GLENDALE, Ariz. — Even on a pair of NFL teams that were eliminated from contention for playoff berths with a month or more remaining in the 2025 regular season, there are star players shining.
Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride and Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson will try to add more superb performances to their stellar individual seasons when their teams meet in the desert Sunday afternoon at State Farm Stadium.
The Falcons (5-9) had lost seven of eight games — including an ugly 37-9 outcome at home against the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 7, which took Atlanta out of the postseason chase and clinched the franchise’s eighth straight losing season — before beating the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the four-time reigning NFC South champions, 29-28 in a division matchup on Dec. 11. That was the Thursday night game in Week 15, so the Falcons have enjoyed a little more time to rest and prepare for this one as they seek what would be their first back-to-back victories since they were 3-2 in mid-October.
The Cardinals (3-11) have dropped six straight games — including a 20-17 loss at Tampa Bay on Nov. 30 that eliminated Arizona from the playoff hunt — and are the only team in the highly competitive NFC West without a double-digit win total this season as the Seattle Seahawks (12-3), Los Angeles Rams (11-4) and San Francisco 49ers (10-4) all remain in contention for the division title.
That’s the team picture, though; McBride and Robinson, each a Pro Bowl selection for the first time last season, have been consistent bright spots even in largely dark times.
Robinson needs just 142 combined rushing and receiving yards to become the third player in Falcons history to record 2,000 yards from scrimmage in a single regular season. He would join two other running backs: Jamal Anderson, who had 1,946 yards rushing, 319 receiving and 2,165 total in 1998, and William Andrews, who accomplished the feat twice (1,301 rushing, 735 receiving, 2,036 total in 1981; 1,567 rushing, 609 receiving, 2,176 total in 1983).
“He’s special,” Cardinals third-year head coach Jonathan Gannon said of the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Robinson, the No. 8 pick of the 2023 NFL draft. “You’re watching games, and it seems like it’s a highlight reel. He’s a really good back. He’s one of the best ones out there. I don’t compare players, but this would be one of the better ones we face in the run and pass game.”
Robinson has rushed for 1,174 yards and six touchdowns while adding 64 receptions for 684 yards and two touchdowns this season, when his per-game average of 132.7 scrimmage yards leads the league.
Arizona’s McBride, a second-round pick in 2022, has 105 receptions for 1,072 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2025. He has at least five catches in 16 straight games dating to last season, breaking the league record for tight ends that was previously held by Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, who had a 15-game streak to close the 2015 regular season.
Not that McBride cares much about the individual accolades when his team is struggling.
“Honestly, it’s whatever,” McBride said. “It’s cool. It’s great, but it doesn’t really matter. Sixteen games, and for what? We’ve got to win more games.”
Falcons second-year head coach Raheem Morris said McBride’s passion for the game is apparent even from video footage of the 6-4, 246-pounder.
“He loves it. He plays it that way,” Morris said. “He can block. He can be the focal point in the passing game. He does it all. He’s a really good football player. Got a lot of respect for him.”
AP photo by Maria Lysaker / Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride holds on to the ball for a catch while covered by Houston Texans safety Calen Bullock during last Sunday’s game at NRG Stadium.
As for Atlanta’s tight end situation, Kyle Pitts’ inability to provide consistent production has been a source of frustration for Falcons fans since he was the No. 4 pick of the 2021 draft. Pitts is still only 25, though, and the 6-6, 250-pounder showed during the win at Tampa Bay why so many observers believe he has such a high upside.
Pitts had 11 catches for 166 yards and three touchdowns against the Bucs, and on Wednesday he was named the NFC’s offensive player of the week. He became the first tight end since Shannon Sharpe in 1996, and just the four in league history, with at least 10 receptions, 150 receiving yards and three touchdown catches in a game. Todd Christensen and Kellen Winslow each reached those standards in games during the 1983 season.
Morris described Pitts’ role against Tampa Bay as the “lead dog,” saying that has essentially been the plan in the passing game all along since Atlanta’s No. 1 wide receiver, Drake London, has been sidelined by a knee injury. The challenge against the Cardinals may be for Pitts to continue to contribute significantly if London — the No. 8 pick of the 2022 draft who had career highs last season with 100 catches, 1,271 receiving yards and nine touchdown receptions — is available Sunday after missing the past four games.
London returned to practice Wednesday but was listed as limited on the NFL’s injury report. That was the case again Thursday, but he told reporters after his second practice back that he was “trending in the right direction” while remaining day to day in terms of his playing status.
Despite his recent absence from the lineup and a fifth game missed earlier this season due to a hip injury, London’s 810 receiving yards and six touchdown catches still lead the team, and his 60 receptions trail only Pitts and Robinson on the roster.
Those passes have been thrown by two quarterbacks, with Atlanta facing some big decisions at that position in the offseason.
The Falcons expect Michael Penix Jr. to return in 2026 once the No. 8 pick of the 2024 draft recovers from knee surgery, leading many to project that Kirk Cousins, who turns 38 next August, will be cut after this season to save salary cap space.
Cousins, who signed a four-year contract with Atlanta as a free agent in March 2024, a month before Penix was drafted, carries a cap figure of $57.5 million each of the next two years. If the Falcons cut the four-time Pro Bowl selection before June 1, the team would save $22.5 million toward the cap in 2026 and $45 million in 2027.
Still, the Falcons are 2-2 since Cousins returned to the starting role after Penix’s knee injury. Cousins completed 30 of 44 passes for 373 yards with three touchdowns in the win at Tampa Bay, and there is no guarantee Penix — who became the starter with three games to go as a rookie, then hold on to the role this year — will be ready for the start of next season.
When asked Wednesday if it is possible Cousins could open 2026 as the starter if Penix is not yet fully recovered, Morris simply said that “everything is on the table” for the Falcons at quarterback.
The Cardinals have also needed two starters behind center this season, with Jacoby Brissett throwing for 249 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in Arizona’s 40-20 road loss to the Houston Texans last Sunday, his ninth consecutive game filling in for the injured Kyler Murray.
Defense has been the most noticeable deficiency for the Cardinals lately.
Arizona has given up at least 40 points four times during its current six-game skid. Gannon — who was the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles before taking over for the Cardinals — said the group’s biggest problem is a lack of consistency from play to play.
“I think just execution throughout 60 minutes collectively, because it’s kind of hit or miss,” Gannon said. “When we’re on, we’re on, and when we’re off, we’re off. One guy can’t be off.”
The head coach said the team’s offense and special teams have fed into the problem, though, with a handful of ill-timed turnovers and short drives that have kept the defense on the field for long stretches.
“I’m not defending the point thing,” Gannon said, “but complementary football goes into that, too, when you’re giving up that many points, so I think just as a team we have to do better.”