Can Gurley build on breakthrough vs. Jets

Can Rams RB Todd Gurley build on breakthrough vs. Jets?

By Alden Gonzalez

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/31705/can-rams-running-back-todd-gurley-build-on-breakthrough-vs-jets

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — In the second half, late in a tedious game in which the Los Angeles Rams’ offense once again lacked life, it finally happened:

Todd Gurley was finally set free.

He gained 13 yards on the first play from the Rams’ second drive of the third quarter. Then 5. Then 6. Then another 20 yards on a couple of runs early in the fourth quarter. Then 21 yards on a brilliant run that was negated by a hold from the Rams’ oft-penalized left tackle, Greg Robinson. All told, Gurley gained 54 yards on 11 carries in the second half.

Maybe — just maybe — it’s the start of something.

“A lot of people criticize him from the outside, not knowing what he does throughout the week — the extra time he puts in on his own, whether it’s film or being one of the last guys off the field,” Gurley’s backup, Benny Cunningham, said after a season-saving 9-6 win over the New York Jets. “Seeing him get a little bit of success, that’s good for him. Hopefully we can build on it and just get back to how he was last season.”

That idea seems far-fetched, regardless of whatever good vibes Gurley’s second-half production might have provided. He still finished with a pedestrian stat line — 21 carries for 64 yards, one catch for eight yards, zero touchdowns — and gained only 10 yards on his first 10 carries. It came against a Jets defense that had allowed the fourth-fewest rushing yards per game, but Gurley has now been held below 100 yards in 15 of his last 16 games.

The Rams were rewarded for staying with him, however.

Gurley received a combined 41 carries over the previous three games and amassed only five of them in the fourth quarter. Rams coach Jeff Fisher stressed throughout the week that Gurley needed to receive more carries, even though the matchup dictated a pass-happy approach, and he got them late.

“We were able to stay with it,” Fisher said. “We knew if we could get him the carries, that there would be some creases.”

Gurley has rushed for 515 yards on 167 carries through the first nine games of his second season, averaging a dismal 3.08 per carry. He had already gained 826 yards by his ninth start last year, but the trend was already heading in the wrong direction. Teams began to zero in on Gurley after he rushed for 566 yards in his first four starts, and the Rams have been trying to counter ever since.

Getting Gurley going in the second half, second-year right tackle Rob Havenstein said, “came down to just staying on blocks. Still, there was a lot of zero runs, a lot of negative runs that we need to correct. We have to do a better job. Todd’s a hell of a running back, Benny’s a hell of a running back. Any time he gets a touch, we want to get him at least to the second level. Let them make plays. I think we did that a little bit. Not to our full potential. That’s something we have to work on.”

Gurley nursed a thigh contusion this week, but his status for Sunday’s game was never really in question.

“I didn’t feel like my old self,” Gurley said, “but the runs was getting there like my old self.”

On one, he zipped through a hole on the right side and motored to the second level for 13 yards. On another, he patiently followed fullback Cory Harkey for a 9-yard gain, displaying the patience required to persevere behind shaky offensive line play.

The second-half difference?

“Execution, man,” Gurley said. “It’s simple. Just finishing blocks, staying on your blocks. Just going out there and beating your one-on-ones, like I say every week.”