Rams’ Todd Gurley: The Second Coming of Eric Dickerson?

The Daily Norseman considers a variety of statistics for both teams.

Since then, this is a team that has found its spot near or at the bottom of the standings.

“It feels really good, I’m not going to shy away from it”, middle linebacker James Laurinaitis said. Before the win at Detroit, he used the team’s 1-14-1 division road record since late in the 2009 season to energize the players. In second place in the NFC West, the Rams are in relatively uncharted waters. The victor of this game will have something to say about the NFC playoff picture, while the loser will be relegated to the “not ready for prime-time” bin, sure to attract meaningless buzzwords like “sleeper” and “dark-horse” for next season but safely out of mind for the current one.

The numbers only do partial justice to Gurley’s impact in St. Louis. “I think they’re doing a great job of challenging on third down”. However, when the two go head-to-head, it has been Minnesota that has the upper hand.

Adrian Peterson (Running Back): Peterson has not scored a touchdown in 3 games which is somewhat unprecedented. This year, they are 3-1 with Gurley starting, as they seek their first playoff appearance in a decade. The things I had to say were real.

“I’m not matching up against him because he’s on offense”, Gurley said. And the Vikings should have an edge in short-yardage “power” situations.

Our passing game may be partially hindered by the poor adjusted sack rating though, as we now rank 30 in passing yards per game, and 16 in yards per pass attempt. Bridgewater’s passer rating also only ranks 19 overall. The Vikings defense has been outstanding allowing 17.4 points and 334 yards per game with four interceptions, four fumble recoveries, and 18 sacks. Yes, Minnesota’s run defense has been stout lately, but Gurley is coming off four straight big games: 146 yards at Arizona, 159 at Green Bay, 128 against Cleveland and 133 against San Francisco. So Gurley is getting it done in spite of the poor run blocking.

The Vikings need to use the home-crowd noise to their pass rush’s benefit. “That’s one thing you don’t see a lot of rookies do”. Rookie Todd Gurley has ascended to fifth in the league in rushing yards since taking over as the full time starter in Week 4. But unfortunately, Nick Foles and company haven’t been able to take advantage of their offensive line’s blocking efficiency.

Gurley quickly adopted Duke as his favorite team and made it a point to catch as many games as he could. A few carries, a few yards in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Vikings are no slouches defensively, either. (Meanwhile, Melvin Gordon, the other back taken in 2015’s first round, is averaging 3.7 yards and has zero touchdowns). “We still have a lot of room for improvement”. According to Football Outsiders, the Vikings rank 15 in kickoffs and 8 in punting. They weren’t able to pull out the victory, but their defense is continuing to improve and get more risky as the season progresses.

Another element of the game that is often overlooked is the quality of coaching. Griffen leads the Vikings with 4.5 sacks, so Robinson will have to be on point.

So where does all of this leave us? The Rams certainly need to diversify over the long term.

“I thought it was consistent”. They were 4-3, and even though the Rams were an aging and injury-plagued squad with a nucleus nearing its end, it was November and St. Louis had a winning record. In our case this week, Vegas gives the Vikings a 2.5 point advantage, which is actually slightly less than the standard home field advantage. The Rams do want to spread the ball around to other receivers. If only he had such a profound impact on his last team.

“He’s been the best football player on the field and he comes to work every day”, defensive end William Hayes said. Harrison Smith is Minnesota’s top tackler with 44, Eric Kendricks has 42 tackles, and Anthony Barr has 35 tackles.

This is another matchup the Rams should win.