Giants Daily Blitz Blog

Coach Pope schools TE Robinson

Mike Pope won’t have to go to the mortuary to help his fourth-round draft pick after all.

Adrien Robinson missed most of the team’s spring workouts while fulfilling academic requirements at the University of Cincinnati. The 6-foot-4, 264-pound tight end fell noticeably behind when training camp rolled around, leading to one of the rookie’s favorite Pope stories.

“One time I read the defensive coverage wrong,” Robinson recalled on Monday. “And he said, ‘I don’t know how you can read this wrong. I don’t know if we have to go to the morgue to get you a new set of eyes or what, but you have to see this.’ That was a good one.

“I just had to watch extra film to get caught back up to speed. Now that I’m starting to know more and more, I realize that those extra nine practices that I missed could have helped out a lot because it was a slower pace when everything’s being taught and brand new.”

With the help of the extra classroom work with Pope Robinson turned things around in Albany and was able to finish training camp on a high note. He then carried it 140 miles back to East Rutherford, where he found success this past Friday. On back-to-back plays late in the fourth quarter against the Bears, Robinson hauled in two passes — both for seven yards over the middle from backup quarterback David Carr.

They were his first receptions in a game since the third quarter of the Liberty Bowl last New Year’s Eve when his Bearcats beat Vanderbilt.

“I was talking to my agent about getting the monkey off my back,” Robinson said on Monday. “It felt good to get those first couple catches out of the way.”

It was the same feeling he had midway through training camp when the lights came on. He doesn’t recall a particular play or instance when it happened, but instead it has been a progression to where he is now.

“You make a lot of mistakes out there, you get tired of getting yelled at,” Robinson said. “So you just study a little bit more and come out there and do the right things. Also then you’ll be able to show what you can do and play fast.”

It will become even  faster now that fellow tight end Travis Beckum was placed on the reserve/physically unable to perform list and will miss at least the first six weeks of the season.

“It’s getting a lot better now,” Robinson said. “I’m starting to become more and more confident every day. Now it’s not so much knowing my assignments, it’s the small little details and reading the coverages and doing the right things consistently.”