The Los Angeles Rams emerge from a bye week with their season potentially on the line. After dropping three straight contests, the Rams find themselves still second place in the NFC West.
Jeff Fisher and his squad have confidence in their abilities against their divisional opponents, but must beat other teams in order to have hopes of making the playoffs. The difficulties for the offense have been caused by two problems this season: lack of communication when on the field and the sub-par rushing performances.
Todd Gurley hasn’t been able to produce during his sophomore season, thanks partially to the league adjusting to him with a proper scouting report and the lack of production amongst the offensive line.
Through seven games this season, Gurley has 134 rushes for 403 yards, which equates to 2.81 yards per carry. The 22-year-old has three touchdowns on the season, with them coming in the red zone.
While the lack of production has hurt the Rams, Gurley continues to believe that things will figure themselves out, via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com:
“Just got to trust in it,” Gurley said. “Shout out to William Hayes, one of the best teammates ever, but you just got to stay patient, stick to the plan, just keep on going out there working hard and just hope things open up, which I’m pretty sure they will.”
The Rams are facing a Carolina Panthers defense, which is coming off of eight sacks against the Arizona Cardinals. The Panthers understand that they need to crowd the box against Gurley, to force quarterback Case Keenum and the wide receivers to make mistakes on the field.
Keenum and Fisher must create passing opportunities early in the game, or else it can result in disaster for the Rams at the Memorial Coliseum.
