TAMPA, Fla. – Falcons running back Bijan Robinson spent most of the night before the game throwing up.
With Robinson feeling sick from a headache, the Falcons played him sparingly in the 16-13 win over the Buccaneers on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
“It was just me coming here and not feeling right over the air waves, off the plane,” Robinson said. “Then last night it was just more of me trying to sleep and get my head right. I woke up this morning feeling super, super down. Just like, I don’t know what happened…it was hard to sleep. I was just trying to find my groove. I was over the toilet last night. Just trying to get out of it. I woke up this morning and I wasn’t feeling good at all.”
Robinson was asked he’d taken a COVID-19 test or an concussion test. He said that he had not.
With Robinson under the weather, the Falcons turned his role over to Cordarrelle Patterson and Tyler Allgeier.
Robinson finished with just a carry for three yards.
Allgeier rushed 21 times for 59 yards and caught three passes for 53 yards. Patterson has his best game of the season as he rushed 10 times for 56 yards.
“As we got through warm up and early on, he wasn’t feeling like himself,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “He played, but we weren’t going to overdo it. We were just being cautious. When you have other guys that can go, we are a team.”
Robinson believes that he’ll be ready to play when the Falcons play the Titans on Sunday in Nashville.
“I’ll be good next week and we’ll get right back,” Robinson said.
Robinson said he missed two games in college and one or two games in high school.
He said that he was elated that Younghoe Koo was able to win the game with a last-second kick. Before the season, Koo and Robinson agreed to a jersey switch.
“Absolutely, even when the numbers switched,” Robinson said. “Right when it happened. We have built that relationship. We became super close. We became brothers. Every day, we talked to each other. That’s my dog.”
Robinson played only six snaps in the first half and Smith told FOX that he “isn’t feeling well.”
Robinson wasn’t on the injury report this past week and was present during all open media sessions.
Robinson said he was getting sore after last week’s game. He entered the game with 80 rushes for 401 yards and 26 catches for 189 and 2 touchdowns.
He was on a pace for 300 touches for the season.
With Robinson out, Allgeier had a nice 46-yard catch up the sideline. It was the longest catch of his NFL career.
Patterson only had one carry coming into this game.
Tight end Kyle Pitts helped to pick up the slack. He can three catches for 47 yards, including a 39-yarder to get the Falcons into field goal range.
“I’d messed up the play before that,” Pitts said. “I was supposed to be on that side. You know, God works in mysterious ways. So, he still made sure that it worked. We completed. We executed on the next done and that led to the end.”
Without Robinson and with Ridder committing three red zone turnovers, the Falcons somehow managed to get a win.
“We are resilient,” Pitts said. “We live in the present. Not think about the mistakes. Just worry about the next play.”
It wasn’t a clean game for the Falcons, who committed nine penalties for 66 yards. Cornerback A.J. Terrell, Jeff Okudah and Dee Alford all were called for defensive pass interference.
“Just coming into the game, knowing that its going to be a physical matchup with the receivers that they have,” Terrell said. “Just playing aggressive. Just calls that came my way. Just having short-term memory and moving on. I knew what type of game it was going to be coming it. None of the calls really surprised me. I was just …. of course you never want a flag to come because it extends the drive, but like I said, short term memory and keep on playing.”
The Bow Tie Chronicles
About the Author
