Atlanta Falcons RB rotation with Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier “up in the air”

The Atlanta Falcons' running back roster features two young playmakers—one with 1,000 yards, the other holding the rookie record for most yards from the faceoff line—and the age-old question is how best to utilize both of them.

In Atlanta's 18-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the season opener last Sunday, the Falcons relied heavily on one player – second-year star Bijan Robinson, who had 18 carries for 68 yards and five receptions for 53 yards, setting a career-high 23 touches, which he only achieved twice last season.

Tyler Allgeier, the proverbial thunder to Robinson's lightning, managed just three carries for 21 yards. Robinson played 50 snaps, or 89% of the team's total time, while Allgeier was limited to just 10 snaps, or just 18% of the offense's time on the field.

Atlanta has four running backs on its roster, with Robinson and Allgeier complemented by return specialist Avery Williams and sixth-round rookie Jase McClellan. Williams, who entered the NFL as a cornerback in 2022, played only on special teams in the loss to Pittsburgh and has yet to see action in the regular season. McClellan was inactive in his first professional game.

Adding a pocket-passing quarterback in 36-year-old Kirk Cousins ​​will likely make the Falcons' running game entirely dependent on Robinson and Allgeier. How much of each is the question, though — and first-year offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said it's an ongoing process between him, running backs coach Michael Pitre and the rest of the coaching staff.

“I don't want to overstate it, one week of football will be the most important thing, but Bijan and Tyler will still be involved,” Zac Robinson said in his press conference on Thursday. “Coach Pitre does a great job of getting those guys involved. So again, it's going to be different week to week, the flow of the game, all those different things.”

“But of course, after a week, things are still a little unclear.”

Last season, Atlanta's offense – led by head coach and playmaker Arthur Smith, now offensive coordinator for the Steelers – was run-heavy but very balanced.

Robinson got 214 carries to Allgeier's 186, but in terms of snap count, Robinson outscored Allgeier 771 to 360. Robinson finished the year with 976 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, while Allgeier totaled 683 yards and four scores.

With Zac Robinson as the new coordinator, Raheem Morris as the new head coach, Cousins ​​as the new quarterback, and a difficult opener that continues with Monday night's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Falcons face a natural learning curve to begin the season.

That curve may have been further exaggerated by Atlanta's decision not to use its core players in the preseason. The Falcons ran over 5,000 reps in summer practice, but as Zac Robinson noted Thursday, game speed is much different than practice speed, leading to a subpar performance in Week 1.

The flow of the game proved to be another challenge for Atlanta's offense. The Steelers had the ball for over 10 minutes longer than the Falcons, who made just 50 plays, largely due to penalties, turnovers and the resulting inability to sustain offense.

When Atlanta was on the field, Bijan Robinson got a lot of touches – 46%. Morris noted after the game that while he liked Robinson's performance, the first-year coach is more focused on winning than individual performance, suggesting Robinson's high participation rate is unlikely to become a trend.

Pitre said he and Zac Robinson strategize during training camp to find the best deployment plan, which could ultimately change on game days depending on who has the best hand and how the game is developing.

“We're going to do what's best for the Atlanta Falcons and give ourselves a chance to win whenever we play,” Pitre said on Aug. 5. “So it's hard to say, 'Hey, this guy is going to touch the ball this many times.' I think what we know is we have two guys that we consider to be starting-caliber running backs in the NFL, and that's a good problem for us to have.”

“For both of them, I would say, 'Hey, they're going to help us win football games.'”

Allgeier received a handoff for 13 yards on Atlanta's first drive against Pittsburgh, but did not get the ball back until 7:45 left in the third quarter. Robinson, on the other hand, touched the ball on 15 of Atlanta's first 27 plays.

For Allgeier, who also played in four special teams snaps, the goal is to stay engaged and perform well when called upon to fill in for Robinson.

“It really all depends on the flow of the game,” said Allgeier after the game. “Whenever I get the chance to step in, I simply do my part – as a complement to Bijan.”

In his smaller role, Allgeier was a microcosm of the Falcons' entire offense.

Atlanta's offense had just 21 designed runs, which they used for 89 yards, an average of 4.2 yards per run. After finishing third in the league with 522 attempts under Smith last season, their lackluster on-court presence was especially noticeable against Pittsburgh.

When discussing why the Falcons had so few runs, Morris pointed to the same problems that led to Atlanta's overall loss to Pittsburgh: penalties and self-inflicted errors that caused the offense to get behind the chains and have to find a different approach to play-calling.

“If you get off course, they'll limit the runs,” Morris said. “If you don't have a chance to get into the rhythm, they'll limit the runs. I think they had 41 and we got to 20. We wanted to go very far with that – we didn't – so we could make sure we could control the ball, which [Pittsburgh] done and get these things going.”

The Falcons will look to get their running game rolling — and find the balance between Robinson and Allgeier — when they face the Eagles at 8:15 p.m. Monday at Lincoln Financial Field.