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max
If Gurley isn’t the same guy anymore, then they’ve got a different team.
The offense will take a step back when you no longer have an elite RB, and everyone knows it.
There will be more on Goff’s shoulders this year. Not having an elite RB will be a challenge.
What they're claiming is no different from what we actually saw.
It's not that they DO NOT have an elite RB, it's that he has to be managed because if not he can miss games.
No one in any of this, on any side, is claiming he's done or is no longer elite or any of that. He can though go up and down. He was hurting after the Oakland game and then also in the 2nd game (Arizona). He then had a long stretch of effectiveness (multiple games with a YPC over 4.2, including a couple over 7.0). He then got sore/inflamed again. But then was effective against Dallas (YPC over 7.0).
Some in the press claim that;s arthritis. The team calls it "wear and tear." Whatever you call it, it;s not an every week thing. The idea is to manage it so you have more of him at the end than they did in 2018.
It probably eventually means a decline, meaning a decline sooner than most backs, but nothing says that will be over with in 2019. That could be a couple of years yet.
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