Wan’Dale Robinson had a career game in Sunday’s 34-27 loss by the New York Giants to the Detroit Lions. Let’s break it down.
Robinson had four catches for 106 yards in the first quarter; he was the first New York Giants’ receiver to eclipse the century mark in the first quarter since Hakeem Nicks in 2011. Robinson finished the game with nine catches on 14 targets for a career high 156 yards with a touchdown (17.3 yards per catch).
Robinson had a career high 4.24 yards per route run; his previous career high was set in Week 2 of this season against the Dallas Cowboys (4.06 Y/RR). Interim head coach Mike Kafka discussed Robinson’s ability to defeat man coverage as an asset against Kelvin Sheppard’s heavy man-approach. Amik Robertson was tasked with containing Robinson and, as predicted, the Giants’ shifty receiver won the matchup.
It wasn’t just man coverage wins, though; New York successfully split Cover-2 for a 15-yard gain off a deep SAIL concept. Also, Robinson’s 40-yard catch and run was against Cover-3, where the deep third and buzz defender both allowed Robinson to win inside on a deep over. The Lions got wise in the second half, as Robinson alluded to after the game when Paul Dottino interviewed him about the offense at the end of the game:
“I was just more so sick that I was getting double-teamed at that point during the game, and I couldn’t really go out there and make a play too much.”
Detroit adjusted to Robinson by aggressively dropping the safety down and relating to Robinson’s in-breaking routes:
(top of screen, Q3 8:54, first-and-10)
(top of screen, Q4 10:50, first-and-10)
(Top of screen slot, Q4 8:10, third-and-10)
(Top of screen slot, Q4 5:36, third-and-17)
(Top of screen, OT 9:38, first-and-10)
This was the first time we have consistently seen coverage dictated by a Giants’ receiving threat since the injury to Malik Nabers in Week 4 against the Chargers. This should not be overstated. Here are some plays where Robinson’s impact was felt.
Trick play No. 1
It was a quality subtle block sell by Robinson, but this was more of a product of the Lions over-selling against the run, and a well-designed and disguised trick play by Kafka and the Giants’ offense. The safety, Thomas Harper (12), abandoned the pass threat and was caught staring; the rest was history.
The Wan’Dale Robinson drive!
( Q1 3:44, third-and-6)
Sheppard aligned in man coverage, and Robinson beat Amik Robertson (21) on the release to set up an excellent, prompt break, and Jameis Winston delivered an anticipatory pass for the first down. Call Robinson a smooth operator with exceptional short-area quickness to earn 12 yards. And then this happened on the very next play:
(Q1, 3:08, first-and-10)
The X-Post above has the two GIFs on this Giants’ third drive, along with Robinson’s third catch that went for 15 yards against a Cover-2 beater. In the GIF above, Robinson outran the buzz defender, and the deep third defender was expecting the inside help; the buzz defender, Brian Branch (32), stepped up too far off the play-action, and Robinson’s speed outpaced him over the middle of the field on the deep Yankee concept.
(Q1 1:49, second-and-8)
Robinson is the No. 1 receiver off the line of scrimmage in a condensed bunch that is designed for his deep corner. Isaiah Hodgins (89) ran his route to stretch the defense horizontally, and Daniel Bellinger (82) sat on the button hook to occupy underneath defenders with the MIKE tasked to wall off in-breaking routes. Tyrone Tracy Jr. (29) also stayed tight to the line of scrimmage to expand the flat defender. Robinson’s deep corner found space against the Cover-2 defense because the deep half defender was at a depth, the flat defender expanded with Hodgins, and the outside middle hook worked underneath with Bellinger. The MIKE had no leverage to affect Robinson, for his original position was between the hashes. This is a well-timed call by Kafka with excellent adjacent routes to create space for Robinson. Unfortunately, the Giants couldn’t go up 14-0 after this drive, and settled for a field goal.
Deep sail vs. Cover-3
(Q2 1:55, first-and-10)
The Lions’ Cover-3 defense was manipulated by this deep SAIL concept, which used deceptive spacing to throw off their transitions. Theo Johnson (84) was the vertical clearout to remove the outside deep third defender, and Tracy was tasked to hold the curl/flat in place close to the line of scrimmage. Robinson’s stem is inside of Johnson’s with a subtle rocker step toward the middle of the field to give the middle-of-the-field-closed player, Harper, the responsibility of Robinson’s route. This led the deep third to continue with Johnson’s clearout, while also making it near impossible for the safety to work through Johnson and DJ Reed (4). Winston found the soft spot and delivered the football for 26 yards, which allowed Younghoe Koo to kick a field goal later in the drive
The Giants attacked the deeper match principles of this Cover-3 look and sold the safety Robinson’s route, which he could not entirely match due to the spacing of Johnson’s route. New York ran this same play with 24 seconds left in the game against a Cover-4 look. The play was open, but Robertson made an exceptional play from the curl/flat to peel off and undercut Robinson’s corner. However, the space between the middle-hook and deep-fourth was created by the concept. This is a very good job by Kafka and the Giants’ offense, as well as Winston and Robinson.
Other man beaters
Here are a few more man-beaters where the Giants attacked the opponents against Robinson for chunk gains:
(Q2 1:22, first-and-10): played well by Amik Robertson
(Q3 8:46, second-and-10)
(Q3 0:12, first-and-10)
Final thoughts
As previously stated, this was the first time this season that a receiver not named Nabers dictated defensive coverage off a half-time adjustment. Robinson was beating man and zone coverage with the help of excellent play-calling and timely passes. Robinson made some hands catches away from his frame and absorbed several big hits from the Lions.
Robinson has 66 catches on 102 targets for a career-high 794 yards with three touchdowns through 12 games. He has set career highs in yards, yards per route run (so far), yards per reception, and aDOT. He needs 28 catches to set a career high in catches and one more touchdown. It’s a contract year for Robinson, who is represented by the Sports & Entertainment Group’s Adisa Bakari and Jeffrey Whitney; here are some of their wide receiver clients: Stefon Diggs, Josh Palmer, and Christian Watson.
Stefon Diggs signed a three-year, $63.5-million contract ($21.15 AAV) with the Patriots this offseason, coming off a torn ACL. Josh Palmer, who has only caught more than 40 balls once in his career, signed a three-year, $29-million contract ($9.6-million AAV) with the Bills. Watson signed a one-year extension after tearing his ACL last year; the deal was worth $11 million.
Robinson will be 25 when he’s looking for a new contract. He has historically poor physical metrics regarding his wingspan and arm length. Still, he provides a lot of utility to an offense. He is an explosive playmaker who is currently showing more downfield ability than in previous seasons, though his physical limitations require quarterbacks to be precise with ball placement.
This begs the question — will the Giants, and presumably GM Joe Schoen, look to retain a promising, albeit somewhat limited, homegrown talent after giving Darius Slayton a three-year, $36 million contract last offseason? Slayton makes $12 million a year; for other benchmarks, Christian Kirk is making $18 million a year for the Texans, and Khalil Shakir is making $13.25 million per season.
Spotrac lists Robinson’s market value at $15.03 million per season, with the actual contract projected to be a four-year, $59.9 million deal, which would make Robinson the 27th-highest-paid wide receiverin the NFL. There’s still a lot to unfold, but Robinson’s only increasing his value with the level of play he displayed against the Lions on Sunday.
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