When Todd Gurley played for the Los Angeles Rams, he helped promote the eventual opening of the new Sofi Stadium. The running back has yet to step foot in the finished product.
After the Rams cut Gurley this offseason, the running back will finally play in the stadium, albeit as a visitor and against the L.A. Chargers, who share the stadium with Gurley's former team.
"I helped create that stadium, so why not try to go out there and try to do damage?" Gurley told Emmanuel Morgan of the L.A. Times.
Gurley signed with the Atlanta Falcons this offseason. Still battling knee issues, he's struggled to prove the Rams wrong for moving on to save money.
In 11 games with the Falcons, Gurley is averaging 3.6 yards per carry (lowest since his days with Jeff Fisher), taking 175 totes for 626 yards. The 26-year-old might not have the lateral agility he's once sported, but can still crash downhill in the red zone and has a nose for the goal line, scoring nine TDs.
"Every year I'm not going to make the Pro Bowl or rush for 1,000 yards," Gurley said. "That's always the goal, but that's why football is a team sport.
"That's what happens when you're in a position like Alvin Kamara or myself or Ezekiel Elliott or Saquon Barkley -- you come in and you set the bar so high that anything else under that becomes, 'Can he get back to this?'
"That's the point of being great. You don't really put pressure on yourself, but you just want to go out there and succeed."
Coming off a missed game due to his latest knee issue, Gurley played a season-low 22 snaps in Week 13, mostly on third downs and in the red zone. He earned 16 yards on eight carries (2.0 YPC).
Interim coach Raheem Morris noted that Gurley's usage is consciously being curtailed.
"We're playing him a little situationally now," he said. "He's battling some things like all of us this time of year. Being one of the better red-zone runners in the game, we certainly wanted to go to him toward the end."
Heading back to L.A. to face the Chargers, Gurley will finally play in the stadium he helped promote. Odds are he won't see a ton of totes, but when the Falcons get to the red zone, Gurley should have a chance to dance in an end zone that at one point in time he envisioned owning.
"It was a good time, man," Gurley said of his stint in L.A. "It was a good five years with the Rams and a good four years in L.A., for sure. It's always going to be home."
