Los Angeles Rams

Rams new OC Boras goes back to run-heavy approach in winning debut

Published Dec. 14, 2015 5:40 p.m. ET

foxsports

Rob Boras didn't reinvent the wheel in his first game as the St. Louis Rams' offensive coordinator. He just made sure his best player had the ball in his hands more often.

Behind 140 yards rushing and two touchdowns from rookie Todd Gurley, the Rams snapped a five-game losing streak with a 21-14 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. The win came six days after Boras was named offensive coordinator, replacing the fired Frank Cignetti.

“He worked really hard, as the staff did and the players,” St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher said of Boras in his postgame press conference. “You set things up, and the most important thing from our perspective, which he did, was adjust. I thought the staff did a good job of adjusting.”

Fisher lauded Boras for maintaining a commitment to the run and making some changes during halftime to spark the running game after the Rams were limited to 103 total yards in the opening 30 minutes, including 13 yards on seven carries by Gurley.

“I thought, albeit without a tape, particularly Rob changed some runs,” Fisher said. “We made some adjustments at halftime and they were good. They were solid adjustments both times. Most of his runs, there were a lot of people on the line of scrimmage.”

Gurley had seen a total of nine carries in each of the previous two games, but Boras continued to call the rookie's number after the break and Gurley turned nine second-half carries into 127 yards and both scores for his first 100-yard game since Nov. 1.

“We didn’t get too many opportunities in the first half," Gurley said. "We had a game plan and we wanted to stick to that. We just got a chance to get me the ball a couple times in the second half and things worked out pretty well.”

Todd Gurley has 5 games with 125+ rush yards. Only rookie with more in NFL history: Eric Dickerson (7 in 1983) pic.twitter.com/fakH9XhGrM
— Randall Liu (@RLiuNFL) December 14, 2015