The most shocking stat from the Falcons’ season start isn’t a record broken, but a burden carried alone. Bijan Robinson touched the ball 29 times in a 20-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, a workload that included 21 carries and eight receptions. He finished with 173 total yards, accounting for 72.6% of the team’s total offensive production in that game. This massive volume happened while the offense finished last in expected points added and 27th in yards per play.
The Cost of One-Game Reliance
Robinson’s heavy usage comes with a dark history for Atlanta. The Falcons are 0-4 in games where he records 28 or more touches. In this recent loss, he led the NFL in scrimmage yards for the season but the team still lost. Drake London and Kyle Pitts combined for just three touches in that same game, leaving the star back to do almost everything. London finished with only two catches for 29 yards, while Pitts saw just one target and caught nothing.
London addressed the lack of looks with a blunt assessment after the game. “I could not care less about the targets. We should have won that game if we capitalized on a lot of stuff,” London said, per NFL.com. The team clearly needs more balance to win, but the numbers show a one-man show so far.
Carolina’s Run Defense Woes
The matchup for the home opener looks dangerous for the Panthers. They allowed almost 300 rushing yards in their own season opener against the Chicago Bears. The Bears scored six rushing touchdowns and gained 291 yards on the ground with Caleb Williams accounting for 65 of those and two scores to the mix.
Carolina was a bottom-third unit last season at stopping the run, giving up 122.9 yards per game. This sets up a perfect storm where Robinson faces a defense that has already collapsed against the run.
A Coach’s View on Balance
Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski knows the team cannot rely on just one player forever. “It goes back to what’s necessary for a given game,” Stefanski said. He noted that while Robinson is great alone, the offense needs to move the ball around to make defenses work harder.
Blogging Dirty points out that Robinson needs seven more yards to reach 4,000 career rushing yards, a benchmark highlighting his reliability even as the team falters. According to NFL.com, Robinson touched the ball on a career-high 65.9 percent of his 46 snaps during Week 1. The Panthers gave up nearly 300 yards on the ground, and the Falcons are looking to exploit that weakness right away. The spread for the game is tight at just 2.5 points, suggesting a close battle.
London remains focused on the result rather than the stats. “You can get frustrated all you want, but I’m more frustrated by the loss than anything else,” said London. The team must find a way to spread the ball if they want to win the home opener against a struggling Carolina defense.
