The Falcons haven’t been able to get Todd Gurley going. He’s struggled as a runner, and he’s been even more ineffective in the passing game.
Gurley had a 15-yard run on his first drive of the opener. Since that time, he’s been puttering along at about 3.0 yards per carry. He carried 21 times for only 61 yards at Dallas (that despite the game being a wide-open shootout).
His decline as a pass catcher has been even more severe. This used to be a strength of his. In Sean McVay’s first season, Gurley averaged 12.3 yards on pass plays, and he was close to 10 in 2018. But the Rams (who released him in the offseason) couldn’t get him going last year.
In 2019, the Rams threw to Gurley 49 times, and they completed only 31 of them. That’s a 63 percent completion rate, lowest among running backs with at least 40 targets. And those passes didn’t tend to go anywhere. He averaged only 6.7 yards per catch, and it drops to 4.2 if you factor in incompletions. That’s next-to-last among running backs with at least 40 targets.
| RUNNING BACKS, YARDS PER TARGET (2019) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Tgt | Pct | Avg/Tgt |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 92 | 993 | 10.8 | 8 | 108 | 85.2 | 9.2 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 53 | 519 | 9.8 | 0 | 63 | 84.1 | 8.2 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | 50 | 509 | 10.2 | 3 | 63 | 79.4 | 8.1 |
| David Johnson, Ariz. | 36 | 370 | 10.3 | 4 | 47 | 76.6 | 7.9 |
| Ronald Jones, T.B. | 31 | 309 | 10.0 | 0 | 40 | 77.5 | 7.7 |
| Jalen Richard, Oak. | 36 | 323 | 9.0 | 0 | 43 | 83.7 | 7.5 |
| DeAndre Washington, Oak. | 36 | 292 | 8.1 | 0 | 41 | 87.8 | 7.1 |
| Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 116 | 1005 | 8.7 | 4 | 142 | 81.7 | 7.1 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 49 | 474 | 9.7 | 3 | 68 | 72.1 | 7.0 |
| James White, N.E. | 72 | 645 | 9.0 | 5 | 95 | 75.8 | 6.8 |
| Duke Johnson, Hou. | 44 | 410 | 9.3 | 3 | 62 | 71.0 | 6.6 |
| Chris Thompson, Was. | 42 | 378 | 9.0 | 0 | 58 | 72.4 | 6.5 |
| Kareem Hunt, Cle. | 37 | 285 | 7.7 | 1 | 44 | 84.1 | 6.5 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 35 | 287 | 8.2 | 3 | 45 | 77.8 | 6.4 |
| Dare Ogunbowale, T.B. | 35 | 286 | 8.2 | 0 | 46 | 76.1 | 6.2 |
| Saquon Barkley, NYG | 52 | 438 | 8.4 | 2 | 73 | 71.2 | 6.0 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 54 | 420 | 7.8 | 2 | 71 | 76.1 | 5.9 |
| LeVeon Bell, NYJ | 66 | 461 | 7.0 | 1 | 78 | 84.6 | 5.9 |
| Devonta Freeman, Atl. | 59 | 410 | 7.0 | 4 | 70 | 84.3 | 5.9 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 36 | 278 | 7.7 | 0 | 49 | 73.5 | 5.7 |
| Chris Carson, Sea. | 37 | 266 | 7.2 | 2 | 47 | 78.7 | 5.7 |
| Jamaal Williams, G.B. | 39 | 253 | 6.5 | 5 | 45 | 86.7 | 5.6 |
| J.D. McKissic, Det. | 34 | 233 | 6.9 | 1 | 42 | 81.0 | 5.5 |
| Nyheim Hines, Ind. | 44 | 320 | 7.3 | 0 | 58 | 75.9 | 5.5 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 81 | 533 | 6.6 | 1 | 97 | 83.5 | 5.5 |
| Latavius Murray, N.O. | 34 | 235 | 6.9 | 1 | 43 | 79.1 | 5.5 |
| Giovani Bernard, Cin. | 30 | 234 | 7.8 | 0 | 43 | 69.8 | 5.4 |
| Melvin Gordon, LAC | 42 | 296 | 7.1 | 1 | 55 | 76.4 | 5.4 |
| Jaylen Samuels, Pitt. | 47 | 305 | 6.5 | 1 | 57 | 82.5 | 5.4 |
| Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 76 | 522 | 6.9 | 0 | 100 | 76.0 | 5.2 |
| Royce Freeman, Den. | 43 | 256 | 6.0 | 1 | 50 | 86.0 | 5.1 |
| Kenyan Drake, 2TM | 50 | 345 | 6.9 | 0 | 68 | 73.5 | 5.1 |
| Devin Singletary, Buff. | 29 | 194 | 6.7 | 2 | 41 | 70.7 | 4.7 |
| Tarik Cohen, Chi. | 79 | 456 | 5.8 | 3 | 104 | 76.0 | 4.4 |
| Todd Gurley, LAR | 31 | 207 | 6.7 | 2 | 49 | 63.3 | 4.2 |
| Phillip Lindsay, Den. | 35 | 196 | 5.6 | 0 | 48 | 72.9 | 4.1 |
Gurley has been even worse so far. The Falcons have thrown to him 5 times, and those throws have resulted in 2 catches for 1 yard.
The Falcons started working in Brian Hill and Ito Smith more on Sunday, and if they can’t get Gurley going, I expect we’ll see more of those guys.
Best I can offer in Gurley’s behalf is that Atlanta hasn’t thus far been a lot more effective when throwing to their other running backs. Hill has caught all 4 of the passes thrown his way, but for only 19 yards. Smith has caught all 3 passes sent in his direction, but for only 2 yards. Seems like those plays need some work.
—Ian Allan