Todd Gurley is being held back by the rest of the Rams’ offense, and it’s getting worse

Todd Gurley is struggling. After bursting onto the scene a year ago and earning Offensive Rookie of the Year honors, the No. 10 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft has just three touchdowns and 3.1 yards per carry for the Los Angeles Rams in 2016.

The troubling trend for the Rams continued in Week 10 with the talented running back managing just 64 yards on 21 carries. It was a recommitment to giving Gurley the ball more after he had 15 rushing attempts or fewer in the three weeks prior.

Prior to Week 10, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said that the team needs to make an effort to get the talented running back more involved, but he doesn’t blame Gurley for the struggles.

“It’s not a Gurley thing, I think it’s more of a team thing, and then it’s an opponent issue too, because they’re stopping it, they’re loading up,” Fisher said before a Week 9 game against the Carolina Panthers. “Like I said, we need to get it going. It’s November, and we need to get it going.”

They did not get it going. Gurley finished the game with 48 yards on 12 carries in a 13-10 loss.

“They’re taking the run away with respect to the fronts and the stunting, so we pick it up and throw it,” Fisher said after the game. “It’s not a Todd thing, it’s not a personal thing from Todd. You can see how explosive he is when we get the ball in his hands.”

He did, however, offer a little bit of criticism for the second-year running back.

“You’d like to see him make somebody miss, or break a tackle,” Fisher said. “He should win against defensive backs, especially corners. But, I’m not, by any means, down on Todd.”

And therein lies the problem. Gurley was able to create on his own with subpar blocking and talent around him a year ago, but he’s struggled to produce in similar circumstances a year later.

The Rams have the No. 24 run blocking offensive line in the NFL, according to Football Outsiders. A year ago, the Rams finished No. 24 in the same metric.

Quarterbacks Nick Foles and Case Keenum struggled to get the Rams offense going in 2015, and Keenum has struggled to do it again in 2016.

But it’s still tough to pin the blame on Gurley. According to Pro Football Focus, no player is being asked to create on their own more than the Rams running back:

It’s not that Gurley isn’t creating after contact, he’s just creating less. He averaged 2.9 yards per carry after first contact in 2015 and through nine weeks, he’s averaging 2.2 in 2016. He finished No. 4 in PFF’s “elusive rating,” but currently ranks No. 27 now.

Gone are the long highlight plays that earned him Rookie of the Year honors. His longest run of the 2016 season was an 18-yard run, but he used to cross that mark multiple times per game.

Gurley had five runs of at least 40 yards in his 13-game 2015 season and 11 rushes of at least 20 yards. He still hasn’t had a single rush of 20 yards in 2016.

Still, it’s hard to say that Gurley is the problem with the Los Angeles rushing offense. With 73 percent of his 3.1 yards per carry coming after contact, Gurley is getting hit by defenses after 0.8 yards on average. That’s a nightmare for any running back and Keenum’s 77.2 passer rating isn’t going to dissuade defenses from continuing to stack the line of scrimmage to bottle up Gurley.

But there is reason to question if Gurley will return to form if/when the Rams improve the offense around him. He showed an elite ability to make people miss as a rookie, but if he doesn’t have that anymore, what makes him special?

Gurley’s still one of the youngest players in the league, though. So it’d be premature to write off a bounce-back. Rams offensive coordinator Rob Boras raved about the maturity and resolve of the running back.

“I’ve been impressed with Todd as much success he had last year, and how well he handled the success last year as a 22 year old, or whatever he was last year. I think he’s handling what’s happened this year just as well,” Boras said. “Again, that’s a sign of his character and what he’s all about. I’m not saying that he’s not frustrated, but he’s not showing it.”

But until the Rams dramatically upgrade the offensive talent around Gurley, it’s hard to imagine that things are going to get better. And that means it will likely be more of the same for Gurley in 2016.