The first touchdown of the Atlanta Falcons' 2025 season was a fitting catch and run from Bijan Robinson. The 50-yard scamper showed off the speed and ability to make the first man miss. Robinson is incredible and going to form an argument as the league's most talented starter. However, there is one hole in the playmaker's game that was exposed early on in Sunday's game against Tampa Bay.
Early in the game, Atlanta could feel it was losing steam, and Raheem Morris decided to go for a 4th and short near midfield. However, oddly, the Falcons kept Robinson in to run the short yardage play rather than go with the more punishing Allgeier. Predictably, Vita Vea broke the pocket, and Robinson never had a prayer of making it past the line of scrimmage. This isn't the first time that this has been a struggle for the Falcons star.
Falcons RB Bijan Robinson Continues to Struggle to Convert in Short Yardage Situations
It was a familiar way for the situation to play out and a rare miss for offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. You know, running a simple dive play doesn't have Robinson at his best, where he can get out and create space. The back running between the tackles is going to garner very limited results. This is especially the case when defenders are keyed in on forcing the offense to convert in less-than-ideal circumstances.
Whenever this happens, running Robinson in the middle of the line is rarely going to get results; the back is horribly inconsistent in what is one of the very few holes in his game. Calling out misses for Robinson is truly looking for weaknesses where there are very few. However, it is obviously present and haunted Atlanta yet again on Sunday.
This is where it is important to point out that this is obviously offset by the value as a receiver and creating room where there wasn't any. Rushing against the Tampa front was shockingly difficult, forcing the Falcons to and the star back to get creative to create some level of balance.
Still, it was obvious the Falcons would've benefitted from preseason reps with the offense looking rusty. Penix's timing was off on a handful of throws, and in short-yardage situations, the rust was clear. Atlanta needs to realize that one of the very few things Robinson can't do at an elite level is convert in a short-yardage situation.
Opting to have Penix throw the ball, a quarterback sneak, or handing it off to Allgeier were all obvious counters that could've stemmed the tide of Atlanta's early struggles. Instead, Zac Robinson opted to call the one play that Bijan simply isn't likely to convert.