Rams’ Todd Gurley is staying patient but has little to show for it this season

It sounds almost like a mantra every time Todd Gurley says it. And the Rams running back has said it over and over and over again this season.

“Just stay patient,” Gurley repeated again Friday.

That is how the second-year pro has coped with a disappointing season — and little running room — while awaiting and working toward a breakout performance.

Gurley was the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year in 2015 when he rushed for 1,106 yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 games. He ran for at least 128 yards five times.

Through eight games this season, he has rushed for 451 yards and three touchdowns. He’s surpassed 80 yards in a game only once, running for 85 in the 37-32 road victory over Tampa Bay on Sept. 25.

It won’t get any easier Sunday when the Rams, losers of four games in a row, play the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

The Jets aren’t exactly world-beaters: They are 3-6. But they do boast the NFL’s fourth-best rushing defense.

That does not bode well for Gurley or an offensive line that has failed to spring its star running back for a gain longer than 18 yards.

Offensive coordinator Rob Boras and Coach Jeff Fisher this week acknowledged the need to give Gurley the ball more often. In the last three games, he carried 14, 15 and 12 times.

“We want to see the arrow go up with respect to the whole football team, and that includes Todd,” Fisher said Friday. “That includes his touches and that includes his production.”

Gurley was listed as questionable on the injury report Friday because of what is described as a thigh issue, but he almost certainly will be in the lineup Sunday.

“I felt pretty good,” he said after practice. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

In last week’s 13-10 loss to Carolina, Gurley carried the ball on consecutive plays only once. Like most NFL running backs, that is a contrast to his experience in high school and college.

In two-plus seasons at Georgia, Gurley reached the 30-carry plateau once. He carried 25 times or more three other times — in his final three games before suffering a major knee injury.

As a Rams rookie, he carried a career-high 30 times for 159 yards in a 24-10 loss to Green Bay. He had 20 or more carries in four other games.

This season he’s reached the 20s twice, the season high of 27 coming against Tampa Bay.

“You’ve just got to get your mind right,” he said when asked whether it was easier to sustain a rhythm with multiple carries. “I’ve had times in college where I got the ball five times in a row, and you know you’re going to get it again. But, you just got to man up and do your best.”

How does a player manage the mentality of carrying the ball play after play after play?

“Being a running back, you want the ball,” he said. “You’ve just got to be mentally tough to be able to get those carries play after play.

“The biggest thing with that is — that’s when endurance comes in. You start seeing stuff when you’re tired. Just making sure you’re doing the same thing on that first carry that you’re doing on that 25th carry.”

Sunday’s game marks the start of the second half of the season and something of a fresh start for Gurley and an offense that has scored only one touchdown in each of the last two games.

Gurley last season did not prove a remarkably strong finisher.

In his final eight games, he rushed for 531 yards — an average of 66.4 yards per game — and scored seven touchdowns.

He ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns against the Detroit Lions but eclipsed 80 yards in only two other games down the stretch.

With eight games remaining this season, Gurley vows to remain patient.

Especially when he’s carrying the ball.

“Even when the hole is not there, still being able to just read it the same, and don’t try to do nothing outside of the play,” he said when asked what being patient meant for a running back. “If the play is not designed to hit outside, then don’t make up in your mind, ‘Oh, I know it’s not going to be up inside, so I’ll just go outside.’

“Just making sure you’re on the same track as everybody else, because once you start to predetermine stuff, that’s when you know you’re not on the same page as your linemen, you try to bounce it outside, you get holding calls.”

Quick hits

The Rams departed for the East Coast on Friday afternoon. They will have a 10 a.m. Pacific Time kickoff on Sunday. “Their wake-up call is at 5:00 a.m. our time, pregame meal is at 6:00 a.m. and kickoff is at 10:00 a.m,” Fisher said, adding, “They understand it and we’ve handled it — we just need to score some points. I’m not going to tie the two together, but we need to score some points.” … Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams on the Rams’ emphasis this week on creating turnovers: “We kind of went back to some training camp rules on some extra drills that we did. Heck, I even had to throw the ball a little this week, without getting a sore arm on the interception drill that we really do.”