Commanders RB Brian Robinson's breakout game continues remarkable comeback

By Ralph Vacchiano
Published

The play Ron Rivera had been waiting for came early in the second half on Sunday, on a little toss sweep to the outside on a third-and-1. As soon as Brian Robinson saw the hole from his blockers, he burst through it for a 21-yard gain. And as soon as the burst started, the Washington coach thought to himself, "Oh, there it is."

"I was talking to [running backs coach] Randy Jordan and he said to me, ‘Coach, I'm starting to see that pop back in his feet,'" Rivera said. "And it was kind of interesting, because that's what I was thinking on a couple of those plays that we saw."

There's no doubt that the "pop" is back in Robinson's game after the rookie running back's stellar performance in the Commanders' 19-13 win over the Atlanta Falcons last Sunday. He ran 18 times for 105 yards and caught two passes for 20 yards and a touchdown in the best performance of his short career, all against a Falcons defense that was loading up to stop him.

"His performance was outstanding," Rivera said. 

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Washington QB Taylor Heinicke talked with FOX Sports' Kristina Pink about how the Commanders beat the Falcons last Sunday. "We ran the ball well and converted on third downs," Heinicke said.

He carried the Commanders offense. And he did it almost three months to the day after he was shot twice in the right leg.

The fact that the 23-year-old is playing at all is a bit of a miracle after what happened on Aug. 28, right near the end of his first NFL training camp. He was the innocent victim of an armed robbery that left him with gunshot wounds near his hip and his knee. The injuries were never life-threatening, and somehow the bullets managed to avoid doing major damage to any tendons, ligaments or bones.

Still, it was, in Robinson's words "one of the lowest points of my life." As he was taken to the hospital, of course he wondered if he'd ever play football again. Rivera wondered that, too.

"I was fortunate enough to be with him when he was talking to the trauma surgeon," Rivera recalled. "And listening to her explaining exactly, ‘Hey, this is what happened, this is how it happened. Hey, you're going to be able to come back.' Up until the point I got to hear that, I was concerned — very concerned for the young man's health and life. And then once we got the positive news, we were very fortunate."

Even with the good news about his potential recovery, the expectations for Robinson's rookie season had already been reset. When the Commanders drafted him out of Alabama in the third round, they envisioned him developing into the workhorse in their backfield — a powerful, physical runner who could wear teams down over the course of a game.

But in the aftermath of the shooting, they figured they'd have to wait for him to recover physically and mentally. It would take time for him to become his old self again. And as a rookie, he still might need time to adjust to the NFL. At best, it seemed, maybe he could be a bit player in the offense, with his role slowly increasing as the season went along.

The speed of his timeline, though, has been remarkable. Robinson was back on the practice field just 38 days after the shooting. Then he got nine carries for 22 yards in his NFL debut just four days after that. A week later he scored his first touchdown. A week after that, he had his first 20-carry game.

His breakout performance against the Falcons on Sunday came just 91 days after he was shot.

"It is just a special moment to have the opportunity to be able to do that, and to do it after everything that's been going on this year," Robinson said. "I've been patient with it, just continued to stick to it, stick to the run game and stick to my run tracks and discipline."

"He's running with more confidence," Rivera added. "He's starting to get a little bit better feel as to cutbacks and running with his vision. Again, he went through an awful, traumatic situation, and he's really just kind of starting to show us what he's capable of."

It's no coincidence that the Commanders are, too. They are 6-2 since Robinson returned to the lineup. And for all the credit given to quarterback Taylor Heinicke for turning the Commanders' season around, they've really powered their run on the ground. They averaged only 100.5 rushing yards in their first four games while Robinson was sidelined. But they've averaged 131.4 rushing yards per game in the eight games since.

That includes an average of 144 during their recent stretch of six wins in their past seven games, and an impressive 154.5 yards per game on the ground in their last four.

It's not all Robinson. He splits the backfield duties with Antonio Gibson, who is still the Commanders' leading rusher with 476 yards on the season (just nine yards ahead of Robinson). And Jonathan Williams will get a handful of carries in the role that used to be filled by J.D. McKissic, who was placed on injured reserve with an injured neck.

But with his power and intensity, the 6-foot-1, 228-pound Robinson provides something that no one else in Washington's backfield can. Like on his 14-yard touchdown catch against the Falcons on Sunday, when he should have been tackled at the five. Instead, he lowered his shoulder and just shoved Falcons cornerback Darren Hall out of the way before plowing through linebacker Mykal Walker at the goal line. It was all about power, strength and will.

"That's what he's capable of," said Gibson. "The yards after contact is insane."

"You see guys get amped up," added Commanders cornerback Kendall Fuller. "It's just that energy that he brings to the game, and that he creates for us as a team. That was something that meant a lot to him. Just seeing him go out there and make plays, and being that player that he is, is fun to watch."

That "fun" is, of course, just one of the many things the Commanders feel when watching Robinson run like that. They are all very aware of what he went through back in August, how close his rookie season — and life — came to becoming something a lot worse.

Robinson is still feeling those emotions, too, which is why he stood in front of his teammates in the locker room on Sunday after he was given the game ball and thanked them for their "unconditional love and support."

"Just to help me get to this point, for real, man," he told his teammates, "I couldn't be more thankful for everybody in this room."

Robinson said later: "It's definitely been a process just trying to stay strong mentally, having gone through what I went through. But there's a great group of guys that I work with every day, and they make it so easy for me to come in the building and just enjoy myself and enjoy my time and want to get better and work to get better. So I really give a lot of credit to the guys in that building and in that locker room that just helped me get back to where I want to be."

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Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.