THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – It was a different Rams debut than many likely expected for wide receiver Allen Robinson II.
Robinson isn't paying attention to the external speculation of his season-opening stat line, though, expressing confidence in things getting worked out.
"Honestly, I don't really get caught up in all that," Robinson said after Wednesday's practice. "It's gonna be always outside noise. Me being a vet, you can't let that cloud your overall judgement. So for me, it's just about figuring out how I could be better, or what I could do differently, and then coming into this week and improving."
Targeted twice in Week 1, Robinson posted one catch for 12 yards. Quarterback Matthew Stafford explained postgame that one of the factors was the coverage shown by the Bills secondary – "a lot of zone, they clouded to the boundary quite a bit" – with Robinson also seeing a lot of Cover 2.
The 29-year-old receiver, who entered his ninth season with 495 catches for 6,409 yards and 40 touchdowns, was understanding of that reasoning.
"We all are trying to get the solutions against some of the different coverages, and things like that," Robinson said. "I've played a lot of ball in this league, and sometimes against some of the zones and stuff they were running, it is kind of tough in certain situations."
Asked if he ever consciously tells himself he needs to get a certain receiver the ball, Stafford said no and that he tries to "play the game as true as I can." It happens "a little bit more" in practice than a game, where if it's an even look, for example, throwing the ball to that receiver to get them in the flow.
Ultimately, he knows the offense is better when multiple players are involved.
"I think we just play better when everybody's getting touches, and that's my responsibility," Stafford said Wednesday.
Getting Robinson more involved starts with having intentionality about calling more plays where he's the primary receiver, according to McVay.
"You credit Buffalo, they did a great job," McVay said. "But I think it's just having a more specific approach to things that accentuate his skillset, similar to what I was answering earlier about what I think (Falcons head coach) Arthur (Smith)'s done a great job with his players offensively. That's what I've got to do a better job of. Allen is certainly somebody that needs to be more involved and get more opportunities."
Robinson believes all involved can work to make it happen.
"I got all the confidence in the world in coach (McVay) and this coaching staff, and my teammates," Robinson said. "At the end of the day, we're all in this thing to try to win and to try to maximize everybody's output."
