CHEAP SEATS
If Gurley was healthy, then explain to us why the best running back in the NFL didn’t play more ... Good bet Pats will be back in the big game again next season ... Ratings sucked for low-scoring game
ATLANTA — The other story of Super Bowl LIII — the one that doesn’t speak to the greatness of Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Julian Edelman and, for the last month or so, the New England Patriots defence — involves a question that may linger for minutes or months.
Or eternity, for maybe we’ve been given the only dubious answers we’re ever going to get.
Only days after Sean McVay told the world Todd Gurley would be a “big part” of the Rams game against the Patriots, he wasn’t.
Why? No, really. Why?
One of the top running backs in the NFL was handed the ball 10 times (for 35 yards) and caught one pass (for a one yard loss). Eleven touches is not being a big part of the game.
Heading into it, Gurley was one of the best bets to be named MVP. Instead, he was a non-factor.
If the knee injury that kept him out of the last two games of the regular season had flared up, why wouldn’t the Rams just say so now?
“No, I was fine man, I felt good,” the 24-year old said in the interview room moments after his high powered team managed all of three points against the Pats. “I mean, I had a break (at the end of the season) and it’s cool. We have physicals and all that stuff tomorrow, but I’m fine.
Will you need anything surgical done? “No sir.”
McVay was asked about 53 times during Super Bowl LIII Week if Gurley was healthy, including once more after the game.
“Yes, he is,” said McVay, blaming his own play selection for his top back’s lack of involvement. “Really. I never enabled us to get into a rhythm offensively. I was not pleased at all with my feel for the flow of the game, or (lack of ) making some adjustments as the game unfolded to give ourselves a chance to put some points on the board. They did a good job and I certainly didn’t do enough for us.
“Todd is healthy and we just didn’t really get anybody going offensively. That starts with me.”
So the boy genius suddenly turned stunned? Because how hard is it to stick to a plan. Just give the guy the rock.
During the season Gurley rushed for over 100 yards in half of his starts, and over 200 in one of them. He’s also a threat in the passing game with 59 catches for 580 yards this season but 788 receiving yards when he played the entire 2017.
If he’s healthy and he keeps getting the ball, the Rams score more than three points Sunday. They may even score 14, which would be one more than the Pats.
Also strange is that Gurley
didn’t even seem bothered by not getting a serious chance to affect the outcome.
“I don’t know, whenever my number is called in the game, I’m ready,” he said. “We’ve got a good running back in C.J. (Anderson).
Obviously he’s going to come in as well. I just have to take advantage of my opportunities when I get a chance.”
Gurley signed a four-year, $60-million contract extension last July. It included a $45-million guarantee.
So he’s part of the Rams’ long range plans … just not for a Super Bowl game that could turn out to be the only one they get to? Because the only guarantee is the cash they’ve already paid him.
ONE MORE TIME
The Patriots haven’t even had their championship parade yet and already at least one bookmaker likes their chances of having another one next year. Coming out Monday with odds for the 2019 season, betonline had the Patriots favoured to win Super Bowl LIV at 6-1. The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams are close behind at 7-1, followed by the New Orleans Saints (8-1), Chicago Bears (14-1), Indianapolis Colts (14-1), Minnesota Vikings (18-1), Green Bay Packers (18-1), Los Angeles Chargers (20-1) and Philadelphia Eagles (20-1). Belief the Cleveland Browns are all the way around the corner shows them listed at 25-1, while there must also be faith in a strong bounce back from injury by Jimmy
Garropolo, whose San Francisco 49ers are no worse than 33-1. The longest shots, at 100-1, are the Arizona Cardinals, Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets … Oh and about that Patriots parade, the duck boats will be moving along their usual route in Boston starting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday … Under the Not Ready To Move On category, streets of New Orleans were lined with thousands of still bitter Saints fans for a party/protest that was called “Blackout and Gold Second Line Parade”.
TURNED OFF
Good defence wins championships and is much appreciated by educated football fans, but in the big picture it can be a ratings killer. According to deadline. com, the nationwide overnight rating for the lowest scoring Super Below in history had an overnight rating of 44.9, which was the lowest since the Steelers and Cardinals played in XLIII a decade ago. It was also a 5.2% ratings decline from last year’s fireworks display between the Eagles and Patriots. The American market with the lowest rating? Yes, that would be New Orleans, at 26.1, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. For a comparable, the highest-rated Super Bowl, according to deadline.com, was XLIX at 49.7.
EXTRA POINTS
Zac Taylor was officially named Bengals head coach about 12 hours after the end of his last game as Rams quarterback coach … Patriots (de facto) defensive coordinator Brian Flores had little time to celebrate the Super Bowl win as he was named head coach of the Dolphins on Monday … Veteran running back Adrian Peterson doesn’t have a contract, but he does have a desire to keep carrying the football. “I’ll be playing next year for sure,” Peterson, who turns 34 in March, told TMZ Sports. “Maybe two or three more years. My concern is enjoying it, and playing as God lets me play.” … Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett ,ina lame duck situation entering the final year of his contract, will not be calling his own plays. That job will belong to
Kellen Moore, who was officially named the new Dallas offensive coordinator last week. “We anticipate that he will call plays,” Garrett told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“We want to look at different ways of doing things.” … What good receiver wouldn’t want to play with Tom
Brady, right? Well, the Cowboys’ Amari Cooper, for one. Or so he says. “I don’t want to play with Tom Brady, I want to beat Tom Brady,” Cooper told NESN, per the
Dallas Morning News .“I want to play with Dak Prescott and I believe we can get the job done.” Cooper, 24, is eligible to become a free agent after next season.