In the first few weeks of the season, St. Louis Rams fans everywhere anticipated the debut of highly coveted tenth overall draft pick Todd Gurley. He didn’t play a snap in the preseason, or in the first two games of the season. Then just before game time, it was announced that Gurley would be active for the Rams game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Behind what is one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL, Gurley wasn’t able to do anything spectacular. His carries were limited and Gurley finished with six carries for nine yards. There’s no other way of saying it, that stat line was terrible. The Rams offensive line couldn’t block anyone.
Then came week four. The Rams headed into the desert to take on the undefeated Arizona Cardinals, who is known for their incredible defense behind Calais Campbell, Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu, and company. Gurley’s workload was expected to increase against the Cardinals but no one was sure how drastically. Behind that awful offensive line, Gurley had two rushing yards on four carries in the first half. Not good.
But the second half was a 180-degree spin the other way. Gurley exploded, having several good runs and displaying his moves and fantastic football IQ. Gurley had two key runs in the game. The first was his season high 52-yard rush on the Rams touchdown drive that put them up 24-15 with 8:16 remaining in the game.
His second big run was the game sealer. The Arizona Cardinals had just spent their last timeout to stop the clock with 1:17 remaining and the Rams had the ball on the Arizona 38-yard line and were faced with a 3rd & 12. Gurley busted through the left side of the line and broke for a 30-yard run to seal the victory for the Rams.
Possibly the most impressive thing about the play though, was his decision to just fall down in bounds at the end of the run at the Arizona eight yard line. Gurley could have tried to cut back and run through a defender to score his first NFL touchdown but instead just fell to the ground to keep the clock running and seal the win for the Rams. Gurley finished the game with 19 carries for 146 yards. 144 of those yards came in the second half. Gurley averaged 7.7 yards per carry.
Gurley showed his true potential against the Cardinals. He showed all of the skeptics why the Rams drafted him 10th overall despite tearing his ACL last November. If the Rams offensive line can keep blocking for Gurley, he will become something special. He displayed his incredible football smarts and with good blocking, who knows what Gurley could accomplish.