THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff has done a nice job of spreading the ball around through the season’s first quarter. Sometimes it’s Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods who take over. Or Cooper Kupp. Or one tight end (Tyler Higbee), or the other (Gerald Everett). But there has been one constant: Todd Gurley.
“I try to remind myself every week to continue to look for him,” Goff said after Sunday’s 35-30 win over the Dallas Cowboys, “and to continue to try to get him the ball in any situation possible.”
Todd Gurley has powered the Rams’ offense, which is averaging an NFL-best 35.5 points per game. Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports
Is this type of workload sustainable over the course of a 16-game season.
“That’s a good question,” said Rams coach Sean McVay, who has pondered that himself. “I think a lot of it is going to be how Todd’s feeling. But you also want to make sure you have a long-term, big-picture perspective in mind with Todd because of how important he is to us. … You want him to be able to be fresh as the season progresses, as well. So whether we tailor that back or not is going to be predicated on how he feels. But right now he’s done a great job.”
Gurley has gained more than 100 yards on the ground in back-to-back weeks, after failing to reach triple-digit rushing yards in 20 straight games. He has hauled in 20 of his 22 targets, according to ESPN’s internal statistics. And he has scored seven touchdowns, one more than he scored in four times the amount of games last season.
2016
2017
Offensive snaps per game
44.4 (4th among RBs)
49.5 (4th among RBs)
Percentage of team’s snaps
74.1 (3rd among RBs)
82.2 (3rd among RBs)
Touches per game
20.1 (5th)
26.5 (1st)
Percentage of team’s touches
46.7 (2nd)
53.5 (1st)
Gurley is averaging 26.5 touches per game this season, after averaging 20.1 touches per game in 2016. Last year, he played in 74.1 percent of the Rams’ offensive snaps, more than eight percentage points lower than where it is this season. But the Rams’ internal data has shown that Gurley’s body holds up well with rigorous workloads, as does this: Gurley is averaging 2.4 yards per carry after first contact in the fourth quarter, compared to an average of 1.7 yards in the first three quarters.
“There’s a lot of different playmakers that we feel comfortable with,” McVay said, “and I think the best thing that Jared has done a good job of through the first quarter of the season is, ‘Hey, let the ball go where my progression based on the play dictates.’ That’s why I think you’re seeing guys get involved.”
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears’ decision to bench quarterback Mike Glennon in favor of Mitchell Trubisky was the right call.
The Bears could no longer live with Glennon’s mistakes — he had eight turnovers in four games — and expect to win.
But don’t expect Trubisky to a savior in Year 1.
The Bears preferred Trubisky to sit behind Glennon for a reason. With only 13 career starts at North Carolina, Trubisky is still a raw prospect. To say Trubisky is 100 percent ready to take over is overstating it.
Mitchell Trubisky will make his NFL debut in front of a national audience on Monday Night Football. Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Chicago is incredibly weak at wide receiver. The Bears have dropped eight passes as a team this season, tied for third most in the NFL, and four of those drops have come in the red zone, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The Bears’ leading receiver this season is Kendall Wright, who currently ranks 69th league-wide in receiving yards.
The wide receiver situation is unlikely to improve.
The Bears need to overcome that by allowing Trubisky to attack the edge against the Vikings. Trubisky showed during the summer that he’s capable of making plays outside the pocket; therefore, the Bears should roll out Trubisky whenever possible to cut the field in half.
The Bears have to push the ball downfield more often with Trubisky. The offense was very predictable in the first quarter of the year because there was no threat of Glennon beating the defense deep. In fact, the Bears barely even attempted to stretch the field vertically. That needs to change with Trubisky, and it probably will; at least an effort will be made to occasionally take the top off the defense.
Of course, the Bears must maintain the identity of a running football team to help Trubisky.
The good news is that the Bears are averaging 4.6 yards per rush this season, good for seventh best in the NFL, and Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen each rank in the top 25 in rushing this season.
The important thing to remember is that Trubisky’s NFL debut won’t be flawless. Without question, the second pick will make his share of mistakes against a very good Minnesota defense. Trubisky will be only the sixth quarterback taken in the first-round to make his first career start on Monday Night Football.
Talk about pressure.
But the franchise has to move forward. Glennon was living on borrowed time anyway.
Trubisky is the only one that can usher the Bears out of the NFL abyss.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Larry Johnson once was where Kareem Hunt is now, a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs who developed into a premier player seemingly overnight. Johnson rushed for more than 100 yards in his first three games after becoming Kansas City’s featured back in 2004.
Johnson’s coming-out party wasn’t as spectacular as that of Hunt, a rookie who, heading into this weekend’s games, leads the NFL in rushing yards with 401 and is tied for the lead in touchdowns with six.
But it was more than strong enough to get the attention of the Chiefs’ opponents the remainder of that season and beyond. That makes Johnson an excellent person to offer Hunt some friendly advice about what’s ahead.
“If I was him, I’d enjoy this now,” Johnson said. “Nobody around the league knows what he can do. He’s seeing what I saw when I first got started.
“I knew, especially in that 400-carry season (2006), every team was going to put eight men [at the line of scrimmage] against me. He’s not seeing that yet. Trust me, after another few games he’s going to start seeing corner blitzes, safety blitzes, linebacker blitzes. They’re going to really test him now just to keep him in the pocket so he’s not a receiving threat. They’re going to test his toughness by bringing more guys to the [line]. That’s how it was for me. You have to mentally prepare yourself for teams to game-plan for you.
“Let me tell you, that’s not easy. The longer you do it, the tougher it gets.”
Hunt has been the biggest star for the Chiefs, who are 3-0 heading into Monday night’s game against Washington (8:30 ET, ESPN) at Arrowhead Stadium. He has at least 100 yards from scrimmage in every game. The only rookies in NFL history to begin their seasons with more than three such games are Adrian Peterson (five) in 2007, LaDainian Tomlinson (four) in 2001 and Billy Sims (four) in 1980.
That’s great company for Hunt, a third-round pick. Keeping that pace or merely staying close will get more difficult, as Johnson and Chiefs coach Andy Reid suggest, because the bull’s-eye Hunt soon will be wearing during games tends to get heavy.
After bursting onto the scene with more than 100 yards in each of his first three games, Kareem Hunt won’t be sneaking up on opponents any more. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
“He’s young in this, not only in age and experience, but he’s young in the season here,” Reid said. “The challenges are going to be answering the bell every week, physically and mentally.”
Hunt did nicely with a big workload in college at Toledo. He got the ball more than 850 times in four seasons and was productive throughout, averaging 6.3 yards per carry.
“I played the whole college season and I felt like I got better as the season went on too,” Hunt said. “You’ve got to keep going through it and keep taking care of your body each and every day. Do the most that you can do. Live in the training room, do little things to take care of your body.
“It starts now, just taking care of your body every day and just doing little things. Even when you’re not that sore, you’ve just got to keep working to get your body all the way back together, so you’ve got to take it day by day and week by week.”
The NFL is different than college, with more games and bigger and faster players. There’s also a mental and physical aspect to succeeding over the long haul.
That’s something another former great Chiefs back, Priest Holmes, can speak to.
“Running back is a position I call the ‘Warrior Position’ because of the amount of hits you’re taking during a game,” Holmes said. “Just to wake up on Monday morning and feel the way you do and then to know what the week ahead is going to bring, that can be difficult for a lot of players. You have to have something special to handle that, to anticipate being successful.
“I’m sure [Hunt] can do that. He looks like a special player.”
One of the assistant coaches during much of Martin’s time in New York was Bob Sutton, now the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator. All these years later, Sutton marvels at how Martin could withstand the punishment and come back week after week for more.
“Curtis was one of the most unique people I’ve ever been around,” Sutton said. “He had unbelievable focus. I don’t know if I’ve seen anybody have the focus he has and the great ability to control his own mind. I saw him get ready to play against Buffalo with two high-ankle sprains. He played and he played well. That’s supposed to be an injury that keeps you out however many weeks.
“He had great skills, great talent. He was a great runner. He was powerful for not a really big man. But he was just an unbelievable individual when he was getting ready for a game. To me, that defined Curtis. That made him different than a lot of backs in our league. Nothing else mattered to him than getting ready to play. Not many people can do that on a consistent basis.”
Reid said Hunt will be helped by working daily with running backs coach Eric Bieniemy, a former NFL player.
“He’s got [Bieniemy] in his hip pocket, right?” Reid said. “He does a phenomenal job with him. He’s been there as a player. He understands the challenges of that position. To have somebody like Eric is an important part of this.”
Bieniemy might help, but to hear Holmes and Johnson talk, much of the ability to handle the burden of being an NFL running back has to come from within. Either Hunt has the ability or he doesn’t.
“What drove me to answer that bell every week was crossing that goal line,” said Holmes, who led the NFL in touchdowns in 2002 (24) and 2003 (27). “I could make 70,000 people love me or I could make 70,000 people hate me just by scoring a touchdown, depending on whether we were home or away.
“That’s unique and different for every player. It’s not the same thing that’s going to get everybody ready for the call. But you have to have a prize, a goal, something to have your sights on. For me, it was always crossing that goal line, whether it took one play to do it or 10 plays or 20 plays.”
Johnson had a different ritual.
“I would watch a lot of tape of my runs, but I didn’t watch tape of the 2- and 3-yard runs,” he said. “I would watch the runs that were 10 yards and over. That built my confidence. I would watch tape of my runs against teams with tough defensive fronts. That built my confidence knowing and seeing those defenses could be hurt, that it was just a matter of time, that I could be successful against those defenses.”
Things worked out well for Holmes, who was able to sustain great success from the time he joined the Chiefs in 2001 until an injury in 2004 pushed his career into a decline.
Johnson didn’t manage as well for a long period, but was spectacular in 2005 and 2006 with more than 1,700 yards in each season.
Hunt looks poised to join Holmes and Johnson as great backs in Chiefs history. He’s got 13 more regular-season games this season to show he can handle the pressure and defensive attention that is sure to come his way.
“He’s a pretty humble kid,” Reid said. “With his makeup, he’ll be fine doing it.”
LAS VEGAS — Former football legend O.J. Simpson became a free man Sunday after serving nine years for a botched hotel room heist in Las Vegas that brought the conviction and prison time he avoided in the killings of his ex-wife and her friend after his 1995 acquittal in the “trial of the century” in Los Angeles.
Simpson was released at 12:08 a.m. PT from Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada, state prisons spokeswoman Brooke Keast told The Associated Press. She said she did not know the driver who met Simpson upon his release and didn’t know where Simpson was immediately headed in his first hours of freedom.
“I don’t have any information on where he’s going,” said Keast, who watched as Simpson signed documents and was let go. Her department released video on social media of Simpson being told to “come on out” by a prison staffer, exiting through an open door. He could be seen responding “OK” as he left, wearing a ball cap, denim jacket, jeans and white tennis shoes.
Tom Scotto, a close friend of Simpson who lives in Naples, Florida, said by text message that he was with Simpson following his release. Scotto didn’t respond to questions about where they were going or whether Simpson’s sister, Shirley Baker of Sacramento, California, or his daughter, Arnelle Simpson of Fresno, California, were with him.
The three had attended Simpson’s parole hearing in July at the same prison where Simpson spent his prison term and was released just minutes into the first day a parole board set for his possible release.
Simpson has said he wanted to move back to Florida, where he lived before his armed robbery conviction in Las Vegas in a September 2007 confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers.
Neither Simpson’s attorney, Malcolm LaVergne in Las Vegas, nor state Parole and Probation Capt. Shawn Arruti, who has been handling Simpson’s case, immediately responded to messages.
Keast said the dead-of-night release from the prison about 90 miles east of Reno, Nevada, was conducted to avoid media attention.
“We needed to do this to ensure public safety and to avoid any possible incident,” Keast added, speaking by telephone. She spoke from Lovelock, where she said she witnessed Simpson signing documents to be released.
The 70-year-old Simpson gains his freedom after being granted parole at a hearing in July. Unlike the last time he went free, 22 years ago, he will face restrictions — up to five years of parole supervision — and he’s unlikely to escape public scrutiny as the man who morphed from charismatic football hero, movie star and TV personality into suspected killer and convicted armed robber.
Simpson was looking forward to reuniting with his family, eating a steak and some seafood and moving back to Florida, LaVergne said recently.
Simpson also plans to get an iPhone and get reacquainted with technology that was in its infancy when he was sent to prison in 2008, his attorney said.
The Florida Department of Corrections, however, said officials had not received a transfer request or required documents, and the attorney general said the state didn’t want him.
“The specter of his residing in comfort in Florida should not be an option,” Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Friday. “Our state should not become a country club for this convicted criminal.”
Simpson lost his home near Miami to foreclosure in 2012. But two of his children, Justin and Sydney, also live in Florida.
He could live at least temporarily in Las Vegas, where a friend let Simpson use his home for five weeks during his robbery trial.
His five years of parole supervision could be reduced with credits for good behavior.
It’s a new chapter for the one-time pop culture phenomenon whose fame was once again on display when the major TV networks carried his parole hearing live.
He told officials that leading a group of men into a 2007 armed confrontation was an error in judgment he would not repeat.
He told the parole board that he led a “conflict-free life,” an assertion that angered many who believe he got away with killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles in 1994.
Simpson was once an electrifying running back dubbed “Juice” who won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s best college football player for USC in 1968 and became one of the NFL’s all-time greats with the Buffalo Bills.
Handsome and charming, he also provided commentary on “Monday Night Football,” became the face of Hertz rental-car commercials and built a movie career with roles in the “Naked Gun” comedies and other films.
Simpson fell from grace when he was arrested in the slayings, after a famous “slow-speed” Ford Bronco chase on California freeways. His subsequent trial became a live-TV sensation that fascinated viewers with its testimony about a bloody glove that didn’t fit and unleashed furious debate over race, police and celebrity justice.
A jury swiftly acquitted him, but two years later, Simpson was found liable in civil court for the killings and ordered to pay $33.5 million to survivors, including his children and Goldman’s family.
He is still on the hook for the judgment, which now amounts to about $65 million after the addition of interest and court costs, according to a Goldman family lawyer.
On Sept. 16, 2007, he led five men he barely knew to the Palace Station casino in Las Vegas in an effort to retrieve items that Simpson insisted were stolen after his acquittal in the 1994 slayings. Two of the men with Simpson in Las Vegas carried handguns, although Simpson still insists he never knew anyone was armed. He says he only wanted to retrieve personal items, mementoes and family photos.
He went to prison in 2008, receiving a stiff sentence that his lawyers said was unfair.
If the nation’s Simpson obsession waned for a while, it resurged last year with the Emmy-winning FX miniseries, “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” and the Oscar-winning documentary “O.J.: Made in America.”
