In his first two NFL seasons, Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. ran for seven touchdowns in 27 games. This season, the former Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa and Alabama ball-carrier has played in six games and run for six touchdowns.
“I love the end zone,” Robinson said on Friday during an appearance on FanDuel TV’s “Up and Adams.” I mean, that’s the goal. That’s the overall goal of playing offense is to go score the football, so it’s just the result of all the work we put in through that whole drive is to put it in the end zone, so ain’t no better feeling than that. …
“The closer we get to the goal line, the more I feel like they trust me and count on me with the ball in my hands. And it’s an honor. I just want to make the most of every opportunity I get. You know, I appreciate it.”
Scoring is up for the rest of the Commanders, too, as rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels has led a Washington revival. Among the NFL’s 32 teams, the Commanders finished 24th and 25th in scoring in Robinson’s first two seasons. In 2024, Washington is tied with the Baltimore Ravens for the NFL scoring lead, ranks second to the Ravens in rushing yards and leads the league in rushing touchdowns.
The Commanders haven’t finished a season with a winning record since 2016, but they’ll take a 5-2 mark into their game against the Chicago Bears at 3:25 p.m. CDT Sunday at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland.
The game was supposed to feature a matchup of the top two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft – Daniels and Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams, who went No. 1.
But Daniels sustained a rib injury early in the Commanders’ game last week, and he practiced only one day since on a limited basis. His status for Sunday’s game has been designated as questionable.
When Daniels went down, Washington replaced one Heisman Trophy winner with another as 2014 winner Marcus Mariota stepped in for the 2024 winner, and the Commanders rolled on to a 40-7 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
“We just had a plug-and-play mindset,” Robinson said. “Seeing Jay go down, and Marcus was ready. He was totally prepared for everything that was dealt to him.”
Washington’s turnaround also has come with a new coach, Dan Quinn, and a new offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury. Kingsbury is a former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, and Quinn guided the Atlanta Falcons to the Super Bowl.
“I love the creativity,” Robinson said about the Commanders’ new offense. “Kliff, he just finds new ways to just always have something, just a counter jab. I just love how creative he is with us, with our offense, with schemes.”
After being fired five games into the 2020 season by the Falcons, Quinn spent the previous three seasons trying to stop Washington’s offense as the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys. With the Commanders, Robinson said, Quinn has built “a great locker room full of great guys.”
“The culture that he has going on is like we’re going to be some of the baddest (expletive) to step on the field,” Robinson said, “but we’re going to also enjoy it. We going to also connect and know why we go, like, as hard as we do and just try to find a connection to want to go out and lay it on the line for the person next to you. You know what I’m saying? So like it’s building a great bond with the people around you, but being the baddest, the baddest ones to step on the field based off how strong we could connect off the field and just enjoying it. Just make sure everybody is feeling good and energetic and just positive about just everything, and it’ll translate to the field easily.”
