The Todd Gurley Thread - Currently FA

[StableOfRBs]

Still think it's a little early to tell, they've faced 3 bottom 8 defenses (in terms of rush defense) in the first 3 weeks and in the next 5 games face 4 of the top 10 with the 5th being Dallas, the #11 rush defense per John Paulsen from 4for4: https://twitter.com/4for4_John/status/9 ... 6138001408. If Gurley and the Rams can keep up this pace through week 9 or 10 then I'd be more inclined to believe that they're actually a high-powered offense but I'm gonna hold my judgment until then.

Keep in mind that this is the same 49ers team (minus Eric Reid) that held Seattle to 12 points. Even with Seattle's offensive problems, that's still big. Carolina did hang 23 on them, but that's not some egregious number.

Granted, I don't think they'll put up 40 every game, but there are so many traits of their offense that I don't think can be stopped. Their WR's run very good routes, have good hands and get open quickly. They have a TE in Everett who can stretch the field and also runs good routes. And now, they're getting Gurley involved in the passing game. The icing on the cake is that Andrew Whitworth and John Sullivan have really helped their pass blocking.

The biggest problem before McVay was hired was that defenses could stack the box against Gurley and not worry about defending the vertical game in a miserable offensive scheme. Now if you do that, you're going to pay.

Based on what McVay did with Washington's offense, I really don't think the Rams are going to fall off much offensively.

Keep in mind that this is also the same 49ers defense that gave up 165.9 rush yards per game last year, dead last in the league by a wide margin (Browns were second to last with 142.7 per game) and even though Seattle only managed 12 points against them the Seattle offensive line is a lot worse than the Rams OL and Chris Carson still had 20 carries for 93 yards against them. And yes the 49ers made some improvements to their defense in the draft this year but that doesn't really make up for 2 missing safeties and one of their 1st round picks not playing.

As for the stacked boxes, Gurley only saw stacked fronts on roughly 26% of his non-RZ carries last year, not that high of a number especially considering how bad the Rams passing attack was.

I don't doubt that the Rams offense is greatly improved from last year but 1) that's not very hard to do and 2) I still think it's too early to tell how much they've improved, I just wanna see how they function against a competent defense.

[StableOfRBs]

I saw a SF defense last night - That WAS that bad. Missed assignments, over pursuing, poor angles, poor tackling. By the eye test - they were horrible. Maybe that was a one time thing but... they played at home and played very poorly. J.Goff is still young and man... he shredded them. Lets not overreact either way, but, come on.... SF defense will very likely be in the bottom 4th of the entire NFL by seasons end.

Do you think otherwise?

I don't disagree that the 49ers defense could end up being bad, but they're not playing that bad right now.

I think people are looking too much at the opponent and not enough at what McVay's offense does to teams. There's a reason Washington's offense is struggling right now and the Rams offense looks like it's been together for 5 seasons.

To be fair the Redskins offense was one of the worst in the NFL inside the red zone last year (30th in scoring) and that's still their issue this year (24th so far), don't think McVay had that much to do with their struggles this year, any OC change will cause issues when your QBs favorite target has trouble staying on the field and his #2 and #3 options leave in free agency

[The Red Rooster]

Still think it's a little early to tell, they've faced 3 bottom 8 defenses (in terms of rush defense) in the first 3 weeks and in the next 5 games face 4 of the top 10 with the 5th being Dallas, the #11 rush defense per John Paulsen from 4for4: https://twitter.com/4for4_John/status/9 ... 6138001408. If Gurley and the Rams can keep up this pace through week 9 or 10 then I'd be more inclined to believe that they're actually a high-powered offense but I'm gonna hold my judgment until then.

Keep in mind that this is the same 49ers team (minus Eric Reid) that held Seattle to 12 points. Even with Seattle's offensive problems, that's still big. Carolina did hang 23 on them, but that's not some egregious number.

Granted, I don't think they'll put up 40 every game, but there are so many traits of their offense that I don't think can be stopped. Their WR's run very good routes, have good hands and get open quickly. They have a TE in Everett who can stretch the field and also runs good routes. And now, they're getting Gurley involved in the passing game. The icing on the cake is that Andrew Whitworth and John Sullivan have really helped their pass blocking.

The biggest problem before McVay was hired was that defenses could stack the box against Gurley and not worry about defending the vertical game in a miserable offensive scheme. Now if you do that, you're going to pay.

Based on what McVay did with Washington's offense, I really don't think the Rams are going to fall off much offensively.

Keep in mind that this is also the same 49ers defense that gave up 165.9 rush yards per game last year, dead last in the league by a wide margin (Browns were second to last with 142.7 per game) and even though Seattle only managed 12 points against them the Seattle offensive line is a lot worse than the Rams OL and Chris Carson still had 20 carries for 93 yards against them. And yes the 49ers made some improvements to their defense in the draft this year but that doesn't really make up for 2 missing safeties and one of their 1st round picks not playing.

As for the stacked boxes, Gurley only saw stacked fronts on roughly 26% of his non-RZ carries last year, not that high of a number especially considering how bad the Rams passing attack was.

I don't doubt that the Rams offense is greatly improved from last year but 1) that's not very hard to do and 2) I still think it's too early to tell how much they've improved, I just wanna see how they function against a competent defense.

And he averaged, a little under 5 ypc on those I believe. His final statline was 28 for 113 yds...I believe he had 5 goaline carries (only converting 1 of them for 3 yds). So if you take those out he was 23 for 110 yds (4.78 yds per carry). Yes please.

[StableOfRBs]

Keep in mind that this is the same 49ers team (minus Eric Reid) that held Seattle to 12 points. Even with Seattle's offensive problems, that's still big. Carolina did hang 23 on them, but that's not some egregious number.

Granted, I don't think they'll put up 40 every game, but there are so many traits of their offense that I don't think can be stopped. Their WR's run very good routes, have good hands and get open quickly. They have a TE in Everett who can stretch the field and also runs good routes. And now, they're getting Gurley involved in the passing game. The icing on the cake is that Andrew Whitworth and John Sullivan have really helped their pass blocking.

The biggest problem before McVay was hired was that defenses could stack the box against Gurley and not worry about defending the vertical game in a miserable offensive scheme. Now if you do that, you're going to pay.

Based on what McVay did with Washington's offense, I really don't think the Rams are going to fall off much offensively.

Keep in mind that this is also the same 49ers defense that gave up 165.9 rush yards per game last year, dead last in the league by a wide margin (Browns were second to last with 142.7 per game) and even though Seattle only managed 12 points against them the Seattle offensive line is a lot worse than the Rams OL and Chris Carson still had 20 carries for 93 yards against them. And yes the 49ers made some improvements to their defense in the draft this year but that doesn't really make up for 2 missing safeties and one of their 1st round picks not playing.

As for the stacked boxes, Gurley only saw stacked fronts on roughly 26% of his non-RZ carries last year, not that high of a number especially considering how bad the Rams passing attack was.

I don't doubt that the Rams offense is greatly improved from last year but 1) that's not very hard to do and 2) I still think it's too early to tell how much they've improved, I just wanna see how they function against a competent defense.

And he averaged, a little under 5 ypc on those I believe. His final statline was 28 for 113 yds...I believe he had 5 goaline carries (only converting 1 of them for 3 yds). So if you take those out he was 23 for 110 yds (4.78 yds per carry). Yes please.

What? Last year, not last night. I should hope he was over 4 YPC last night, 49ers gave up 4.8 YPC on the season last year.

[The Red Rooster]

Keep in mind that this is also the same 49ers defense that gave up 165.9 rush yards per game last year, dead last in the league by a wide margin (Browns were second to last with 142.7 per game) and even though Seattle only managed 12 points against them the Seattle offensive line is a lot worse than the Rams OL and Chris Carson still had 20 carries for 93 yards against them. And yes the 49ers made some improvements to their defense in the draft this year but that doesn't really make up for 2 missing safeties and one of their 1st round picks not playing.

As for the stacked boxes, Gurley only saw stacked fronts on roughly 26% of his non-RZ carries last year, not that high of a number especially considering how bad the Rams passing attack was.

I don't doubt that the Rams offense is greatly improved from last year but 1) that's not very hard to do and 2) I still think it's too early to tell how much they've improved, I just wanna see how they function against a competent defense.

And he averaged, a little under 5 ypc on those I believe. His final statline was 28 for 113 yds...I believe he had 5 goaline carries (only converting 1 of them for 3 yds). So if you take those out he was 23 for 110 yds (4.78 yds per carry). Yes please.

What? Last year, not last night. I should hope he was over 4 YPC last night, 49ers gave up 4.8 YPC on the season last year.

Gotcha. My mistake. Gurley and the Rams looked good last night. Just because a team sucks, doesnt mean opposing teams can always take advantage. I doubt the Rams hit the 165.9 yds per game the 49ers gave up last year in both games combined last year, haha.

[joeday]

Man.... it's early. Lets not be so quick to anoynt and jump to conclusions. We are 18.7% through the season people...

As a Gordon owner, I can assure you that the criticisms of Gurley have never matched the criticisms of Gordon to this point. To even mention that and compare the two and how they are and were viewed is quite silly. That said, Gurley ran hard last night. He showed glimpses of good vision, he finished runs strong, even caught the ball quite well. His production last night speaks for itself. He had a great game. The LA offense as a whole was great and very productive. But.... Lets please keep things in perspective. The SF defense is historically bad. They are a train-wreck. They made Goff look like a future HOF'er. The allowed S.Watkins to remind his owners why they've stuck with him. Robert Woods showed flashes of near dominance....

I'd bet right now that last night's game is a season high for fantasy production for T.Gurley. We'll see, but, yes, their schedule will get tougher.

And... just to be clear, Since their draft day - Gurley's fantasy reputation has never dealt with the negativity that Gordon's has. Not close.

BOLD statement right there...

In my scoring system Gurley had 37.9 last night. That is more than DJ had all of last year and more than Bell for all but 1 game. To say that will be his season high doesn't put you on too thin of a limb lol. My BOLD predication is that Hunt's week 1 is his season high for the year!

Also, isn't it fair that Gurley's reputation didn't have the negativity that Gordon had? If you compare their two worsts seasons Gurley almost doubled what Melvin had and if you compare their two best seasons they were similar.

[Fezzik]

My thoughts on the player and his situation:

Gurley himself - still immensely athletically talented, albeit with somewhat mediocre vision. He's gonna miss some lanes. That's ok. Might improve. Still can be both a sticks mover and a home run hitter.

Offensive line - definitely better than last year, still below league average. Gurley's apparent efficiency (ypc) doesn't concern me.

QB - He doesn't have to be Rodgers, he just has to be able to punish defenses if they load the box. I'm cautiously optimistic after a few games. I don't think we can conclude much based on last year at all, or even this year really. But there have been some bright spots against some admittedly bad opponents. Yeah, they're beating up on bad teams, but that's a whole lot better than NOT beating up on bad teams. He's gonna make rookie mistakes - staring down the wr and throwing it right into the hands of a LB he never saw - but that's not the bar we should be measuring him against.

Play calling/scheme - definitely much, much, much better than last year. McV can scheme Gurley open, and is obviously involving him in the passing game.

Tough schedule coming, that with some TD variance regression means Gurley's probably going to have a tough middle of the season. I think he's an RB1 (meaning top 12) and may finish top 5.

Last comment as regards last night, I thought the San Fran down linemen were all pretty good. Bowman showed his age but looked strong in short yardage (goal line in particular). I don't think people should look at somewhat poor ypc against this front as concerning.

Would love to see some yards before contact data on Gurley this year vs. last.

[dm1129]

Last night may turn out to be the best production of the year in terms of fantasy points, but I would not be so sure about on field production. The Rams have just now started to incorporate Watkins into their offense. It is quite possible opposing defenses will have to begin respecting the Rams deep passing game at some point. If that happens, look for Gurley to start producing some long runs/touchdowns. I would not be surprised at all if he eclipses last night's game in terms of total yards.

[maxhyde]

BOLD statement right there...

In my scoring system Gurley had 37.9 last night. That is more than DJ had all of last year and more than Bell for all but 1 game. To say that will be his season high doesn't put you on too thin of a limb lol. My BOLD predication is that Hunt's week 1 is his season high for the year!

I went one step further in some thread here after week 1 and said Hunt's week 1 is probably his career game and don't feel I went too far out on a limb...incredible game

Anyway 3 TD's makes for a great week but even without the TD's he was around 20pts which is a good enough day to play RB on my fantasy teams. Gurley played 100% of the snaps (or close to it) and I expect he will have more games like this maybe without the 3 TD's but he was short an elbow from 4.

Anyway The 9ers defense isn't "bad". The secondary is a work in progress but that front 7 isn't awful. I expect teams are not going to have a ton of success running the ball on them. SEA 37 carries for 131 yards so a little over 3ypc and CAR had 38 for 116 for a little under 3 ypc? Neither may be a great running team and SF lost both games so the script was amybe predictably weighted run heavy at the end but still they aren't a pushover run D.

Sometimes you just have to admit the Rams OLine had a good day and Gurley also made some things happen. Broke more tackles last night than I saw him do all last season it seemed like. He was making guys work to bring him down and I don't remember seeing a ton of that last year

[joeday]

[Cowboysfan33]

I don't think Gurley is a great inside runner, per se, but man, he's electric in the open field and McVay is doing a great job with getting him involved in the passing game. Personally, I only have him on two teams, one in a startup, the other I traded Corey Davis/2018 2nd for him and I don't regret that one bit. I wish I could've got him in a few more, tried to, but that's all I could get. Hopefully, as teams pay more attention to their passing game, Gurley will be even better on the ground too.

[Cameron Giles]

To be fair the Redskins offense was one of the worst in the NFL inside the red zone last year (30th in scoring) and that's still their issue this year (24th so far), don't think McVay had that much to do with their struggles this year, any OC change will cause issues when your QBs favorite target has trouble staying on the field and his #2 and #3 options leave in free agency

But it also has a lot to do with the playcalling and communication. Goff is playing with a completely new group of WR's and TE's, and the offense is better than Washington's so far.

[StableOfRBs]

To be fair the Redskins offense was one of the worst in the NFL inside the red zone last year (30th in scoring) and that's still their issue this year (24th so far), don't think McVay had that much to do with their struggles this year, any OC change will cause issues when your QBs favorite target has trouble staying on the field and his #2 and #3 options leave in free agency

But it also has a lot to do with the playcalling and communication. Goff is playing with a completely new group of WR's and TE's, and the offense is better than Washington's so far.

I suppose but the playcaller is also different in Washington and Cousins only really has one receiver right now that he had any sort of extensive playing time with last year. That and the defenses that each team has had to play so far are very different. The Eagles and the Rams have much stronger defenses than the Redskins and the Colts, especially with Cravens considering retirement and not playing. Again, still gonna reserve judgment on which team is better until at least midseason.

[lukkynumber13]

Finally got a chance to watch the TNF game tonight, on Gamepass. Hyde looked fantastic!

Btw, does Gurley's ball security absolutely suck or what?? He put the ball on the turf I think 4 times by my count. And he's had 3 fumbles in games 1-2 I believe. That is no good...

[lukkynumber13]

Title says where I'm at. I have NEVER bashed Gurley. I don't care about YPC, I care about film. And Gurley's talent is obvious, especially now that we're seeing his skills as a receiver.

But man, I can see what his doubters see in him. He wants to be Leveon Bell, coming to the line and then slowing/stopping/squatting/dancing. But dude! If you don't have an O-line creating holes, or you don't have the explosion to burst upfield past the front 7, stop trying to be SO patient!

Gurley has power and incredible leg churn, but it's so freaking frustrating when he refuses to use it.