Atlanta Falcons RB Rotation with Bijan, Allgeier ‘Up in the Air’

Bijan Robinson held a significantly larger role than Tyler Allgeier in the Atlanta Falcons’ Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Will is stay that way?

The Atlanta Falcons are still figuring out the snap count between running backs Bijan Robinson (7) and Tyler Allgeier (25). / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Atlanta Falcons’ running backs room features two young playmakers — one is a 1,000-yard rusher, the other is the franchise’s rookie record holder in yards from scrimmage — and the age-old question of how best to utilize both.

In Atlanta’s season-opening 18-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday, the Falcons went with the approach of leaning heavily on one — second-year star Bijan Robinson, who took 18 carries for 68 yards while adding five receptions for 53 yards. His 23 touches tied a career-high mark he reached only twice last season.

Tyler Allgeier, the proverbial thunder to Robinson’s lightning, saw only three carries, which he turned into 21 yards. Robinson played 50 snaps, or 89% of the team’s total, while Allgeier was limited to just 10 snaps, a mere 18% of the offense’s time on the field.

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

Toss in a pocket-passing quarterback in 36-year-old Kirk Cousins, and the Falcons’ run game figures to hinge entirely on Robinson and Allgeier. How much of each, however, is the question — and first-year offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said it’s an ongoing process between he, running backs coach Michael Pitre and the rest of the coaching staff.

“Not to over-evaluate, just one week of football is going to be the biggest thing, but Bijan and Tyler, they'll continue to get mixed in,” Zac Robinson said in his press conference Thursday. “Coach Pitre does a great job mixing those guys in. So that'll be, again, week to week, flow of the game, all those different things.

“But certainly, after one week, it's still a little bit up in the air.”

Last season, Atlanta’s offense — which was led by head coach and play-caller Arthur Smith, now the Steelers’ offensive coordinator — was run-heavy but strongly balanced.

Robinson received 214 carries to Allgeier’s 186, though in terms of snaps, Robinson bested 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.

The Falcons face a natural early season learning curve with a new coordinator in Zac Robinson, new head coach in Raheem Morris, new quarterback in Cousins and a tough opening slate that continues with Monday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

That curve was perhaps exaggerated further by Atlanta opting not to play its starters in the preseason. The Falcons banked over 5,000 reps in summer practices, but as Zac Robinson noted Thursday, game speed is much different than the pace of practice and resulted in a subpar Week 1 performance.

Game flow proved to be another challenge for Atlanta’s offense. The Steelers had the ball over 10 minutes longer than the Falcons, who ran only 50 plays, in large part due to penalties, turnovers and a subsequent inability to sustain drives.

When Atlanta was on the field, it gave Bijan Robinson a heavy dose — 46% — of touches. Morris noted after the game that while he liked the way Robinson produced, the first-year coach is focused more on winning than individual production, indicating Robinson’s high involvement rate likely won’t become a trend.

Pitre said during training camp he and Zac Robinson look strategically to find the best usage plan, which may ultimately change on gamedays depending on who has the hot hand and how the game is unfolding.

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

“Both of them, I would say, ‘Hey, they’re going to help us win football games.’”

Allgeier took a handoff for 13 yards on Atlanta’s opening drive against Pittsburgh but didn’t get another touch until the 7:45 mark in the third quarter. Robinson, meanwhile, touched the ball on 15 of Atlanta’s first 27 plays.

For Allgeier, who also played four special teams snaps, the goal is to stay engaged and execute well when called upon to spell Robinson.

“It's really all in the flow of the game,” Allgeier said postgame. “Whenever I get the chance to get in, just doing my part — complementing Bijan.”

The smaller role for Allgeier was a microcosm of the Falcons’ overall rushing attack.

Atlanta’s offense had just 21 designed rushes, which it took for 89 yards, an average of 4.2 yards per carry. After ranking third league-wide with 522 attempts under Smith last season, the lackluster ground presence was particularly noticeable against Pittsburgh.

When discussing why the Falcons had such few runs, Morris pointed to the same issues that led to Atlanta’s big-picture demise against Pittsburgh: Penalties and self-inflicted mistakes, leading to the offense getting behind the chains and having to adopt a different play-calling approach.

“When you get off track, your runs get limited,” Morris said. “When you don't get a chance to get to that rhythm, they're going to limit your attempts. I believe they had 41 and we were able to get to the 20s. We wanted to get very high with that — we were not able to get to that stage — so we can make sure we can control the football, which [Pittsburgh] did, and get those things going.”

The Falcons will attempt to get their ground game rolling — and find the balance between Robinson and Allgeier — at 8:15 p.m. Monday, when they take on the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.