anderson’s bruising running style. As McVay said, the Rams “just had to grind some things out today,” and Anderson is the better grinder.
Bill Belichick is known for taking away what an offense does best and making his opponents play left-handed. It’s not a shock that he’s done everything he can to keep Gurley off the field. The Rams offense is still effective with Anderson on the field, but not nearly as explosive as it is with Gurley out there.
It’s now up to Rams coach Sean McVay to find a way to make his offense work. It’s built off play action made possible by the success of the outside run; without those, you get a flustered Jared Goff making difficult reads and completing just 5-of-12 passes for 52 yards.
McVay has certainly seen what other teams countered with and will most likely try something similar. But this much is for sure: so far, Belichick has won the coaching matchup convincingly — and it didn’t take any sort of genius to do it.
