For two years, the Los Angeles Rams had one of the best rushing attacks in football – led by none other than Todd Gurley. They were third in rushing in 2018 and eighth the year before, heavily featuring Gurley on offense.
Then came this past season when the Rams effectively abandoned the ground game at times and limited Gurley’s workload for the first half of the season. As a result, the Rams finished 18th in rushing attempts and 26th in rushing yards, averaging only 3.7 yards per carry – 27th in the NFL.
It was a combination of limited opportunities and poor execution, but neither are the fault of running backs coach Skip Peete. He was let go on Monday, being the last remaining holdover from Jeff Fisher’s staff.
Gurley urged the Rams to keep Peete in 2017 when the new regime came in, but three seasons later, Peete is out. It was a shocking move by the Rams, to say the least, given Peete’s success in Los Angeles.
Gurley was the Offensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-Pro in 2017, and an All-Pro again the following season. But now that the Rams moved to a more pass-heavy offense with the running backs featured less, Peete is to blame?
Something doesn’t add up. The running backs coach doesn’t determine how much someone plays or how many carries he gets. The running backs coach’s job is to, well, coach the running backs. It’s up to McVay (and partly the front office) to decide how much Gurley plays. Or how many carries Malcolm Brown and Darrell Henderson Jr. get.
Yes, the Rams’ running backs were ineffective this season – far less productive than they were in 2017 and 2018. But also has to do with teams loading up the box to stop Gurley, and the offensive line being incapable of consistently opening up running lanes. Again, not something Peete can control.
But this is what happens when a team comes up short of expectations and misses the postseason. Wade Phillips wasn’t retained, and Peete is on his way out, too. You could make the case that neither should have been fired, but McVay and the Rams wanted to make changes – and the easiest spots to point to were the defense and the running game.
