Bijan Robinson’s HUGE game leads Falcons to statement win over Bills | Monday Night Football Recap

Bijan Robinson’s HUGE game leads Falcons to statement win over Bills | Monday Night Football Recap

falls to four and two. So pleased to be alongside my guys Brian McFadden. Emory Hunt offering thoughts here on game one of two on Monday night. And I can’t help but wax poetic about Bijan Robinson. The man is special. He’s the first running back with 230 or more all purpose yards on Monday Night Football since Bo Jackson. He did everything except run up the tunnel. Emory, as our resident running back, what impresses you most about the balance, the skill, the ability right now of Bijan Robinson? His eyes and his feet are always in unison. He can see it and react to it instantly. And that right there in and of itself is a superior skill, because a lot of times you see it and then your mind processes, okay, I got to make this move. But he sees it at the same time. His feet are reacting almost like his feet are ahead of his eyes. But they all work together at the same time. Every run was like an ice skater just weaving down the slopes, and it was just fascinating to see how he’s able to do this. Consistently pressing the hole on the outside zone, cutting it back across the grain. You see right here, just weaving through the traffic in and out of traffic like a New York cab, and gets down the sideline showing the balance, breaking the tackle. So everything he did from a running back perspective was teach tape, clinic tape. And he is an outstanding runner. I have a new nickname for Bijan. Bijan. Mongoose Robinson. Yeah. Mongoose low center of gravity. When he makes his cut that you point out he doesn’t lose any speed. The suddenness, the patience. I mean, he just he just navigates through traffic with such ease. Man, it’s amazing to watch. And he does so with no effort. It just happens organically, naturally for him. And he’s one of the best running backs in the NFL right now. And it’s not just about what he does as a runner, but what about his influence in the in the passing game? Anytime he touches the football, you have to hold your breath because you don’t know. I like the mongoose. Yes, Bijan. Mongoose Robinson shouts out to Atlanta. If y’all want to take that and run with it, I give you guys the okay to do so. Falcons organization or the entire city of Atlanta. He shouts out to J.J. He fears no animal in the animal kingdom because he might be king of it right now that is running the football. But as you said, a plus one in the receiving game 68 yards through the air as well in this one, 238 all purpose yards, fourth most in Falcons franchise history, there were three such instances of Julio Jones going to bigger numbers than that. But outstanding stuff here for Bijan and really helped Atlanta dictate the terms early in this game. Mac. They made this their ball game. They played from their pace. How important was that. And ultimately taking down the Buffalo Bills. Very, very important. When you’re playing against a playoff caliber team with a star quarterback in the Buffalo Bills getting out to a fast start, that’s what they did. Remember at one point in time, it was 21 to 7 in the second quarter. Now, Coach Rahim, I would love to see your team continue to keep your foot on the gas in the second second half because you became a bit stagnant. But guess what? Even when there were some issues with the offense moving the football down the field, your defense stood up there flying around playing some inspired football. And it starts with the first two level. The guys that put their hand in the dirt in the second level, guys in the linebackers, their ability to coexist in this defense and they made things difficult for Josh Allen. Josh Allen looked like a pedestrian quarterback tonight on a primetime stage. We’re not used to seeing Josh Allen be disturbed like he was disturbed tonight, but it’s all about what we saw from Atlanta. Defensively. Offense got off to a fast start that Falcons defense. They were able to bring that thing home. That fourth leg was outstanding. And kudos to to the Falcons because this was a much needed win. When you look at what’s circulating around in the division, Tampa are taking care of the business quietly. The Carolina Panthers are doing what they’re supposed to do. If you’re Atlanta, you need to stay within pack of the rest of the quality teams in your division. We said same as it did a week ago for Drake Maye and the Patriots, a win over the bills. This is one of the most respected teams in the AFC that’s going to breed all sorts of confidence for Penix and the Falcons. What does this do for them moving forward? It gives them the confidence that they can beat anybody. They look at the AFC’s best quote unquote and did a great job against them up front in the trenches. They ran through the Buffalo Bills. You talk about a team that gave up 6.9 yards, a play on defense. And when you look at the Falcons nine rushing first downs, that’s telling you what they’re doing up front. We talked about Bijan Robinson and what he did running the football. But you look at what they did in the trenches even without Jake Matthews who went out with an injury, you know, in the second quarter, I believe. And so the offensive line still did what it had to do to win this ball game. So it was one up front even with Ed Oliver back. And Penix picked up right where he left off. This is someone that came in, threw for over 250 yards. Was confident throwing the football down the field. Decisive. Wasn’t really indecisive in his decision making. The accuracy was there. Drake London balled out. You saw him have a big day. So all of their stars stepped up, rose to the occasion and knocked it out of the park. And on defense, when you got dudes on that defense from Atlanta, Houston, South Florida and Memphis, no surprise that defense went out there and balled out against Buffalo. So kudos to those guys. This was a total team effort and team win. I’m glad you placed this in the context of Oliver’s return to action, because we were expecting the bills defense, Mac, to take a step forward. They found themselves in maybe the middle 20 of this game, but early on it was leaving plenty to be desired. What’s the chief issue right now with the Buffalo Bills defense? The interior of the defensive line, even with them adding more bulk to the defensive line, I always felt like they were a bit undersized. You know, when Oliver, who is a good player, he’s your best defensive lineman. He’s south of 285 or 290, for sure. That always could be an issue. And the thing about this running style from Atlanta, Emory, it’s not necessarily all about coming north and south. It’s attacking the perimeters, but within inside the tackles. That’s the thing. That zone, that that stretch zone they run. They’re not trying to get outside the tackle. It’s about being inside the tackle with the cutback possibility. And they had no answer. The flow of the offensive line just washed down the bills defensively. And it just was open. Sesame for Bijan Bijan Robinson. And what happened when Terrel Bernard went out. That’s their thumper in the run game when he went out with injury that killed their ability to stop the run. So we saw Algier find success. We saw Bijan find success, all because number eight wasn’t out there doing his thing. What he has done all throughout the course of the season, he’s been their guy to make a key play on defense and been a thumper in the run game. Without him in the lineup, it was chaos. They couldn’t really get set. They couldn’t really get lined in those edges. You talked about couldn’t get off blocks, couldn’t set a physical edge. Atlanta had their way in the trenches with the run game, which set up everything else. Throwing the football after the dust settles here in week six. Entering week seven, we have a New England Patriots team now leading that division with two consecutive losses for the Buffalo Bills. We must explore a bit taking a look at it. I’m sure our friends at FanDuel will still position the bills as favorites to win that division. But things are tightening and there’s a growing belief in New England. They obviously have that first head to head. There’s a second consecutive loss here for Josh Allen in Buffalo. We asked the question prior to the season is is there enough there on the offensive side of the ball with it predicated by Josh Allen and James Cook? We know the talent exists there. They are at a deficit on the outside respect to Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir. But when a play needs to be made, Mack I’m not sure. In the pass game there’s an obvious place to go with the ball right now and that was an issue tonight. Now, if you look at the flow of the game, how it started, Joshua Palmer was off to a really, really good start. And then he got injured. Right. And we saw the offensive passing game become a bit stagnant. And I think when you look at Josh Allen for some reason guys he never seemed to really get into a rhythm because this is the offense in terms of their pass catchers. It’s not about name, it’s about living up to the billing, but also your quarterback helping you become a better player than what you’re actually looked upon in terms of your professional career. The rhythm was never there. They ran the football well. James Cook I would love to see more carries, but around 17 for 80 plus yards is a good average. It’s just what the passing game. I mean Josh Allen just he just never seemed to be in that Josh Allen like mode. For whatever reason. It was from start to finish when this game was zero zero. You look at the first few drives for Josh Allen, it just it wasn’t clicking for him tonight. It was a play in the fourth quarter where he scrambles out and he has an opportunity to complete a pass for a first down. It was that throw right there I believe at the end of the game. But when he tried to flick it forward it was about a ten yard flick. But it wasn’t a clean sheet. If he throws it regular, it’s a first down and now you extend the drive. Who knows what ends up happening on that series. But now the Falcons rallied. They knocked that ball away and that kills that drive. Also I have a circle right here. Offensive play calling questionable I felt like they called different unique plays that they didn’t have to when they were running the football. Well on fourth down or third down, they went ahead, tried to do an end around receiver, fumbled the football, pick it up. Now you have a loss. So things like that kind of curtailed what look to be promising drives. And the Falcons try to help Buffalo out Atlanta left 17 points out there on the field. They should have gone for a field goal. The touchdown at the end of the half that they were London stepped out of bounds. Another missed field goal blocked field goal. So they had their opportunities. But because the play calling to your point didn’t help them develop a rhythm or an identity. Plus Josh Allen’s playing a little bit inconsistent with the one costly turnover. Not the one that just ended the game, but one earlier in the game and also was getting sacked a lot more so than we’ve ever seen Josh Allen get sacked. So they have to find a way to get things fixed because this was a bad game on offense and on defense for Buffalo. On the topic of turnovers, got to clean it up 26 consecutive games. The bills had not lost the turnover battle two consecutive games. They lose the turnover battle and they lose the game. It’s a big win here for Atlanta. As we take a look at records on Monday Night Football dating back a decade, the Falcons love the

Bryant McFadden and Emory Hunt join CBS Sports HQ to recap the Week 6 Monday Night football matchup between the Bills and Falcons.

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