Jaguars Set to Face Another Familiar Face in Week 16 With Allen Robinson

The Jacksonville Jaguars haven't been strangers to playing against former players in 2020. They have played against Marcedes Lewis, Ronnie Harrison, and Yannick Ngakoue, to name a few.

But in Week 16, more names from Jaguars' past will come calling back when the Jaguars face off against the Chicago Bears.

Ex-Jaguars quarterback Nick Foles is Chicago's backup and former Jaguars safety Tashaun Gipson is a key member of the Bears' defense, but neither bring quite the notoriety of another former Jaguar -- wide receiver Allen Robinson.

Robinson spent the first four seasons and 43 games of his NFL career in Jacksonville. He was one of the team's most popular players during the early Dave Caldwell days, in large part due to the highlight-reel plays he made for the Jaguars following Caldwell drafting him in the second-round (No. 61 overall) in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Robinson's star shined brightest in 2015, a year in which he made his first Pro Bowl after catching 80 passes for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns in 16 games.

But a down year in 2016 and an ACL injury in 2017 dampened Robinson's final two seasons with the team. The Jaguars, led by Tom Coughlin, didn't come to an agreement with Robinson during the 2018 offseason, and Robinson has since starred at wide receiver for the Bears.

“A-Rob’s a great receiver and we know that. He’s highly competitive, he has a good catch radius, he can run well, he runs routes well, he’s tough, he can block," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said on Wednesday.

"He’s everything that you’re looking for, so obviously he’s a tough matchup and T-Gip [Tashaun Gipson]’s back there. T-Gip’s been with us and we have a ton of respect [for him]. He’s played at a high level when he was here and he’s still playing at a good level."

As Marrone noted, it isn't exactly a new experience for coaches and players to see more and more members of the NFL come in and out of their lives. As the NFL loves to say, football is family, and there is a new gathering of long-lost family members every time teams matchup.

"You see these guys as you go around on teams, like all of us that have been coaching for awhile or you’re coaching on different types of teams and you come in," Marrone said. "It’s always good. I think you always like it when they’re doing well because obviously if you’ve coached them you want them to do well. You just hope when you’re playing against them, they don’t do as well as they’ve been doing.”

But while the Jaguars' players and coaching staff who were in Jacksonville with Robinson and Gipson will meet them with smiles and socially distanced greetings following Sunday's game, what happens during the previous 60 minutes of game time will be the most pressing matter on everyone's minds.

For the 1-13 Jaguars, Robinson serves as the biggest threat to their quest to end a 13-game losing streak. The veteran receiver has caught 90 passes for 1,100 yards (12.3 yards per catch) and six touchdowns in 2020, and has frequently been a nightmare for opposing secondaries.

Considering the Jaguars are trotting out a cornerback group made up of rookies and free agent journeymen, there is little doubt the Jaguars know Robinson is priority No. 1 on Sunday.

"Obviously, he can run. He is a big, long player that he’s really developed how to come in and out of cuts. You see him in his route running, it’s really gotten a lot better," Jaguars defensive coordinator Todd Wash said on Wednesday.

"He’s been gone [from Jacksonville] for a while, but you’ve seen the maturity in his game get better and better. The quarterback [Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky] likes to go to him so obviously we have to do some things to try to take care of him, if it’s doubles, if it’s clouding him, whatever we need to do because he’s their go-to guy. Especially when they get down in the high red [zone] and the red [zone], they really like to go to him. We have to know where he’s at at all times, but he’s a very explosive wide receiver and he’s a matchup nightmare one on one.”