Gurley, Anderson form dynamic duo
Todd Gurley never had a true running partner during his first four regular seasons with the Los Angeles Rams.
The running back took most of the carries and ground out most of the tough yards while his backups played only sparingly.
When he suited up with C.J. Anderson for the first time last weekend during the Rams’ divisional playoff win over Dallas, Gurley truly shared the big carries for one of the first times in his NFL career.
As the New Orleans Saints have already noticed, the tandem was pretty much unstoppable.
“I guess it was a good thing I got hurt,” Gurley said with a laugh.
Gurley’s knee injury last month led the Rams to sign Anderson, a six-year veteran who had been released by three NFL teams in the previous eight months. Anderson hit the ground running with 299 yards in the Rams’ final two regular season victories while Gurley sat out.
When Gurley and Anderson suited up together against the Cowboys, their contrasting styles and similar relentlessness made history. Anderson went for 123 yards and two touchdowns, while Gurley rushed for 115 yards and another score as they propelled the Rams to a franchise playoff-record 273 yards rushing and on to the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett had two different answers Monday for whether oft-criticized offensive coordinator Scott Linehan would return next season. The first was on his morning radio show, when Garrett responded, “I do,” when asked if he thought Linehan would be back for a sixth season with the Cowboys. The coach added that he didn’t expect any significant changes to his staff.
At a news conference several hours later, Garrett wasn’t even close to definitive. He said discussions about the coaching staff hadn’t happened after spending most of his time in player interviews coming off Saturday’s 30-22 divisional playoff loss to the Rams.
In between, executive vice president of personnel Stephen Jones said on his radio show that it was too early to speculate about the future of coaches or players.
“I don’t know how I answered that question this morning,” Garrett said. “Nothing has changed. I feel very good about what Scott Linehan did for us. We’ll have conversations about everybody as we go here the next few days. We’ll make a lot of decisions to put the staff together and put the team together as we go.”