Is Gurley Ready to Go? Jeff Fisher Won’t Say
Bernie Miklasz
http://www.101sports.com/2015/09/25/is-gurley-ready-to-go-jeff-fisher-wont-say/
If the Rams are planning to give rookie running back Todd Gurley his NFL roll-out in Sunday’s home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, don’t expect coach Jeff Fisher to blab about it.
And why should he? This is the NFL, where a head coach’s true plans are kept as hush-hush as highly sensitive state secrets that impact national security.
You couldn’t get the KGB or CIA to break Fisher on this one.
The coach will keep the Steelers guessing until shortly before the noon kickoff at The Edward Jones Dome.
When the Rams released their official NFL injury report on Friday, Gurley was listed as “questionable” despite going full throttle in practice over the last two weeks (at least.) Fisher once again has stated that he’s “really pleased” by Gurley’s progress. And Gurley has fully participated in the Rams’ practices this week.
But since Gurley is still technically making his way back from surgery to repair a torn knee ligament that ended his collegiate career at Georgia, the Rams have the leeway to be as vague as they want to be. Besides that, Fisher clearly enjoys playing this parlor game with the media and the team’s next opponent.
Courtesy of the Rams’ outstanding media-relations staff, here’s a play-by-play of the exchange between Fisher and the STL media on Friday afternoon:
On Gurley’s status and the chances of him playing Sunday:
Fisher: “Well, he’ll be…we have him listed as full participation all three days. We have him listed as questionable, which means, implies that there’s a 50/50 chance he’ll play. It’ll be a game-time decision. So really, really pleased with the progress this week.”
On if the decision of making Gurley’s status known at game time is a strategic move:
Fisher: “Well, I think around the league everybody would prefer not to tip their hat, and that’s kind of where we are right now. But if he doesn’t go, he doesn’t go. And that’ll be a decision we’ll make Sunday.”
On if he promised to (privately) reveal Gurley’s true status to the team:
Fisher: “I’ve already told them and you missed it. (Fisher laughed.) No, I don’t remember saying that.”
On if the decision is already made not to play Gurley or if it will be determined Sunday morning:
Fisher: “Well the decision was made last week. It’s not made this week. We made the decision last week on Friday. But right now, honestly, it’s a game-time decision, so we’ll see how he is.”
On how difficult the decision is as a coaching staff to judge when Gurley’s ready to play:
Fisher: “It’s not that hard. We’ve seen the reps. That was our point the last couple of weeks was to get him back in the offense and running with the starters, and he’s done so. I think we split those reps probably 50/50 between he and (RB Tre) Mason. As a tribute to (RB) Benny (Cunningham), Benny doesn’t need a lot of reps. Benny’s get it and he can do it.”
On how much it will lift the team when Gurley plays:
Fisher: “Well if he plays, it really would have to do with production. If he’s productive, which we expect him to be productive when he plays, now granted we’re playing a very talented defensive front. Then that becomes a big lift of the team. I think it helps us in a lot of areas.”
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Agamemnon
