INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- After Allen Robinson II made a twisting catch on the sideline, managing to stay inbounds with a defender draped over him, the Los Angeles Rams wide receiver pumped his fist and spun the ball into the ground emphatically, the excitement and maybe a hint of relief evident on his face.
“It's exciting,” Robinson said. “I've been making plays like that my entire career. So just being able to get those [opportunities], continue to make those plays, it felt good.”
Not only did Robinson have his best game of the season on Sunday with five catches for 63 yards and a touchdown, but it was as part of an offense that spread the ball more evenly than it had all season, instead of mainly relying on wide receiver Cooper Kupp.
In snapping a two-game losing streak, the Rams scored more points (24) than in those two losses combined (19). The offense is still working on clicking consistently, but for at least a few drives in the second half, L.A. got a glimpse of the offense it envisioned when Robinson signed on in March.
“He just made the plays,” McVay said of Robinson, who entered the game with 12 catches for 107 yards and a touchdown. “He got some opportunities. … I thought [his] play-action catch over the middle to start that one drive was really what kind of got us going a little bit. I was happy for Allen, being able to go five catches on six targets was a good thing.
“ … Those are the things that we've seen and we’ve got to just continue to give him those types of opportunities.”
While Kupp again led the team with seven catches for 80 yards, the lone receiving touchdown came from Robinson, along with two on the ground from wide receiver Ben Skowronek and running back Darrell Henderson Jr..
“Those are the games that are fun,” Kupp said. “You don't like how things go in the first half in terms of being able to get things going offensively, but you really like being able to have a bunch of guys [contribute] and succeed and feeling like this is something we can do together as a team.”
In the first half, the offense looked like the same unit that had scored just one touchdown in nine quarters entering the game, continuously facing third-and-long, needing big plays just to move the chains. Quarterback Matthew Stafford thought he and the offense needed to make it easier on themselves after the first half, to “try to stay ahead of the chains a little bit better.”
The Rams did just that in the second half with some chunk plays in the passing game, and some “nice runs,” Stafford said, including the rushing touchdown by Skowronek on his first career carry. On that scoring drive, the Rams seemed to really be able to take advantage of having both Kupp and Robinson on the field together, with big back-to-back plays from Kupp (20 yards) and Robinson (22 yards), then a block by Robinson on Skowronek’s go-ahead touchdown.
The Rams succeeded despite losing left tackle Joe Noteboom for the season in the second quarter and again having to play with a different offensive line combination.
“I thought Sean did an unbelievable job of mixing it, especially with all the things going on up front,” Stafford said.
This game did come against a 1-5 Carolina Panthers team and execution will be significantly harder when the Rams return from their bye week to host the San Francisco 49ers, a team ranked third in Football Outsiders’ defensive DVOA and that held Robinson to just two catches for seven yards in Week 4.
“It's just about building,” Robinson said. “I think that's the main thing. Some weeks when you don't have the outcome that you may want, you’ve got to correct some things and try to build on a positive. But again, a game like [Sunday], we can go watch the film, take some things from it and continue to use this as a building block for us moving forward.”