Bucky Brooks on Gurley's renaissance

from Jimmy Garoppolo will decide 49ers’ future; Todd Gurley for MVP?

Bucky Brooks
NFL.com

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000871592/article/jimmy-garoppolo-will-decide-49ers-future-todd-gurley-for-mvp

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TODD GURLEY’S RENAISSANCE: What a difference a year makes

Todd Gurley for MVP?

Widely panned as a major disappointment a season ago, the Los Angeles Rams running back deserves to be included in the conversation based on his remarkable work during the first half of season.

The third-year pro is not only on pace for 1,433 rushing yards and 670 receiving yards as the driving force behind the NFL’s second-ranked scoring offense, but he is leading the long-downtrodden Rams on an unexpected run toward the postseason.

Remember, this is a franchise that hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2004, and Gurley is the same running back who went 20 straight games without posting a 100-yard effort prior to his Week 3 outing against San Francisco (28 carries for 113 rushing yards and two touchdowns). Moreover, Gurley had seemingly lost his mojo as the feature back of an offense that wasn’t exactly brimming with creativity under the previous regime.

Enter Sean McVay, and Gurley looks like the transcendent star who captivated NFL scouts during his time at Georgia. Reviewing my notes from before the 2015 NFL Draft, I thought Gurley was destined for stardom as a spectacular ball carrier capable of chewing up yards on inside or outside runs. I thought the back could turn the corner on any defense, as a 6-foot-1, 227-pound strider with outstanding speed, quickness and burst. In addition, I believed his violent running style would serve him well as a sledgehammer between the tackles. With Gurley also displaying soft hands and underrated route-running skills out of the backfield, I believed he would develop into a Marshawn Lynch-like playmaker for a team seeking a new-school workhorse with the skills to contribute as a big-bodied hybrid.

As a rookie, Gurley quickly gave the football world a glimpse of game-changing ability, reeling off 100-yard games in his first four starts — less than a year after suffering a torn ACL during his final season at Georgia. With that season culminating in an Offensive Rookie of the Year award, it appeared Gurley was on his way to superstardom as the Rams’ RB1.

But something went awry during Gurley’s sophomore season. He looked like an insecure ball carrier who lacked confidence and skill. Gurley didn’t top finish with more than 85 yards in a single game and only mustered two runs of 20-plus yards on the way to 885 rushing yards. If that wasn’t bad enough, Gurley finished with the NFL’s second-lowest yards-per-carry average (3.18) among qualified runners.

How did this happen? How did a star runner lose his mojo that quickly without a catastrophic injury or radical personnel change impacting his game?

“Man, honestly, that’s a tough question to answer,” Jamon Brown, one of the Rams’ young guards, said at the end of the season, via ESPN.com. “You can say it’s scheme, you can say it’s players; you can point the finger at anything. But at the end of the day, we just didn’t get it done.”

“Frustration set in,” then-interim head coach John Fassel said at the time, via ESPN.com, “and confidence maybe dropped, whether it was in himself or just the whole package.”

While some of Gurley’s woes can be attributed to a leaky offensive line, the best runners in the business are capable of routinely turning nothing into something whenever they touch the ball. We’ve seen plenty of stars overcome suspect offensive lines to routinely churn out 100-yard games (SEE: Adrian Peterson, Barry Sanders, and Frank Gore, among others). Thus, Gurley should’ve been able to put up decent numbers despite the O-line and play-calling issues that might’ve plagued the Rams a season ago.

“I think any time you’re able to have some success, it helps,” McVay said recently on the Rich Eisen Show. “The thing about Todd, though, is from the day I met Todd, he’s had that swagger and that confidence. It’s great to see him performing at such a high level.

“He makes you look good as a coach because you get special players like that, but they’re also special people in terms of the way they lead and bring others with them. I think you’re seeing a complete back right now. He’s playing well in all phases. He’s protecting well, understands the little nuances of the position. And I think you can just see in the pass game, making the most of his opportunities.”

In a star-driven league where top dogs are expected to elevate the play of those around them, Gurley needed to learn how to take his game up a notch when things aren’t ideal or clean around him. Looking at the All-22 Coaches Film from this season, it is apparent that he has taken his game to another level. Gurley is slashing and dashing through holes with a violent aggression that allows him to run through contact at the point of attack. In addition, he is running with more decisiveness and urgency behind the line. Whereas some runners (like Le’Veon Bell) are better when exhibiting a more deliberate approach in the backfield, Gurley’s at his best when he is in attack mode with the ball in his hands, particularly against loaded boxes. According to Next Gen Stats, Gurley has posted the sixth-best yards-per-carry average (3.68) among runners with at least 40 rushing attempt against loaded boxes.

McVay has certainly helped the star runner find his way by calling more off-tackle runs designed to hit the gaps between offensive guard and tackle or tackle and tight end. This allows Gurley to “bang” (slam it in between the gap) or “bounce” (take it around the corner) on the majority of his runs. As a long strider with explosive speed and quickness, Gurley is at his best executing these “one cut and go” plays that eliminate any hesitation or indecisiveness for the runner. Kudos to McVay for quickly discovering his RB1’s best play and featuring it prominently in the game plan.

“Gurley is a nightmare when he is able to get to the edge,” said former NFL running back and current Rams radio announcer Maurice Jones-Drew. “He is a long strider, so he needs a little runway to get going. The outside zone or stretch allows him to hit the hole aggressive, without having to think about cutting the ball to the back side. It’s a really good play for him, especially when he gets to run by No. 77 (Andrew Whitworth).”

But Gurley’s MVP candidacy isn’t solely due to his running prowess. He’s become a nightmare to defend in the passing game. According to NFL Media Research, Gurley has the second-most receiving yards out of the backfield (293) and the fifth-best yards-per-catch average (10.9) among qualified players.

That’s staggering production for a running back who primarily makes his passing-game contributions from a traditional alignment in the backfield. Gurley’s amassing his yardage on screens, swings and rails instead of playing out wide like a quasi-receiver. With Gurley doing it the old-fashioned way for a franchise that’s featured some of the most dangerous three-down running backs in NFL history (Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson), it is time for the football world to appreciate a running back on pace for 2,100 scrimmage yards.

These Rams weren’t expected to score like “The Greatest Show on Turf,” but Gurley’s re-emergence as one of the top playmakers in the game has sparked the team’s surprising return to prominence, which puts the 23-year-old back squarely in the MVP race at midseason.