Todd Gurley has arguably been the centerpiece of the Los Angeles Rams offense during the team's 3-1 stretch to keep playoff hopes alive, but if you ask the star running back whether he should've been more involved earlier in the season, he won't mince his words.
"You don't really have to explain too much," Gurley told reporters Thursday, when asked if a bigger role for him leads to more production for the Rams. "You see the results over the last couple of years, when you're running the ball, stuff is going well, stuff is opening up, so it's like, not too much really to explain."
According to Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke, Gurley's tone indicated the three-time Pro Bowler actually believes his team has a lot to explain. More than that, Gurley's own words throughout the rest of his weekly media conference painted him as the victim of a gamble gone wrong -- the Rams' unofficial plan, Plaschke speculated, to preserve Gurley's health early in the year.
Told that Rams coach Sean McVay recently cited himself "not being an idiot" as the reason for an increased Gurley workload toward the end of the year, the big-name back didn't exactly go out of his way to defend McVay.
"He said it, I didn't," Gurley said, as Plaschke noted. "That's all I've got to say. I don't have anything else to say."
He did, however, also have something to say about a comment by one of his $100 million teammates. Quarterback Jared Goff recently remarked about Gurley's seven-yard touchdown run against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 14 by calling the play "vintage Todd." The running back apparently took issue with the phrasing, saying it "sounds like I suck and then made a good play."
Gurley, of course, entered 2019 with plenty of durability concerns after seeing a stark decrease in touches during L.A.'s 2018 playoff run. His trainer then revealed the former first-round draft pick was dealing with an "arthritic component to his knee." Despite back-to-back 1,200-yard rushing seasons coming into this year, he took more than 15 carries just twice in the Rams' first eight games. Since then, however, he's topped 20 touches three times and scored three touchdowns as the club's lead back.
