Gurley finally done it

Award shows Rams’ Todd Gurley is back on top

VINCENT BONSIGNORE

link: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/09/29/award-shows-rams-todd-gurley-is-back-on-top/

ptember 29, 2017 at 9:10 pm
It sort of came and went with a whimper. And it’s not like anyone gets hung up on in-season recognition. Player of the Week honors. Player of the Month recognition. It’s nice and all. But not exactly what players and teams focus on.

But it is worth remembering, at least as it relates to Todd Gurley being named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Month, just how far he fell last year in his regrettable sophomore season and just how far he’s climbed back up this year. Which makes this distinction mean just a little bit more.

“For sure. Like I said, you have your ups and downs in this game. Every year is not going to be a good year and, obviously, I figured that out last year,” Gurley said. “All you can do is move forward, just keep working hard, control what you can control and just take it day-by-day preparation, and once the season comes you just let all the anger out that you had and that you worked hard for in the offseason. So, that’s why I felt like I’ve been doing a great job of doing now.”

Gurley ran for 241 yards and four touchdowns in September while adding 13 catches for 140 yards and two scores. In the process, he’s helped the Rams solidify a respectable ground game the last two games while also being a productive asset in the passing game.

The Rams, partially as a result, have been the NFL’s best offense over the first three games while averaging a league-high 35.7 points per game.

“There’s a lot of other really great players in this league and a lot of guys that did an excellent job in the NFC offensively, but anytime you get an award like that, we’re very happy for Todd,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “It’s a reflection of the offensive unit as a whole. He certainly has done a lot of great individual things, but a lot of that stuff doesn’t occur without great blocking up front, good job by (QB) Jared (Goff) distributing the ball in the pass game, making sure we’re not running into some of those bad looks.

“Todd will be the first to tell you, he’s got high expectations for himself and what you feel good about with that award is that is a reflection of the unit as a whole and I think those guys have done a nice job. But, it’s three games and we’ve got a lot of football left to be played and we know that in this business it’s a very humbling game where it’s, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ And we’ve got a great challenge against a very good defensive opponent for the offense and for Todd and those guys are doing a good job this week of getting ready for that.”

Gurley’s production this year can be partially traced to the significant upgrades the Rams made on the offensive line, adding left tackle Andrew Whitworth and center John Sullivan, a much better receiving corps with Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Tavon Austin and Gerald Everett. It was important to McVay he didn’t prejudge Gurley based on last year before assessing him alongside the improvements.

“When you look at Todd, what you want to make sure is that instead of just looking at the numbers, you watch the tape and really see what’s the reason for why you think maybe things didn’t go the way that you wanted last year,” McVay said. “What you see when you watch the two years that he’s been in the league, before you get with him is you see an excellent talent and you see a guy that has got great natural run instincts, fearless competitor.

“So, to say that you’re surprised by this, the way that he’s worked day-in and day-out, you’re not surprised because those are the expectations that you have for a great player like Todd. To answer your question though, you didn’t have any worry that he wasn’t the guy that he was his rookie year just based on the numbers and the production – still had a whole lot of confidence in him and that’s been merited by what he’s done so far.”

No problem

on the season he has 362 rushing yards 4 rushing tds and 234 receiving yards and 3 receiving tds.

that’s on pace for 1448 rushing yards and 16 rushing tds and 936 receiving yards and 12 tds.

as much as i like seeing that, they gotta ease up on him. too many touches. hopefully, tavon has found another role in addition to that jet sweep. i think he has. malcolm brown too.

Gurley looks even better than he did as a rookie

Alden Gonzalez

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/35680/todd-gurley-looks-even-better-than-he-did-as-a-rookie

ARLINGTON, Texas — Everybody wondered whether Todd Gurley could round back into the form of his rookie season, but nobody considered the possibility of him being even better.

Gurley, his nightmare 2016 season now only a distant memory, is dominating both on the ground and through the air.

On Sunday, in the Los Angeles Rams’ eye-opening 35-30 road win over the Dallas Cowboys, Gurley gained 215 yards from scrimmage, the most by a Rams player since Steven Jackson in 2006. He gained 121 yards on 23 carries and had a career-high 94 receiving yards on a career-high seven catches. He scored his seventh touchdown, one more than he scored all of last year and, according to Elias Sports Bureau, tied with Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch in 1951 for the most in Rams history through the first four games.

“Todd’s a special player,” said Rams coach Sean McVay, who has given Gurley an NFL-leading 106 touches this season. “Just because last year, from a numbers standpoint, maybe it wasn’t what we would have liked, that doesn’t take away from some of the things he did on tape when you really study it. These are things that we expect from Todd, and I know he expects of himself.”

Gurley began to show last season what he could do as a receiver, but he has taken that to another level this year. He has hauled in 20 of his 22 targets — including all seven on Sunday — and has gone three straight games with a receiving touchdown, after not having any receiving touchdowns in 30 previous games. His last one came on a 53-yard wheel route that gave the Rams their first lead in the third quarter and represented Gurley’s longest career reception.

Gurley gained 67 of his receiving yards after the catch.

“Any time you give him the ball in space, you get to see what he can do,” Rams quarterback Jared Goff said. “I try to remind myself every week to continue to look for him and to continue to try to get him the ball in any situation possible.”

The most encouraging signs, though, have come on the ground.

Gurley picked up only 885 rushing yards last season, the fewest in history for someone with more than 275 carries. He went 20 consecutive games without reaching triple-digit yards on the ground but has 234 rushing yards in back-to-back weeks. Gurley gained 5.3 yards per carry Sunday and totaled 95 yards on 17 carries on first down. Sixteen of his 23 rushing attempts came with six or fewer defenders in the box, according to ESPN Stats & Information — a sign that defenses are finally respecting Goff’s ability to beat them down the field.

In the second half, Gurley averaged 3.0 yards per rush after contact (he averaged 1.6 yards after contact last year).

“It’s a plethora of things,” Rams left guard Rodger Saffold said of why the Rams are running the ball more effectively. “… We’ve just got that effort. We’re giving 1,000 percent every play because we want him to go out and score, we want him to be able to run the ball and he’s doing it constantly. And it’s because of all the work that he put in that nobody saw in the offseason.”

After the game, a reporter asked Gurley a question about being the team’s leading receiver and assumed it didn’t mean much to him. “Oh, it means a lot to me,” Gurley said playfully. He chuckled at how he’s acting so much like a receiver and Tavon Austin — six carries for 48 yards — is looking like “a mini running back.” Gurley laughed at that comment, too.

He’s smiling a lot more these days.

“I am,” Gurley said. “I’m telling you, man, when you’re winning, it makes everything so much better.”