5 NFL Red Zone Trends to Monitor for Week 8

Todd Gurley Doesn't Need the Entire Red Zone

If you've been even casually following the NFL this year, it has been impossible to not know how productive Todd Gurley has been for the Los Angeles Rams. He leads the NFL in both rushing touchdowns (11) and combined rushing and receiving touchdowns(14).

if you've been following this series, you also know that he has been absolutely dominating red zone work. He is one of only two players to have accounted for at least half of their team's red zone opportunities (rush attempts plus targets), and his 56 red zone opportunities are the most in the NFL by a wide margin. The next-best mark is only 41, and after that no one has more than 25.

What's especially absurd in Gurley's numbers, though, is his workload in goal line situations. If we just look at snaps inside the 10 yard line, instead of the 20, Gurley still has 33 opportunities -- more than all but one player has managed in the entire red zone. Narrowing it even further -- to just snaps from the five and in, Gurley's 16 opportunities would put him in a tie for 15th in red zone opportunities. Nobody else has more than 11 looks inside the 5, with only 3 players even cracking double-digits.

When you consider how drastically league-average touchdown rates increase (last year's red zone rushing touchdown rate was 15.8%, inside the 10 was 28.2% and inside the 5 was 39.8%), it's no surprise to see Gurley sitting atop the league in touchdowns.

Unless the Rams' offense takes a sudden and unexpected step back, we can also expect Gurley at the top of the touchdown rankings over the remainder of the season.