Los Angeles Rams’ RB Todd Gurley vanished in the 4th quarter vs. Steelers because Malcolm Brown “has demonstrated he can make some plays.”

6.08. That’s the yards per carry number that Los Angeles Rams’ running back Todd Gurley finished with on Sunday in Pittsburgh. It’s the highest figure for Gurley since Week 1, and he’d only had one game (Week 8 vs. CIN) with a ypc of 4.0 or higher since.

With 0:14 left in the 3rd quarter, Rams’ kicker Greg Zuerlein converted on a 30-yard try, pulling the Rams within four and making it a 14-10 game. 56 seconds prior, Gurley received his final touch of the day. He didn’t log a single carry, or receive a single target, in the entirety of the 4th quarter and the Rams ultimately fell 17-12 to the Steelers and moved to 5-4 on the season.

Why, you might have asked yourself a million times? Sean McVay explains:

I think it really just had to do with that we had kind of gone into it and just feeling it out, we feel like he is doing really well, he’s playing at a high level. Malcolm Brown made some tough hard-earned runs too. He’s been a guy that’s demonstrated he can make some plays. It’s nothing really other than that. I think like anything else, when you want to be reflective as a coach, you say, ‘Could there have been some things that you wish you had done to maybe keep him in that rhythm?’ I wouldn’t argue with that. I would say, ‘You probably should have done that.’ Those are things that I’ll never claim to make all the right decisions. I think yesterday was something where you probably could have given him an opportunity to continue with that rhythm that he did have going there.

Well, there you have it. It’s really nothing more than Malcolm Brown demonstrating that he can make some plays. And if McVay were afforded a mulligan, he’d use it. You can all rest easy tonight, folks.