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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- One day each week, either on Monday or on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Rams' running backs will watch film of all the plus-four-yard runs from the previous Sunday's games. This week, for the first time in a long time, Adrian Peterson was all over the footage, with 11 runs that gained at least five yards in his debut for the Arizona Cardinals. Todd Gurley became aware of Peterson long before that film session, letting his Twitter followers know that Peterson can't be discounted, even at 32. Gurley reiterated that sentiment on Thursday afternoon, moments before hopping on the bus that would take him to the airport for a London-bound flight to play Peterson's Cardinals in Week 7. "He ain't never went nowhere," Gurley said. "Y’all need to stop being disrespectful to AP; that’s all I’m going to say." Gurley faces Peterson while in the midst of Peterson-like production. In Sunday's 27-17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Gurley topped 100 yards on the ground for the third time in four weeks -- immediately after going 20 straight games without amassing triple-digit rushing yards. On the heels of a disappointing 2016 season, Gurley now leads the NFC with 766 scrimmage yards (just 446 shy of his total through 10 more games last year) and is tied for the NFL lead with seven touchdowns (one more than he scored in all of 2016). Sunday's performance didn't jump off the page, but it might have been one of his most encouraging, because he continually displayed patience as a runner. "If you take a look at that game against Jacksonville," Rams running backs coach Skip Peete said, "you’ll see a lot of those runs that were kind of that way, where he’ll start, he’ll set up the linemen, and bring those linebackers to his offensive linemen, help set up their blocks. And I think that’s the most important thing you can do as a runner is you bring the second-level players to the down linemen, so that they can have an easier time making those blocks. Once they get to their blocks, then you accelerate off their blocks. That’s an area that I think he’s really improved on this year." Gurley -- also continually evolving as a receiver -- has been a more efficient runner this season. He was named the offensive rookie of the year in 2015, after rushing for 1,097 yards in 12 starts. But a lot of that yardage total was produced by the long run. Gurley had 12 runs of at least 20 yards as a rookie, but just 30.6 percent of his runs ended up going five yards or more. This season, he has only two runs of 20 or more yards, but 43.1 percent of his runs have gained at least five yards. On Sunday, Gurley accumulated 116 rushing yards, even though his longest went for 14. Rams coach Sean McVay raved about that. "These are the things that we all felt he was capable of, and we expect him to continue to play at a high level," McVay said. "Those are the expectations for a guy that we think is one of the best backs in this league." Gurley has always liked watching other running backs, in college and the pros. But more so as a fan than as a student. One of the main ones was Peterson, the four-time first-team All-Pro who was discarded by the New Orleans Saints and broke out for a 134-yard game upon joining the division-rival Cardinals. "He’s the top of the food chain, the best of the best," Gurley said. "Nothing but respect for him."
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