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Classicalwit
During my track workout this morning in Burbank, there were some big dudes practicing with a football on the field. They were doing drills and stuff and running pass routes. One of the guys had styled his hair and beard after OBJ, but he was more the size of a TE than a WR.
Anyway, after my cool-down, I was stretching on the field near where they were talking and I overheard one of them tell the others that he had lifted weights with Todd Gurley because his roommate's friend lives near Gurley and occasionally lifts with him.
I asked him if Gurley looked like he was injured, specifically limping, and he said, "Nah, he was moving around and lifting with his legs just fine." He also said that Gurley's legs were really long.
Then he made a joke about challenging Gurley in a 100M race, and Gurley declining.
Something like that.
The issue, though, is not that he's injured. So he won't look injured. They did an MRI and there was no structural damage requiring surgery...hence no injury. And the Rams never reported him as having an injury. If there's an issue, an injury is not it.
To be exact as I can and clear, an injury is some kind tear, deep bruise, break etc. -- a physical trauma.
Anyway this is just what I can piece together based on what's out there. It's just my take on it.
Gurley might, though, have an underlying condition of some kind, something that flares up (pain and inflammation) and then can calm down. It happened twice in 2018. Once was in the first game (Oakland). He wasn't fully himself yet in game 2 because he had one of his worst games ever in that one, against Arizona, which was 32nd last year in run defense.
But then after that game he ran well for several weeks.
We know he had an issue in game one because both he and McVay said so. Though neither said anything until the December episode where he missed 2 games. In fact in December, McVay said that what was going on then was similar to what happened in game one. So we know it's a similar issue because they directly said so.
Then after running well for a few games, as we know, he sat in December, then was okay against Dallas.
So whatever it is, it's an underlying condition (arthritis has been mentioned but we have no real confirmation of that). It can flare up and then calm down with rest. They have already talked about limiting his carries in 2019.
Two things about the knee. One is, a team is not obligated to report or discuss an underlying condition like that. It violates rules to not report an injury, but something like this, whatever it is, since it's not an injury per se, doesn't have to be reported.
The other is, you can have any number of conditions with a knee that require rest and still play the game. Martz sat Faulk for a few weeks in the summer of 2001 because Marshall's knee flared up. But he still had a good season that year.
So people looking for limps, or reports of injuries, and so on, are just missing the mark. Whatever it is, it's not that. And also some people seem convinced that this means he is physically limited. No, as long as it doesn't flare up. Same with Faulk in 2001.
The reason it's valid to assume there's an underlying condition of some kind is precisely because whatever caused the pain and inflammation in 2018, it happened twice. And that's according to the Rams themselves, who directly said as much.
Whatever it is, it may limit him in 2019, it might not. Resting him more and limiting his carries may help, it may not. He could flare up again at any time, and he might not. Like Faulk, he may have a few productive years left, or maybe he doesn't and it catches up with him.
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