There’s No Easy Fix for Rams in 2020 Part 3

BY ADAM GREENE

We come to maybe the two most hotly contested issues facing the Los Angeles Rams in 2020. You already know what they are,

TODD GURLEY

Gurley has appeared in 14 out of 15 games this season and is having his second worst campaign as a pro. He’s averaging 3.9 yards per carry and, barring a 211-yard performance Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, will go without hitting 1,000 yards for only the second time in his career.

The last time was 2016 as he was hampered by Jeff Fisher and one of the worst offenses in the history of the league.

How much of this year’s downturn is Gurley’s health and how much is the Rams’ sub-par offensive line?

It’s both, but mostly it’s the line. As the team leaned more heavily on Gurley late in the season, he started to look more like himself. Maybe 85 percent of his self, but that’s still pretty good. Gurley can obviously carry that kind of load and Sean McVay was naïve to put him on a pitch count early in the season. Either Gurley can go or he can’t and you deal with it. That’s all there is to it. Is he going to be the same guy he was in 2017 and early 2018? Probably not, but he’s still scored 14 touchdowns this season.

There’s no moving on from Gurley yet. His cap hit is too high and the idea that you could work him in with other running backs throughout the season only kept him from getting into any kind of rhythm. McVay, as I mentioned in Part 1, needs to add a fullback. He needs to spend his picks on offensive lineman and he needs to open the season with Gurley as the focus of the offense. Because even a less explosive Gurley has still been pretty good.

JARED GOFF

When you look at the ultimate reasons the Rams missed the playoffs, the O-line, the misuse early of Gurley, the defense’s blown plays, there’s still one guy that can take most of the blame for the team’s 8-7 record and it’s Goff. If he’d played better, they’d be in the mix. The interception Sunday that the 49ers returned for a TD was all on him, 100 percent and McVay made that clear coming out of the locker room after speaking to the FOX sideline reporter. They knew the coverage that the 49ers were in. They knew where the ball could go and couldn’t go and Goff still made the bonehead play. He threw another pick that was dropped that would have sealed a 49ers win on the Rams’ last scoring drive.

Like Gurley, there’s no change to be made here. Goff just simply has to get smarter and better. Sure, the offensive line wasn’t what it could be, but QBs on good teams have to deal with that from time to time. Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady haven’t always stood behind brick wall lines, but they’ve not had a season like this. The Goff we saw in the Super Bowl last season was pretty much the guy we got in 2019. That’s simply not good enough.

Yes, he’s young. Yes, he shows rare talent and accuracy and there’s a reason he was a first round pick. But he must simply be smarter and get better. There was no excuse for his performance this season and he must take it upon himself to rectify it or he’ll be one more lost quarterback on the NFL’s trash heap in three seasons when his contract enables the Rams to move on.

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