Allen Robinson was unfortunately a flop in his Rams debut against the Bills. He was on the field for all but two snaps in the loss, but he was targeted by Matthew Stafford only twice. For comparison, Ben Skowronek, Darrell Henderson Jr. and Tyler Higbee were targeted 22 times as a trio.
There are plenty of questions about why Robinson didn’t get the ball more despite seemingly coming open a handful of times throughout the game. The Bills did bracket him with double coverage and their zone was effective, but Stafford simply wasn’t looking his way.
A film cut-up of every route run by Robinson shows what plenty of people saw: He was getting open but not getting targeted.
It was a combination of coverage and pressure that forced Stafford to go elsewhere on the majority of his throws, but he very easily could’ve made more of a concerted effort to get No. 1 the ball.
Take a look at the tape for yourself.
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Allen Robinson had a 96% routes run share & a 97% snap share
Here are all of his routes that are not screens or just quick curls vs. press
Also left out the garbage time fade at the end of the game (time restrictions) pic.twitter.com/2XOYE4vcaI
— Nick Falato (@nickfalato) September 9, 2022
Sean McVay originally said after the game that he wants to get Robinson more opportunities. Stafford added that the Bills were playing a ton of Cover 2, which had two safeties over the top to prevent big plays and force the Rams to throw it short.
You can see that being the case in the video above, and there were instances where the underneath defender would turn his back and run with Robinson, knowing there was another safety over the top.
McVay added on Friday that he wants to get Robinson more involved, but he also said he had some opportunities to make plays. Make of that what you will.
“We got to try to get Allen more involved, but there were some opportunities for him to come to life that for a lot of different reasons it didn’t end up occurring,” McVay said. “But those are things that we’ll look into week in and week out. Ultimately, we’ve just got to execute overall better.”
The Rams can’t run their offense completely through Cooper Kupp, even as good as he is. they need another wideout to make plays on the opposite side. If they really can’t find ways to get Robinson more involved, that might be more of an indication of Robinson’s poor fit than anything else.