Rams’ offense must go through Todd Gurley in order to succeed
The Rams chances of making the playoffs this upcoming season depends on the play of third-year running back Todd Gurley.
The 2016 season for the Rams was filled with excitement for a team that could finally make the postseason and snap their postseason drought of 11 seasons but the NFL gods had a different plan.
The Rams ended the season with a 4-12 record and looked awful on both sides of the ball. The defense was ranked 9th in the NFL but couldn’t get to the quarterback (24th in sacks) nor could they force any turnovers (22nd in forced fumbles and 23rd in interceptions).
The offense, on the other hand, was dreadful and ranked last in the NFL; with a chunk of the blame coming from the bad offensive performance from Gurley game to game.
Gurley was poised to continue his rookie-season dominance with another 1,000-yard rushing season but ended up making fantasy owners and Rams fans angry. Gurley suffered a sophomore slump where he ranked 27th in rushing AVG, 19th in touchdowns (6), 17th in yards (885) and 5th in rushing attempts.
That comes a season after Gurley was top five in the league in each category, except for rushing attempts but missed the first three games of the season.
Yes, Gurley looked bad last season, but was the only player on the offense that opposing defenses planned against, as he was the Rams offense!
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If the Rams want to win soon. Then the offense must blossom into a versatile offense that forces defenses to pay attention to the passing attack which will allow for the elite running game of Gurley.
New head coach Sean McVay offensive scheme should be just the trick to allow Gurley to get free. The Rams new offense is going to resemble a collegiate spread formation with Jared Goff alongside Gurley in the backfield with the wide receivers and tight ends in bunch sets or spread out.
The spread scheme will be different for Gurley who has been accustomed to running behind a fullback or a guard pulling from the o-line. This new scheme should allow Goff to stretch the field and open the vertical game which will let Gurley use his speed, size and vision if given the ball in the backfield or thrown too.
Next: Rams offense lies in the hands of Jared Goff
Gurley will give the offensive explosion off the rushing attack and once again be one of the scariest backs in the NFL, but the rest of the offense needs to step up. Mark these words! Gurley will lead the league in TD’s in 2017 and get the Rams to relevance.