This should be no surprise since even Gould has said that stasis in the fossil record is the trade-secret of paleontology. You are taking Gould out of context. Gould's theory of punctuated equilibrium states that evolution is not a continuous and unbroken tale of progressive development. Instead, sudden bursts of speciation interrupt longer periods of relative stasis. The sudden changes happen after catastrophic events such as the asteroid impact which brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs and the rise of mammals.
Stasis sets in when the available ecological niches are filled by existing species.
The fossil record is comprised of species that appear suddenly, fully-formed and remain on the record for an average of 1 million years with no clear vector of morphological progress, and then vanish. It also shows the divergence of ancestral species into different descendant lines. Some of those lines survive and prosper while others die out. The record of the development of the modern horse, Equus, is solid proof of evolution in action. And paleontologists know it.