The Falcons implemented a bit more gap style than their normal bread and butter stretch-zone play. They particularly did so with Robinson; of his 12 designed runs, only three or four (depending if you count the above play where London was called for a hold) were obvious stretch runs to the boundary. Meanwhile, Allgeier had a couple more opportunities, with a pair of stretch plays coming early in the first quarter and 5 yards gained on each. This gap-style attack with Robinson could have had an effect on the Falcons' inability to pick up bigger runs Sunday.
Throughout his career, Robinson has averaged 2.9 yards before contact on designed runs. On Sunday, that number dropped to 0.42. Meanwhile, Allgeier (who had a few more outside zone opportunities) had nearly one yard more leeway before initial contact (1.3 yard average). That is still off Allgeier's career average (2.08) but it's notable nonetheless considering how the Falcons were using Robinson in the run game and what they were trying to do keeping things inside the tackle.
These low averages are obviously because Tampa Bay was solid in clogging the gaps. More often than not, Robinson or Allgeier were met in the gap by multiple Tampa Bay defenders. Whereas, the Falcons have found success making people miss in space, there was little space in the gap for someone as elusive as Robinson to make work. Perhaps giving Robinson a couple more opportunities to take a handoff towards the sideline and Allgeier a chance to take on some defenders in the gap makes more sense moving forward.
On Sunday, the Falcons used a rush lane inside the tackle but to the left or right of a guard 14 times. That's at a clip of 63%. What's interesting about this number is its very different from the Falcons' go-to run designs last year, when Atlanta was running the ball outside the tackles at an average of 68%, according to Next Gen Stats.
And that is a big piece of all of this: It is obvious the Falcons need a bit more out of their run game. They tried some things against the Buccaneers that didn't really provide the dividends they were wanting. And when they didn't mix things up with Woerner, their go-to plays were found out by a Tampa Bay team that learned from their mistakes in 2024.
The Falcons don't have to go back to the drawing board when it comes to the run game. But they do have some tweaks to fix. Finding the right balance for Robinson's designed runs, figuring out how to rely on running it to the right without McGary and how to misdirect with Woerner are all key places to start.