Can an NFL head coach compare to Martin Luther King Jr.?
Falcons running back Bijan Robinson believes so.
After Atlanta’s 35-14 victory over the Packers on Thursday, Robinson joined Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” broadcast crew and explained how head coach Kevin Stefanski rallied the team after their blowout Week 2 loss to the Panthers.
“I think last week was a bigger testament to who he is, just as a person, but as a coach,” Robinson said of Stefanski on set. “You know, obviously we lost how we did last week, and he went right to the locker room.”
Robinson, 24, was so impressed by Stefanski that he compared his speech to one like that of the Civil Rights Movement icon.
“I don’t know if he drank some coffee or something, but he said this speech. It was like Martin Luther King was in there, man,” he added.
“Wait a minute,” Prime Video analyst and former three-time All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman quickly interjected.
Robinson doubled down, however, saying that Stefanski was able to win over the locker room despite the 34-3 loss to Carolina.
“He just brought everybody, all the players together,” Robinson continued, “and he was saying like, ‘Are we gonna let this loss define us? Is this who we’re gonna be as a team, or are we gonna just change it right now and, you know, try to flip the switch?’”
Robinson later clarified his remarks in a post on social media, somewhat backtracking on the MLK comparison.
“Yup I just saying stuff sometimes lol. Was [an] awesome speech for the team though,” Robinson wrote in a Friday post on X.
When asked about the analogy, Stefanski joked that his language was definitely worse than King’s.
“I don’t think Dr. King used as many f-bombs as I did,” Stefanski said Friday, according to ESPN.
Stefanski is in his first year at the helm of the Falcons after general manager Matt Ryan brought him in during the offseason following his dismissal from the Browns.
