It's not easy to cause NFL fans across America to melt down on one play, but that's basically what Rams running back Todd Gurley did on Sunday with his final carry of the game during Los Angeles' thrilling 29-27 win over Green Bay.
With 1:05 left to play and the Rams clinging to a two-point lead, L.A. decided to give the ball to Gurley on a huge third-and-10. If he converted, the game would be over. However, if he failed to get the first down, the Rams would have to try a field goal and then give the ball back to Aaron Rodgers.
The good news for the Rams? Gurley converted.
The bad news for fantasy players and gamblers around the world? Gurley purposely decided not to score a touchdown.
Let's watch the play.
Todd Gurley seals the game with a first down and the Rams are 8-0 🔥 @TG3II pic.twitter.com/gx2zVNbJky
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 28, 2018
Ouch. That play was a dagger through the heart for millions of fantasy players who were hoping that the Rams star would get in the end zone. It also led to an estimated $1 million swing in at the sportsbooks in Las Vegas.
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Let's start with the gamblers. The Rams closed as a 7.5-point favorite at most sports books, and most of that money was on the Packers, so bettors DIDN'T want Gurley to score. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Gurley's decision not to score caused a roughly $1 million swing at sportsbooks in Sin City. Of course, the twist here is that the house lost as the swing worked in favor of the thousands of bettors who took the Packers to cover the spread.
Todd Gurley going down on his own at the 4 instead of scoring a TD for the likely cover by the Rams over the Packers resulted in a $1 million-plus swing at LV sports books: mid 6 figures @WilliamHillUS and @MGMRaceSports 6 figures @SuperBookUSA lil less than 6 @CaesarsEnt #RJnow
— Todd Dewey (@tdewey33) October 29, 2018
To be clear, the $1 million-plus swing from Todd Gurley's decision to go down at the 4 rather than score for the Rams was in favor of the bettors who backed the Packers in a big way, causing the line to drop from as high as 9.5 to as low as 7 @WilliamHillUS
— Todd Dewey (@tdewey33) October 29, 2018
Although Gurley's decision helped out bettors, it didn't work out so well for fantasy players. Gurley's decision to stop short of the end zone cost fantasy players roughly six points and left many of them sad.
Todd Gurley fantasy owners like myself everywhere when he fell down instead of scoring pic.twitter.com/94p61SzcHj
— Nick Kettler (@nkets) October 28, 2018
Todd Gurley fantasy owners when he was staring at an open path to the end zone pic.twitter.com/S0pDReJqDJ
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 28, 2018
GURLEY FANTASY OWNERS pic.twitter.com/nCSUqYSo7V
— Broda (@BrodaClown) October 28, 2018
Gurley playing for the rams win instead of my fantasy team win pic.twitter.com/wLFLVQWjq4
— Tom Buckle (@angrybuckle) October 28, 2018
Fantasy points taken away cause Gurley was smart pic.twitter.com/pLd5MZI2Af
— Jhousef🧟♂️🕸 (@YouseffA_) October 28, 2018
So what was Gurley's reaction to all of this? He's definitely not concerned about Vegas or fantasy owners.
"Man, forget fantasy and forget Vegas today. We got the win, so that's all that matters," Gurley said after the game, via the team's official Twitter account.
If anything, everyone should be thanking Gurley. For bettors, he won most of them money. On the fantasy end, he racked roughly 25.5 points in standard scoring leagues and if you can't win with that kind of production from your running back, then maybe you didn't deserve to win.