On Wednesday, Rams coach Sean McVay attributed the increase in running back Todd Gurley’s workload not to a decision by the coach to manage Gurley’s workload but to “me not being an idiot.” On Thursday, McVay was asked about the reaction to his decision to call himself an idiot.
He said he heard from some of his friends, and not from any other coaches.
“I think you try to learn from it, but if you saw it, I was saying . . . I don’t really think I’m an idiot most of the time,” McVay told reporters. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”
Said a reporter in response: “In the Steelers game, maybe.”
McVay got a laugh out of the comment, but the truth continues to be not that McVay is an idiot but that the Rams have been careful with Gurley because of his knee. However, McVay won’t say that, in large part because Gurley gets upset when anyone talks about his knee.
So reporters don’t ask, McVay doesn’t tell, and the reality is that, with the Rams’ playoff hopes evaporating, they need to forget about Gurley’s knee and lean on him. That’s why Gurley has gotten more work lately -- even if McVay will never attribute past management of Gurley’s workload to his knee.