Falcons’ slumping offense could use ‘home run’ power Sunday against Chargers

Robinson put together a string of five games where he amassed more than 100 scrimmage yards. But in the outing before the bye week, he was held to 35 yards rushing and 28 yards receiving by the Broncos on Nov. 17.

Robinson has rushed 167 times for 783 yards (4.7 yards per carry) and six rushing touchdowns. He also has 45 receptions for 359 yards and a touchdown.

Robinson’s longest gain this season was a 37-yard touchdown run against the Saints. His longest last season was a 38-yard run.

During the pre-draft process, Robinson was compared with the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley and Hall of Famers LaDainian Tomlinson and Barry Sanders. The Falcons selected him with the eighth overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

He noticed that Barkley rushed for 255 yards and scored on runs of 70 and 72 yards in a win over the Rams on Sunday. Those are the type of “home runs” the Falcons could use.

Robinson watched all of his runs over the bye week and did his own self-study.

“What could I have done better,” Robinson said. “The blocking scheme, if I can chase the hole a little longer or if I should have cut back and found the (lanes). Where can I see where the defense ends up? How did they flow? I’m trying to take my game to the next level.”

If Robinson can find another level, that would give the Falcons a much-needed boost down the stretch. The Falcons have a one-game lead in the NFC South over Tampa Bay (5-6), with six games to play.

The Falcons’ offense was stymied against the Broncos and didn’t score a touchdown.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins, who in his past two games failed to throw a touchdown pass in back-to-back games for the first time in his starting career, also could use a boost from the rushing attack.

“It’s just understanding the whole picture of the offense and not just what I can do,” Robinson said. “Even in pass protection and getting open for Kirk in the pass game. Just little things like that and me asking questions to the coaches and other players.”

The Falcons also could use Tyler Allgeier, who has rushed 85 times for 429 yards and two touchdowns.

“I’m going to talk to Tyler to see if he can press (the hole) better or what he did well with,” Robinson said. “But it’s not a hard process. It’s a process that takes a little time. But it’s what gets you better as a player and what get’s your team better overall. Just getting a better understanding of what you’ve got to do.”

Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph bottled up the Falcons’ run game. But also the Falcons fell behind 21-6 late in the second quarter and had to abandon the run.

“Now, that we’ve got to see that happen, we get to go back in and see a lot of different calls that we can make to prevent any team from stopping the run,” Robinson said. “This offense, (when) the running game is going very well, then the whole offense is clicking. We have to establish that right now. Make it a big thing that we are talking about as an offense.”

The Chargers were gashed for 212 yards by the Ravens on Monday night.

“We don’t want anybody to stop our run game, ever,” Robinson said.

The Falcons are determined to get things rolling again.

“We’ll get together and see what works the best so that we can continue to (lean) on the run game,” Robinson said. “I think it just opens up everything else.”

The Falcons are averaging 117.9 yards rushing per game, which ranks 14th of 32 teams in the league. The 50 yards total against Denver was a season-low.

“The Broncos came with a good plan,” Robinson said. “They had a lot of good plays schemed up, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for us at all. It’s not a matter of what you scheme up. We should be the ones that are firing off, getting those yards and not getting stopped at all.”

And maybe even hitting a “home run” or two.