Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Allen Robinson made the Pro Bowl based off his 2015 NFL season, with over 1,400 receiver yards and 14 touchdowns. All the talk in training camp leading up to Thursday's game against the New York Jets were that Robinson looked even better than he did last season, which was a bit hard to believe, but against the Jets on just three plays, he showed why.
A big part of Robinson's game is that he can consistently win the jump balls on the sideline or in the endzone. He excels at "climbing the ladder" and bringing down the football, which is why I like to joke that you don't throw Robinson 50/50 balls, you throw him 70/30 balls. In fact, Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles doesn't even really consider it a risky throw.
No," Bortles said with a smile when asked if he had any fear when throwing it up to Robinson. "He's about as reliable as you get, really, in that category, given him a chance one on one, either he's going to catch it or nobody is."
In probably the most impressive play from the Jets game on Thursday was a busted play down the middle of the field where Robinson made a leaping twisting grab with the defensive back on top of him. It was a risky play, but Bortles knew it was a "free play" because the Jets had jumped offside.
"We had a shot called on that play and then went on a hard count, got them to jump, so knew we had a free play and (Allen Robinson) saw it too and kind of broke his route off and (I) ended up just kind of hauling (the ball) down the field," Bortles said of the play. "Just tried to give him a chance. I had a free shot at it, I had a free five yards anyway, and gave him a chance. And if you throw it up anywhere near A-Rob, he's going to make a play."
It was nice to see that the connection between Bortles and Robinson has seemed to grow even more, because it was about as reliable as anything in the NFL last season. Robinson will undoubtedly draw extra attention this season, but so far it looks like that won't even be enough and Bortles knows it.