Bijan Robinson wasn’t on the field much at all on Sunday afternoon.
The Atlanta Falcons rookie running back played in just three snaps on the team’s first three drives of their 16-13 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Florida. He wasn’t on the injury report headed into the matchup at Raymond James Stadium, either, which left fans puzzled.
Then at halftime, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith revealed that Robinson was “just not feeling all that great.” It’s unknown what Robinson is dealing with specifically, but it was clearly severe enough that he couldn’t go on Sunday.
Robinson, who the Falcons took with the No. 8 overall pick in the draft out of Texas earlier this year, had played in 72% of offensive snaps this season entering Sunday. He had 401 rushing yards on 80 carries, and 189 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 26 catches this season.
Robinson was a big fantasy player this week, too. He was started in 99% of Yahoo Sports leagues, and was the consensus No. 10 running back through six weeks. He was projected to score just shy of 15 points in 0.5 PPR scoring leagues on Yahoo Sports, too.
The Falcons were tied with the Buccaneers 10-10 at halftime, and took a brief lead in the third quarter after Younghoe Koo drilled a 41-yard field goal.
Ridder marched the Falcons down the field in the fourth quarter, too, and seemed to have a 12-yard touchdown run to cap what was a 10-play, 92-yard drive. That would have put Atlanta up by 10 points late in the game, and likely would have sealed the win. Ridder, however, fumbled the ball through the end zone right before he crossed the goal line — which resulted in a Buccaneers touchback after a review
It marked Ridder’s third fumble of the game, all of which occurred in the red zone.
The Buccaneers tied the game up after quarterback Baker Mayfield broke out for a 31-yard run, which set up a 36-yard field goal. Koo, however, hit a game-winning 51-yard field goal of his own as time expired to give the Falcons the three-point win.
Mayfield went 27-of-42 for 275 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Buccaneers in the loss. Rachaad White had 34 rushing yards on 13 carries, and had another 65 yards on six catches. Mike Evans finished with 82 yards and a touchdown.
Ridder went 19-of-25 for 250 yards for the Falcons. He also scored the team’s only touchdown on a 2-yard rush in the first quarter. Without Robinson, Tyler Allgeier led the ground game with 59 yards on 21 carries. Cordarrelle Patterson had 56 yards on 10 carries. Drake London had 54 receiving yards on six catches, too.
The Falcons have now won two of their last three games. They’ll take on the Tennessee Titans next week in Nashville.
