What’s Next? Can Denard Robinson Do It Again?

Denard Robinson threw the Jacksonville Jaguars across his shoulders and carried them to victory on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. he outgained the team’s previous rushing leader for the season with a 127 yard performance that pretty much cemented him as the starter. Denard Robinson is going to replace Toby Gerhart for the foreseeable future.

But that’s just it. It’s the future.

Can Denard Robinson do it again?

Hopefully the answer is yes. After another strong week from the offensive line, it looks like the unit finally “gets it” and has gelled to the point where they are effectively opening holes for the running backs. Robinson had more room to run last week against the Browns than the Jaguars have had at any point this season.

Robinson will have to show, once again, that he can take advantage of those openings and pick up yardage in chunks to match his 4.0+ yards per carry average from last week.

As the most reliable outlet for the offense last week, Robinson was able to shoulder the load without a steady passing game. Blake Bortles’ three interceptions added pressure to an offense that was flowing through Robinson in a low scoring game. If Bortles can return to his pre-Browns form (meaning less than three picks and closer to 300 yards than 200) then Robinson should be able to find even more running room through the balanced offensive attack.

All things are looking up for Robinson to replicate his performance again.

…well most things.

The Miami Dolphins are quietly fielding a top 10 defense this season. That includes being ranked fourth overall in yards allowed and 10th in rushing yards allowed. That’s some solid work for a unit that is easily overlooked because they are only middle of the road (15th) in points allowed. They will be a lot tougher to run against than they look and the Jaguars will really have to commit to the run and wearing down a unit that has done a good job limiting rushing attacks from the Buffalo Bills and Chicago Bears (among others) this year.

Another added obstacle are the losses of Andre Branch and Paul Posluszny on defense. Hopefully the young defense will be able to keep up its stellar play over the past few weeks, but if they can’t then the Jaguars may be forced away from the running game. That would hurt the offense overall as they would become one-dimensional and it would limit Robinson from shouldering the load to bring the team victory.

Hopefully the Jaguars’ defense will stand strong despite losing the captain of the defense and a major contributor. I trust Jedd Fisch can come up with a gameplan to overcome a tough Miami defense as well, but the Jaguars will have to execute better (especially Blake Bortles) for Robinson to replicate his success.