FLOWERY BRANCH — About a quarter of the way into the season, the workload for rookie running back Bijan Robinson has been pretty heavy.
With the Falcons offense still trying to get on track, he’s been one of the few bright spots.
Robinson and the Falcons (2-2) are set to face the Texans (2-2) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
While the Falcons continue to struggle in the passing game, Robinson, the eighth player taken in the NFL draft, has averaged 18 touches per game and 113 yards to help power the offense, which ranks 11th in rushing and 32nd (last) in passing.
“Yeah, I think some weeks, he’s taking a lot of snaps,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “And the way the game’s gone, I think there’s a lot he does and does well for us. But sometimes when you have some short drives early, it doesn’t allow you to get into the rhythm with other players.”
Robinson, who’s had two 100-yard rushing games, has rushed 53 times for 318 yards. He has caught 19 passes for 134 yards. He’s on pace for 306 touches, 1,921 yards and four touchdowns.
He has played 33 snaps (63%) against Carolina, 59 (72%) against Green Bay, 54 (81%) against Detroit and 44 (76%) against Jacksonville.
“If a guy’s making a lot of plays, sometimes as a play caller, it’s hard not to try to force the ball, but you got to understand the big picture and everything that goes with it,” Smith said.
Robinson is fine with how things have unfolded and doesn’t know if they Falcons can feed him some more touches.
“Whatever they have a plan for me on Sunday, I’m just going to follow that plan,” Robinson said. “If it’s a lot or not, I’ve got try to make the best of it for this team. That’s all I’ll say on that one.”
With Cordarrelle Patterson missing the first three games and playing just one snap from scrimmage Sunday against Jacksonville, the Falcons have leaned on Robinson and Tyler Allgeier to carry the rushing attack. Patterson had a lingering thigh injury.
“But I know this, Tyler – it’s going to look a lot better when everybody’s involved and you’re getting longer drives and getting more plays and scoring more points, so it doesn’t end up falling out and you’re not in a lot of two-minute situations,” Smith said.
The Falcons can probably ease off of Robinson if Patterson can take on more of the running back load. They don’t want to wear down the rookie.
Robinson, who’s 5-foot-11 and 215 pounds, has displayed his elusiveness, vision, running and catching ability that warranted the comparison to some of the NFL’s greatest hybrid running backs.
He’s on pace to fall right within the rookie season workloads of Barry Sanders (1989, third overall, 5-8, 203), Marshall Faulk (1994, second overall, 5-11, 211), LaDainian Tomlinson (2001, fifth overall, 5-10, 215) and Saquon Barkley (2018, second overall, 6-0, 232).
Sanders had 304 touches for 1,752 yards and 14 touchdowns. Faulk had 366 touches for 1,804 yards and 12 touchdowns. Tomlinson had 398 touches for 1,603 and 10 touchdowns. Barkley had 352 for 2,028 and 15 touchdowns.
“When I’m on the field, it’s really just instinctive,” Robinson said. “Just to see what the defender is doing to see if create some separation instead of trying to play for the way it happens.”
Robinson has had a few of his runs, including the 11-yard touchdown reception against the Panthers, go viral on the internet.
He also likes his clips on the “Toy Story Funday” animation simulcast Sunday during the game against the Jaguars.
“I didn’t know there was a chip in our shoulder pads,” Robinson said. “But when I saw that, it was pretty crazy seeing that. I was like my ‘Toy Story’ character, was making moves on ‘Toy Story.’ It was pretty cool to watch that and experience that.”
Robinson tried to explain his running style.
“It just happens,” Robinson said. “It’s creating angles. If I see a defender on right inside or left inside, I know I (must) have a plan. Or if he’s coming right after me, I (must) have a plan to escape because those dudes are the best to do it. I need to come up with something really fast to avoid a tackle and get up field. If I don’t need to do any extra moves or things, just put my head down and try to run over them.”
Robinson knows he won’t last by trying to run over all of the defenders.
“Which is always like, I can’t do that all the time because there are dudes pursuing,” Robinson said. “If I see an angle, and if I can create some space with leverage. That will help us out.”
Robinson has a plan for the Falcons’ slow starts. They have picked up only one first down on four opening series and then threw an interception on the next play. The Falcons have had three-and-outs to start against the Panthers, Lions and Jaguars.
“Just go out there and be who we are at the beginning of the game,” Robinson said. “We don’t need no halftime speech. We just need to understand that we need to ... go into the stadium on Sunday with an attacking mindset of just being dominant. ... We need to come out and attack. Fire off the ball like we know how.”
