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Los Angeles Rams running back C.J. Anderson said teammate Todd Gurley was “more hurt than what we thought,” which helps explain the star running back’s lack of usage late in the playoffs.
Gurley missed the final two regular-season games, dealing with a knee problem, after rushing for 1,251 yards and 17 touchdowns in 14 games. He also caught 59 passes for 580 yards and four scores.
He returned for the playoffs — with 16 carries for 115 yards against Dallas — but had only a combined 14 carries and two receptions in the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LIII. Rams coach Sean McVay had declared Gurley’s left knee “100 percent” before the Super Bowl and Gurley was not on the injury report.
But Gurley rushed just 10 times for 35 yards in the 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots.
“The injury was a little bit more than what everybody in the building thought, including himself,” Anderson said Tuesday on FS1’s “Undisputed.”
Anderson said he would call the injury a sprained knee. Gurley suffered a torn left ACL in 2014.
“Obviously, it’s the same knee injury he’s had before in his career,” Anderson said.
“I had surgery on my meniscus and once you have a knee, you always have a knee. So it aggravates, and if he was getting a lot of touches earlier in the year — obviously him being one of the best running backs, that probably was the case.”
Anderson, was signed with the Rams for the final two regular-season games, had 46 postseason carries. Gurley had 30.
Gurley led the NFL with 21 touchdowns and 17 rushing scores during the regular season. He notched his third 1,000-yard rushing season in four years since the Rams took him with the 10th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
–Field Level Media