MVP chants ring hollow at most stadiums.
Inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, such proclamations are justified.
Rams running back Todd Gurley just concluded an exceptional regular season. A campaign worthy of the NFL MVP award.
“Being biased, I’m always going to root for Todd. He’s been instrumental,” Rams coach Sean McVay said on a conference call this week. “I know he’s certainly been valuable to our team.”
Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was a more forthright when asked about Gurley’s MVP candidacy.
“He’s the MVP, that’s for sure,” Phillips said to the Los Angeles media last week. “When you go from 4-12 to where we are now and he’s been a dramatic part of it – obviously the offense has done great, but it’s built around what he’s done, he’s a fantastic player.”
The NFL MVP is a quarterback-dominated award. Nine of the past 10 MVPs have been quarterbacks.
Since 2000, only four running backs have won NFL MVP. Marshall Faulk, Shaun Alexander, LaDainian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson. Gurley has a chance to become the next running back to hoist the prestigious award. Yet, he realizes that the odds are stacked against him.
Some are already bestowing this season’s honor to 40-year-old quarterback Tom Brady. Brady pioneered the Patriots to a AFC-leading 13-3 record and led the league in passing yards. Brady is a more-than-worthy candidate, although Gurley could make voters sway from normalcy.
“It’s cool to get the recognition, but it is what it is. Running backs don’t usually win the award unless you mess your leg up and rush for 2,000 yards the next year, you don’t really have a choice but to give it to a beast like that,” Gurley told reporters referring to when Peterson won MVP in 2012 just one year removed from tearing his ACL. “So, I’m just going to keep playing hard and finish the season strong, honestly.”
The Rams running back has thus far kept his word about finishing the season strong and simultaneously enhanced his chances at MVP.
Gurley totaled 279 carries for 1,305 yards and 64 receptions for 788 this season. In his Week 15 and 16 performances, Gurley became the first running back to be named NFC Offensive Player of the Week in consecutive weeks since the award’s inception in 1984. Additionally, it’s was the first time in Rams franchise history that a player had received the honor in back-to-back weeks. He also won the award in Week 4, giving him three awards on the season.
The 6-foot-1 workhorse running back topped the NFL in three major categories during the regular season. He led the league in yards from scrimmage (2,093), total touchdowns (19) and rushing touchdowns (13). Had he played in the Rams’ regular-season finale, he probably would have been the NFL’s leading rusher. His 1,305 rushing yards took a back seat only to Chiefs rookie Kareem Hunt, who won this season’s rushing crown with 1,327 yards.
“I think he’s been at his best when his best has been required,” McVay said. “In those last couple of weeks, when we had to win those two games against Seattle and against the Titans to be able to clinch the division, he played as well as anybody has. If you just look at the production where you have 19 touchdowns and he sits out the last game, he was leading the league in rushing at the time before that with 1,305 yards and almost 800 yards receiving.”
When McVay first entered the Rams facility as the youngest coach in NFL history, it didn’t take long to figure out that it would be for the betterment of the franchise and his job to give the football to Gurley in a variety of ways.
Gurley’s superb running ability between the tackles, good vision, explosiveness and pass-catching skills are attributes which University of Georgia fans are accustomed to seeing.
The Georgia product was the best running back in college football before a torn ACL in his left knee ended his collegiate career prematurely in 2014. Gurley recorded 3,285 yards rushing with 36 touchdowns and 615 receiving yards and six touchdowns in 30 games with the Bulldogs.
The statistics enticed the Rams to selected Gurley with the 10th pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, despite concerns with his left knee. Three seasons into his NFL career, any apprehensions over Gurley’s injury have dissipated.
Gurley won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2015, regressed a little in 2016 mainly because he received no help from his supporting cast and has ascended to higher heights in 2017.
Since December, Gurley’s been a terror running roughshod through and by his opponents. He totaled 749 total yards in the final month. The Rams are optimistic that he can carrying the momentum into the postseason.
Falcons coach Dan Quinn said his team has placed a heavy emphasis on containing the MVP candidate in Saturday’s NFC wild-card playoff game.
“What I can say is that he has the ability to beat you on leverage. In other words, he’s got that kind of speed that he can take the angle and go,” Quinn said. “The second thing is do I want to try to drop my shoulder on you, but he also has the ability to put his foot in the ground and make you miss. So tackling for us for sure is going to be at the very front of our topic all week long, and it’s not just in the run game. He’s been a factor coming out of the backfield as well.”
This weekend will be uncharted territory for the Gurley, who will appear in his first playoff game.
You can bet the Falcons’ defensive game plan will be centered around on how to contain the Gurley. To counter, Los Angeles will still try to impose their will with their No. 1 running back.
There will be plenty of responsibilities placed on Gurley’s shoulders. The Rams want to ride their every-down running back all the way to Minneapolis for Super Bowl LII. On the way, if the Rams are so fortunate, there could be a scheduled pit stop to pick up some MVP hardware.
