ATLANTA — For the rest of time, as early as nine days from now, Patriots rookie Sony Michel shall remain Todd Gurley's 'little brother' in arms, based on their strong ties from the 2014 season (and beyond) at Georgia.
Covering the next eight days, however, Gurley won't make time for speaking with Michel, since the latter's 'way over on the other side' with the Patriots, also known as enemy territory.
In fact, on Friday night, while the Rams were soaking up the last hours of sunshine and warm temperatures in California, the affable Gurley barely acknowledged the younger Michel for more than a few seconds–clearly establishing a short-term line between UGA loyalty ... and Gurley's commitment to winning the Super Bowl in Atlanta.
Which brings us to this:
Next Sunday shall mark the first-ever Super Bowl with both starting running backs hailing from UGA–Gurley (Rams) and Michel (Patriots).
And as mentioned above, in 2014, both Michel (then a precocious freshman) and Gurley (911 yards rushing, 9 TDs in just six games that year) graced the same backfield at Georgia.
Shortly thereafter, Gurley declared early for the NFL, got drafted high in Round 1 (10th overall) ... and the rest is history.
By the way, neither Michel nor Gurley were the Dawgs' leading rusher in 2014.
Due to Gurley's four-game absence (suspension), Nick Chubb ended up carrying the proverbial mail for UGA, racking up 1,547 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns as a freshman.
Fast forward to the NFL years: Gurley likely rates as the league's most prolific back over the last two seasons, averaging 1,962 total yards and 20 touchdowns during that span.
As a short-term hurdle, though, it's fair to to wonder if the Rams have been concealing the severity of Gurley's knee injury from early December.
For last week's NFC title game, Gurley logged only five touches against the Saints (13 total yards, 1 TD). If he were completely healthy, that number would easily be four or five times as high–especially during a high-stakes playoff thriller.
Here are four digestible fun facts regarding Gurley and/or Michel:
1) According to ESPN.com, since 1997, Michel and Hall of Famer Terrell Davis are the only tailbacks to amass five rushing touchdowns in a single postseason.
In other words, Michel has 60 minutes to separate from Davis for all time.
2) As a tandem, Gurley and Michel are a perfect 5 for 5 in collecting 100 total yards and/or one touchdown with every postseason appearance.
3) Strange but true: Gurley has never rushed for 100 yards against an NFC South opponent (Falcons, Saints, Panthers, Buccaneers).
4) Michel has logged 18 total touches nine times as a rookie. When hitting that magic number, he's averaging 107 total yards and 1.2 touchdowns.
