RADIO
The Arizona Cardinals were coming into Week 4 off of a brutalizing of the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3, while the St. Louis Rams had pretty much offensively rolled over to a Pittsburgh Steelers team that lost Ben Roethlisberger. After everything was said and done in Arizona, the Rams were celebrating a 24-22 upset win over the previously undefeated Cardinals.
While there were plenty of factors in the game, the emergence of Todd Gurley was the headliner. Tavon Austin also stood out, but it was Gurley's 136 yards in the second half that really gave the Cardinals fits. The rookie from the University of Georgia had been recovering from a torn ACL that he suffered last year as a junior at UGA, and so the Rams were easing him into action. Well, if the first half was "getting comfortable", the second half was just a lights show. Gurley started ripping off big gains, the offensive line started looking like a more cohesive unit, the whole team just looked as though it was finally in a rhythm. As the Rams fully embrace their new zone blocking scheme, perhaps this is just what they needed to gain confidence and show themselves they can do it.
Any questions about explosiveness, agility, and the notion that the injury might have taken anything away from Gurley were thrown out today. This isn't to say he'll be elite from this day forward, but he showed that he can play and that he is more than capable of being a good running back in the NFL. The Cardinals defense is no push over, but Gurley showed a glimpse of why he was deserving of being 2015's tenth overall pick.
