Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley had an MVP caliber season in 2018. However, injury rumors swirled around him all offseason. Now in 2019, he isn't exactly doing much to silence those rumors.
Gurley isn't exactly having a terrible year, but it certainly is not a good follow-up to his 2018 season.
Through the first eight games of the year for Los Angeles, Gurley has played in seven of them. In that time, he has 355 yards and six touchdowns on 92 carries (3.9 yards per carry). He also has 15 receptions for 81 yards and one more touchdown.
Those are drastically different from basically any other season he's had so far in the NFL.
Even worse, his best game in terms of yards per carry this year came in Week 1. Against the Carolina Panthers Gurley had 14 carries for 97 yards (6.9 yards per carry). Since then, he's averaged at least 4.0 yards per carry in just one other game.
The Rams have been able to weather the storm of not having their superstar running back playing all that well so far. They are 5-3, but find themselves sitting in third place in the NFC West. With that in mind, they'll need a strong final eight weeks following their bye week.
Someone who can make a major difference is Gurley. Can he turn his season around following that bye week though?
The simple answer is yes. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, Gurley now has an extra week of rest. Getting a full week to recuperate can do wonders for a player. Maybe that was all he needed to get a little closer to 100%.
Then there's the fact that the Rams schedule should help him out a little bit. Yes, they play the Baltimore Ravens (83 rushing yards allowed per game) and the Chicago Bears (93.5 rushing yards allowed per game). After that though, every other team allows over 100 rushing yards per game.
That includes the Arizona Cardinals (126.9 rushing yards per game), who the Rams still get to play twice.
Finally, there's the fact that Gurley is not having a bad season at all. Far from it in fact. In reality, he's having a bad season based on his standards, sure. But that's as far as that narrative goes. A lot of running backs would love his numbers.
The 3.9 yards per carry is not very good. It's the same as James Connor, David Johnson and Derrick Henry though. Meanwhile, it's better than Austin Ekeler's average. It's also better than Melvin Gordon, Sony Michel, Joe Mixon and Le'Veon Bell as well.
Meanwhile, Gurley's six rushing touchdowns are fifth-most in the NFL. All four players ahead of him have appeared in more games, two of them have appeared in two more.
So sure, the numbers are not up to Gurley's usual standard. He's not playing that bad though. The only reason it seems that way is because he's set such a high standard for himself.
There's no reason to believe Gurley can flip the switch and get into that next gear. He's already really not that far off. When that happens, the Rams immediately become one of the most dangerous teams in the NFL yet again.
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