Bijan Robinson held to under 100 scrimmage yards for first time this season

SANTA CLARA, California — Falcons running back Bijan Robinson was bottled up.

His summer workout partner, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, turned in a spectacular performance, amassing 201 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns, in the Falcons’ 20-10 loss Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

“It’s always in me to want to compete with my peers and with Christian,” Robinson said. “Dude did outstanding today, and he’s very hard to stop. I give him so much credit.”

In late June and early July, Robinson worked out with McCaffrey and his brother Luke McCaffrey, a wide receiver with the Commanders. The 49ers have struggled to run the ball this season, but gashed the Falcons for 174 yards on 39 carries.

McCaffrey ran 24 times for 129 yards.

“It’s such a blessing watching a guy like that,” Robinson said. “Obviously for me, I have to just be better for my team. He did a great job for his, so I got to be better for mine.”

Robinson, who studied some of McCaffrey’s recovery techniques, was held to 40 yards on 14 carries. He caught six passes for 52 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown pass.

“I’m going to look at his performance,” Robinson said. “I’m going to look at his game and then look back at mine. He’s been doing it for a long time, and for me, I got a lot of work to do. I got to be the best player for this team.”

With backup quarterback Mac Jones starting, the Falcons figured the 49ers would try to lean on McCaffery. They were also without wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Ricky Pearsall. Tight end George Kittle was back from a torn hamstring.

The 49ers didn’t seem to care, and they force-fed McCaffrey.

“It feels like you need to go out there and figure out how to stop it, right?” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “It’s never feeling helpless, especially when you have the players that we have and you have the men we have coaching them. You always feel like you have an opportunity to go out there and win those football games.”

It was the season low in scrimmage yards for Robinson, who amassed 238 yards in the previous outing, Monday against the Bills.

“We never make an excuse for another defense trying to stop us on the run game because that’s the bread and butter,” Robinson said. “We just got to go back and look at this game and look at the things they did. We’ve got to correct it when we get back in the facility so we don’t have a performance like that again on the run.”

The 49ers, who were playing without perennial All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner, were determined not to let Robinson get rolling. Robinson tried to stay patient.

“Just keep chugging along,” Robinson said. “You never know what play could be a big play. You just got to keep on just doing your reads, looking at what they’re giving you, make sure I continue to set up the (offensive) line’s blocks.”

Robinson’s longest run was an 8-yard gain.

“If it’s not working, you just got to keep on going, and sometimes it can just pop,” Robinson said.

The 49ers were able to block the Falcons’ defenders. Safety Jessie Bates III had 10 tackles, and rookie safety Xavier Watts had nine. It’s never a good thing when the safeties lead the team in tackles.

“This was a tough loss to come off, especially after the big win last week (over the Bills),” Watts said. “Just didn’t come to play today.”

McCaffery was running right through the middle of the defense.

“We weren’t able to stop the run,” Watts said. “They were able to stay on the field for a long time. We weren’t able to get off the field. McCaffrey had a good game.”

The 49ers converted on 9 of 15 third downs (60%).