Rob Boras took the reins of an anemic St. Louis Rams offense from the vanilla-scheming Frank Cignetti this week, but not much will change with four games left.
"We have different thoughts, but at the end of the day, we're pretty far down the road right now," Boras said Wednesday of the changes to the offense, via the team's official website. "There's not going to be a whole lot that's going to change."
One expectation is that Boras will attempt to ramp up Todd Gurley's production.
"Todd's a special player. We have a number of special players on offense," Boras said. "Between Todd and Tav' (Austin), we've got special guys. For that to happen, obviously, it's got to be the type of game where we can keep handing him the ball. He's too good a player."
The rookie has just 18 total carries in the last two games. After averaging 141.5 rushing yards in Weeks 4-8, Gurley has just 52.0 yards per game in the past five weeks. Gurley has one total run of 10-plus yards over the past four games.
A big problem is blocking, as the rookie is consistently struggling just to get back to the line of scrimmage with defenders draped all over him. Another issue is the lack of respect for the NFL's worst passing attack, allowing defenses to stack the box to stop Gurley.
In the past several outings, the Rams have gone away from Gurley when they got down, which took the ball out of their best playmaker's hands. Owning the NFL's 32nd ranked third-down percentage (24.5) adds to the struggles getting Gurley the ball.
"We understand the inefficiencies we've had on third down and, obviously, we need to improve on that," Boras said. "The way that happens, if that happens I should say, obviously, Todd has the ability and everybody on offense and they all know that, if we convert third downs, everybody has more opportunities to get touches. So, that's going to be a big focus going forward tonight and tomorrow when we put it in."
With a season spiraling fast, the Rams' offense needs to show some life in order for people to keep their jobs. Riding Gurley is the only logical choice.
