THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Todd Gurley finally put together the kind of performance he had been longing for. It was Week 2 of this season, and the Los Angeles Rams running back had racked up 136 yards from scrimmage and scored two touchdowns. But it came in a loss to the Washington Redskins. And after the game, Gurley's mind was consumed by his only real blemish.

"Can't be out there fumbling," he said, his response to a question centered on how he had actually hit his stride. "That's one thing I have to fix."

Rams running back Todd Gurley has five fumbles in five games in 2017, as many as he had over the 29 previous games of his first two NFL seasons. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Gurley is in the midst of what looks very much like a re-emergence, while leading the NFC with 646 scrimmage yards and leading the NFL with seven touchdowns. But he has also fumbled five times through the first five games, tying his total through 29 games from 2015-16.

And that stuff tends to wear on him.

"It's not a thing that I'm used to," Gurley said. "It's just like ..."

Gurley exhaled loudly, demonstrating the frustration that comes with every one of his fumbles.

"You can carry the ball a hundred times, but everybody always sees that fumble, like, 'Ah, you're always fumbling.' 'I only fumbled one time.' And you just know, man. You just know that's not you. It's not yourself; you're not that type of person to just go out there and just hand the other team the ball. It's definitely frustrating, but you just gotta move on and just play your game."

Gurley's five fumbles were one shy of New York Jets quarterback Josh McCown for the NFL lead entering Week 6. He's also one of 14 players to lose at least two of his fumbles this season (Gurley's teammate, Tavon Austin, is tied for the lead with three lost fumbles). On the Rams' first drive Sunday, Gurley reached for the pylon after gaining more than 10 yards up the left sideline, but saw the football get knocked away by safety Earl Thomas. It went into the end zone and out of bounds, giving the Seattle Seahawks the ball on a touchback.

That play changed the entire complexion of what ended up being a 16-10, turnover-laden loss for Gurley's Rams.

Now they'll face a Jacksonville Jaguars defense that is allowing the NFL's second-most rushing yards per game but also one that has forced an NFL-leading 15 turnovers, five of them lost fumbles.

"I just gotta hold it high and tight and just take care of the ball," Gurley said. "There's really no excuse for it. I've been working on that in practice. It just happens. If a guy carries the ball 600 times, he's going to probably fumble at least five. You never want to turn the ball over, but it's just bound to happen."