CHARLOTTE, NC — The Los Angeles Rams escaped with a tight 30-27 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon. Todd Gurley only picked up eight yards on five carries in the first half before Malcolm Brown went off for a touchdown on five carries and 29 yards.
Gurley ran a 25-yard that began the third quarter, but after a fumble that was recovered by the Rams, he was on the bench until the fourth quarter. He finished with 97 yards on 14 carries, as Brown finished with two touchdowns on 11 rushes for 53 yards.
“He did damn good,” Gurley said of Brown’s performance. “Malcolm’s a great running back, he’s been here the same amount of time as me and he went in there and his thing like he always do.”
Gurley has maintained he is healthy along with his knee, however the Rams made sure to provide Gurley with some insurance with Brown and drafting Darrell Henderson in the third round.
It would appear that Gurley could be on a load management type of scenario especially as they season gets deeper.
“There’s a lot of outside noise around him obviously, but we felt confident with him inside the team and he showed it today he looked like he always does today,” quarterback Jared Goff said of Gurley.
Despite what anyone thinks, Gurley is a top notch running back, and was visibly tired of answering the same questions regarding his health, and to a degree I can’t blame him.
But certain things can’t go unnoticed when a talent of Gurley’s caliber doesn’t add up with his production.
He was asked about running the ball more in the second half and is he in agreement with the coach’s decision to execute that scheme.
“Nah, I told coach don’t give me the ball,” Gurley said. “Of course I’m a running back bro. That’s what we do, we run the ball.”
Gurley may not be able to handle the heavy load of running the ball 20 plus times, however having Gurley out their even part of the time, with the other weapons the Rams have, it’s still no excuse to not make the NFC Championship this season.
The Rams head back to Los Angeles to host the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at L.A. Coliseum at 1:25PM PT.
