THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Todd Gurley turned a lot of heads after Sunday's 42-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons by saying the Los Angeles Rams were running what "looked like a middle school offense" and questioning the effort of his teammates. Speaking Tuesday, one day after Jeff Fisher was fired as head coach, Gurley didn't walk those comments back.
"At the end of the day," the second-year running back said, "if anybody seen the game and seen the way we played and seen the whole interview, then you know what I was talking about."
Gurley was expressing frustration with a team that was blown out for a third straight time and suffered its eighth loss in a span of nine games. He was chastising an offense that is last in the NFL in first downs, yards and points per game. Perhaps he was also allowing pent-up frustration about his own struggles to spill over.
Some on the outside believed Gurley's comments might have been the final push for Fisher to be fired, but Gurley defended the coaching staff during that same interview by saying, "Coaches aren't out there playing. Coaches don't have anything to do with it. This is about us. We're on the field."
"I don't think that had anything to do with Coach Fisher [being let go]," Rams quarterback Jared Goff said. "I think Todd was emotional. We all are. We're all frustrated. He just made some comments."
The Rams are 4-9, and Gurley, the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year, has been held to 740 rushing yards behind a suspect offensive line. He ranks 38th among 40 qualified running backs in rushing yards per attempt.
On Sunday, the Rams committed five turnovers -- one on the opening kickoff and two others that led directly to touchdowns -- and never stood a chance, despite facing an offense that was without its top two receivers. Gurley, hardly one to express his emotions outwardly, said Sunday, "We're just going through the motions. It looks like everybody's just playing to get through."
The next day, Fisher was fired, with special-teams coordinator John Fassel taking his place in the interim.
"It was tough," Gurley said. "It was tough on a lot of guys. Coach Fisher, he did a great job. He brought everybody in. We loved him as a coach. We know a lot of people didn't, but at the end of the day, we know what he did for us."
The Rams' final three games are against divisional opponents, starting with a Thursday night road meeting with the Seattle Seahawks.
Gurley said he was "just speaking my mind, speaking the truth on how we looked." He thinks teammates "definitely should take it to heart, the way we played." He hopes that will translate to the rest of the season.
"We 'bout to find out Thursday," Gurley said. "We're going to definitely find out Thursday."