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The Los Angeles Rams fell under some heavy criticism for only handing the ball off to Todd Gurley five times during their Week 4 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so Sean McVay tried to get Gurley more involved against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night.
Gurley carried the ball 15 times for 51 yards and a couple of touchdowns in what ended up being a 30-29 loss, his strongest performance since Week 2 and arguably his best outing since Week 1.
The problem was, it still wasn't very good.
Yes, Gurley got more touches. Yes, he punched in a couple of scores. But he averaged just 3.4 yards per carry, marking his fourth straight game where he failed to log four yards per attempt.
To say this is concerning is putting it lightly.
I was willing to give Gurley the benefit of the doubt after Weeks 2 and 3, but after seeing how the Rams handled his workload in Week 4 and watching him struggle to pick up any yardage in Week 5, it's time to hit the panic button.
It seems pretty obvious to me that Gurley is still hurt and that all of the concerns about his knee moving forward during the offseason were 100 percent correct.
Remember: Gurley missed the final two games of the 2018 regular season with a knee injury and ultimately returned for the playoffs, where he put forth a terrific effort in the Divisional Round before essentially being a non-factor in the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl.
Things started out fairly similar this season, as well, as Gurley racked up 97 yards on 14 carries in Week 1, leading many to believe that he would be just fine for the rest of the year.
But he has not even come close to replicating that production since.
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Not only that, but Gurley's versatility has all but vanished.
Normally a lethal option as a receiver out of the backfield, Gurley has caught just 14 passes for 68 yards through the first five games of the season, with seven of those catches coming in Week 4.
It's almost as if the Rams were phasing him out of their offensive gameplan until some noise was made after last Sunday, which basically forced McVay and Co. to give Gurley the ball more against the Seahawks.
Make no mistake: Los Angeles is not the same team without an involved (and effective) Gurley, and the Rams have to know this.
While LA's offense is still solid, it looks like a far cry from the dominant force that took the NFC by storm a year ago, and if the Rams' offense is at all compromised (which it looks like it is), it's hard to imagine this team making another run to the Super Bowl.
The fact that McVay and Jared Goff raved about Gurley's performance on Thursday evening tells us all we need to know about where Gurley is right now. Last season, this would have been considered a poor outing from him.
But this year? Anything Gurley does that looks moderately productive is viewed as groundbreaking, and that is worrisome.
I'm giving Gurley a C grade for his Week 5 output. It really was nothing more than average, and if he doesn't start making more out of his carries soon, the Rams are going to be in deep trouble, as it's becomingly increasingly obvious that Goff is not the same without a dominant Gurley in the backfield.
