Los Angeles Rams: The extremely frustrating running back situation in LA

The Los Angeles Rams have the most talented running back in the entire NFL yet fans have every right to feel extremely frustrated with the team’s running game.

Last week I argued that the Los Angeles Rams are right to limit Todd Gurley and to keep his legs fresh for the postseason. I don’t want to let the team’s loss sway my opinion on that and fall victim to recency bias.

At the end of the day, the more important thing is having Gurley healthy in time for the playoffs and a Week 4 loss does not derail that momentum.

However, in the same breath, I absolutely think that fans of the Los Angeles Rams should be extremely frustrated not only with how Sean McVay is handling his running backs, but how the organization is handling them as well.

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This is a team that a year ago was so efficient offensively because of the running game. The threat of Todd Gurley exploding made Jared Goff better. It made the Rams the most efficient team in play-action and that is what got them to the playoffs.

When Gurley was banged up in the playoffs, it was obvious that the running game was such a big reason for Jared Goff’s success. The team was still able to get some luck go their way and make it to the Super Bowl, where the lack of a running game was really apparent.

That led to all of the question marks around Gurley and his health this year. And for the most part, he seems healthy. However, the team is still limiting him for the proper reasons, which is fine.

But just because the Rams are limiting Gurley does not mean they should completely give up on the running game. And quite frankly, they should be ashamed of how they have handled it thus far.

The Rams dropped a winnable game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, allowing them to score 55 points in the process. Granted, the defense deserves some blame as well, but in this game, the Rams only ran the ball 11 times.

Eleven rushes for 28 yards is what they finished the day with. Granted, the Bucs have been very good at stopping the run this season, but asking Goff to throw the ball 68 times is ludicrous and is going to lead to more losses than wins.

And what do you know: Goff had the most mediocre 500-yard passing game I have ever seen. He threw just two touchdowns despite the team scoring 40 points and threw three picks. All three lead to ensuing Buccaneer touchdowns.

I get it, the Rams fell behind early so they had to play with this sense of urgency to get back into the game, which led to more passing attempts. But if anything, this shows that McVay panicked and went into full Madden mode, which obviously did not work.

The most frustrating part isn’t even that the Los Angeles Rams ran the ball 11 times in this game. It is how they have handled the situation as a whole.

Remember Darrell Henderson? Ya know, the guy who was drafted in the third round to be “the guy” that was supposed to soften the load for Gurley to keep him fresh for the playoffs? He has carried the ball one time this season.

And while Malcolm Brown has gotten some carries, Brown is not even that good and if the Rams were going to make Brown that second guy anyway, what was even the point of drafting Henderson!?

Henderson is talented, I get it. But as we see every single year, the draft is rich with running backs and the Rams could have taken a running back in the third round next year if their focus is on next year.

But no. Despite the team having legitimate needs that needed to be solved right away they decided to go with a running back that they will not even use in his rookie year.

He isn’t the only one! Remember John Kelly? This is a guy that was really impressive in college at Tennessee and could have been an impact back. Heck, he absolutely lit it up in the preseason last year and had many fans excited that he could have some sort of role in the offense.

He is now on the practice squad. So the Rams decided to spend a sixth-round pick on a running back that they didn’t even give the chance to succeed, despite him having a great first preseason, to eventually stash him on the practice squad. What was the point!?

Maybe instead of using that pick on Darrell Henderson and John Kelly, only to not use either guy, the Rams could have drafted some linebackers or secondary help that could have slowed the Bucs down on Sunday.

Rams' loss could snowball into more. dark. Next

Running back is a revolving door position and anyone can step up at any given time. For that reason, fans of the Los Angeles Rams should be extremely frustrated with the fact that the team simply cannot figure it out.

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