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jemach
I remember after Fisher's last year...Todd Gurley was getting hammered on the board...a number of people wanted to trade him. He didn't hit the hole...he hesistated. Never mind he was being tackled three yards behind the line of scrimmage.
I remember after Fisher's last year...Jared Goff was a bust...why oh why didn't we pick Carson Wentz?
I remember after Fisher's last year...people were so angry with Donald not showing up, that they wanted to trade him...for an OG.
I remember this past offseason...people were saying he isn't worth it...just let him come in on his existing contract then franchise him for two years...then let him walk.
I'm glad the Rams knew better...at least one Sean McVay knew better.
There WAS something wrong with Gurley in 2016 and posters here were not the only ones to notice it. According to TG himself he started workouts "a month or 2" late that off-season. He lost weight. He did not practice all summer. McGinnis alluded to the fact he was playing hurt that year. And contrary to one narrative, he actually was effective in the final games of 2015, with Boras as the coordinator and with the exact same OL as in 2016. Yet TG started out the year, from game one, with a lack of explosion and with general ineffectiveness. It had nothing to do with being stuff behind the OL either. He was stuffed behind the OL the exact same percentage in 2015, 2016, and 2017. (Statisical proof in a second.) The DIFFERENCE is that in 2016, his stats go down in areas of his play where he, not the blockers, make the difference...like breaking tackles and gaining yards past the LOS.
On being stuffed. According to Football Outsiders, this is the percentage of plays where TG was stuffed behind the LOS:
2015: 23% (ranked 28th)
2016: 22% (ranked 22nd)
2017: 22% (ranked 23rd)
That's from here: [
www.footballoutsiders.com]
So the "gang tackled because of bad blocking in 2016" argument does not hold up, according to these numbers. He was stuffed behind the LOS as much in 2 good years as he was in one bad year.
Gurley clearly got better in 2017, and in fact he made sure that everyone knew he was working his tail off in the off-season.
Gurley was a different player in 2016. I am not sure if we will ever know why exactly, though McGinnis hinting he was playing hurt might be it. That's similar to SJ. After he became the starter, SJ really only had one bad year. He was usually producing yards regardless of what was going on around him, including wrecked OLs. But his worst year as a Ram, 2010, his YPC goes down to 3.8 Every other year he was getting at least 4.1 or better. Well...in 2010 he was playing hurt all year with a banged up groin that never let him be fully himself. And he looked exactly like Gurley did in 2016--just not the same guy but they kept banging him in there anyway.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2018 06:08AM by zn.
