Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley actually had one of his stronger performances of the season on Sunday, carrying the ball 12 times for 73 yards in what ended up being a pivotal 17-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
However, Gurley did not get a single carry in the fourth quarter, and afterward, Rams head coach Sean McVay explained himself:
“That was just kind of the rotation,” McVay said, according to Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic. “Sometimes I’m on both sides of the headsets. There’s just a lot of trust for our coaches that have some of the [confidence] to be really able to say, ‘Alright, who’s in?’ Then I will be able to click back on, and then we know what we are going with.”
That's certainly an odd explanation from McVay.
Whether there is a rotation or not, shouldn't you want the ball in the hands of your best players at the most crucial points of a game?
Obviously, there has been a whole lot of chatter about Gurley's health this year, so it's entirely possible that McVay was trying to limit his halfback's workload, but he literally did that at the worst possible time on Sunday.
Gurley didn't seem bothered by his lack of touches down the stretch, saying that he is “used to” the way Los Angeles has handled his reps this season, but in a game in which LA lost because it couldn't score points, McVay's decision to not use Gurley as a rusher at all in the fourth quarter certainly comes as a peculiar one, especially given that Gurley was averaging 6.1 yards per carry.
The Rams are now 5-4 on the year.
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