Brian Robinson could be Commanders new RB1
Breaking down rookie running back Brian Robinson's performance against the Chiefs.
It appears as though the Washington Commanders may have a new starting running back. After fumbling in the preseason opener last week, presumed starter Antonio Gibson was replaced by rookie Brian Robinson against the Chiefs yesterday. Gibson instead had to settle for the third down back role with J.D. McKissic not playing. With Gibson in the dog house for persistent fumbling issues, Robinson had a great chance to claim the starting job as his own.
So how’d he do with that opportunity? Well, Robinson had eight carries for 31 yards, which isn’t exactly outstanding numbers, but the film gives context to those numbers. For example, three of those eight carries came in short-yardage situations where Robinson only needed a yard to convert and he converted on all three attempts.
Here are all three short-yardage conversions. The first play is an outside zone play to the left. Robinson works outside until he sees the edge defender poking his head outside the left tackle and feels defensive tackle pushing left guard Saahdiq Charles back a bit. Robinson then cuts his run inside behind the center, but finds traffic. He stays on his feet and cuts it back further, running over the back side pursuit before falling forward to ensure he picks up the first down. The second play is a similar zone scheme to the left, but this time Robinson attempts to work the gap between the left guard and tackle. However, a linebacker fills that hole quickly, so Robinson has to adjust his path back outside and work down the line. The linebacker engages and attempts to make the tackle, but Robinson stays on his feet and keeps fighting to work forward and pick up the yard he needs to convert. He’s eventually forced out of bounds, but not before he gets the first down.
The third play is perhaps his most impressive of the three short-yardage conversions. Washington uses a counter scheme with left guard Saahdiq Charles pulling to the right side to kick out the edge defender while tight end Armani Rogers follows him to the right side before wrapping around to block a linebacker. Robinson reads the play inside out, but the Chiefs manage to clog up the inside gaps well. He ends up following his pullers to the right side and works through traffic before lowering his shoulder to take on a linebacker and pick up the yard he needs to convert.
Those short-yardage situations are something that Robinson should excel at given his size, strength and natural running ability. He would likely have taken those carries in those situations anyway, even if Gibson had been the starter. If we take those three carries out of the equation because they were only designed to get the one yard needed to convert, Robinson’s stat line changes to five carries for 28 yards, which is 5.6 yards per carry. That’s a much more encouraging stat line for a potential starting running back. So let’s continue looking at his other carries to see what Robinson could offer the Commanders as the starting running back.
Robinson’s first carry of the came was an inside zone scheme with a tight end sift block. It’s a pretty basic scheme but something that Washington runs regularly. On this play, Robinson’s first read is a fairly easy one because the defensive tackle over the right guard penetrates quickly into the backfield, forcing Robinson to cut his run back early. However, as he cuts back, he finds an unblocked linebacker that reads the play extremely well and falls back into the cut back lane to make the play. Robinson doesn’t give up though. He quickly shifts his weight from cutting back to his left to cutting to his right, trying to avoid the free linebacker. He looks to lower his shoulders to make himself more compact, which enables him to bounce off the tackle attempt as he works back to the right side of the line. There, Robinson is met by the other defensive tackle, who peels off to make the tackle, but Washington and Robinson should be happy with three yards on a play that should have been blown up for effectively nothing.
Robinson had an even better zone run later in the game.
Last week, Robinson had a few mistakes when running the zone scheme. He had one run where he was late to make his cut and another where he made his cut far too early. But against the Chiefs, he was able to correct those mistakes and looked more effective. This play is a great example of the correction. It’s a wide zone concept to the left but from the shotgun. Robinson works to the edge until the defensive end sets the edge against the left tackle. Robinson then looks to cut back, but remains patient with it. He presses his run to the outside, forcing the defenders to overcommit to the outside, which opens up a lane to cut back into. That patience is rewarded as the linebacker overcommits, allowing center Chase Roullier to peel off his combination block on the defensive tackle and pick up the linebacker as Robinson cuts back. With Roullier picking up the linebacker, Robinson bounces his run back outside, where he’s able to accelerate down the field on his way to a nine-yard gain before being brought down.
This is a very encouraging sign for Washington as the team relied on the zone scheme a lot last year. Antonio Gibson has developed into a solid zone runner, though he does still make some mistakes with his reads and cuts. In college, Robinson was more of a gap scheme running back, but if he can be this effective in zone too, then having him start means the Commanders can still lean on the zone scheme while also incorporating more gap scheme runs too,
Speaking of those gap scheme runs, Robinson also excelled on the few gap scheme runs the Commanders used against the Chiefs.
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