Eventually. Maybe. Hopefully. At some point, the Los Angeles Rams will disclose what happened with running back Todd Gurley. Until then, speculation will be what guides every curious Super Bowl watcher and fan in L.A. to draw a conclusion based on what little is known.
With the 13-3 loss in the past, the head-scratching rolls on. With each passing day, the wrap-up to what happened with Gurley and the Rams remains a hot topic that has even sparked TMZ’s interest.
However, the answer just isn’t that complicated. On a sports talk show Monday, the question was asked to CBS Sports’ All-Everything Jim Nantz, who was on the call for the Super Bowl about why the Rams running back may have been a non-factor.
“I think this is unrelated to what happened in New Orleans, I think the New Orleans thing was about his focus or his lack of at the beginning of that game, the interception that bounced off his hands, another dropped ball as the Rams were going in for a touchdown, could have caught it at around the 15-yard line. And I think — it was never called a benching, I just think that McVay lost faith in him in the NFC Championship game and got comfortable with the way Anderson was playing.”
In that explanation, the answer may be as simple as that. In watching and re-watching the NFC Championship, one could almost feel that the running back of choice was C.J. Anderson. Since Week 16, and certainly in the playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys, the late addition to the Rams running game was quickly proving to be an asset that was hard to ignore.
As for the Super Bowl, what Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay said regarding the use of Gurley may also be just as he said it was, and ultimately is. Nantz, who seems reliable given he was a first-hand witness, may be spot on with addressing the questions everyone has been asking.
“I think this had to do with having the game plan being taken away from him, not because anyone lost faith in him, I just think the game was forced to go in a different fashion than what the Rams usually do. He still got whatever it was, 10 carries in the game. Not a lot, but [the Rams offense] certainly had no flow to it.”
Gurley was such a huge part of why the Los Angeles Rams made it to Atlanta for Super Sunday. Heading into Week 11 against the Kansas City Chiefs, he was a serious MVP candidate, making this entire story and development all the more difficult to comprehend.
In the end, the reason why Gurley’s postseason may be so hard for fans and NFL watchers to understand may not ultimately be that difficult at all. For the cynics, there is a desire to find something almost conspiratorial, even though what Nantz proposes may be the most factual and logical after all.
