Big day? No matter: Robinson keeps dropping the ball

Koren Robinson's name was all over this week's game plan. He was supposed to be the starting split end, and his slant routes were designed to tranquilize Atlanta's voracious pass rush.

He would have the rare opportunity to compete in a game in January that means something. And, even better, he was to be one of the keys to a possible division title, only the third such title in the Seahawks' 29 seasons.

His teammates, his battered and bruised teammates, were counting on Robinson. This game meant so much to them.

To wide receiver Bobby Engram, who never had won a division title in his nine distinguished NFL seasons.

To quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who would play the game with a right shoulder and elbow that ached so badly he had to alter his delivery.

To linebacker Chad Brown, who missed the first half of the season with a broken fibula, and played in excruciating pain again yesterday.

This game meant to much to so many Seahawks, but apparently not enough to Koren Robinson.

Robinson violated a team rule. It is believed he missed a team meeting, and Holmgren deactivated him for yesterday's game with the Falcons. It was the sixth game Robinson has missed this season for disciplinary reasons.

It was inexcusable.

He practiced with the starting offense. All week he ran the short, quick pass routes coach Mike Holmgren thought could erode the Falcons' will.

"Of course he factored in the game plan," Holmgren said. "We need him. I needed him to step up and be a force like he can be, like he is capable of being in the playoffs. Unfortunately, he broke a team rule and I had to deactivate him today. He and I are going to meet tomorrow morning and see if I can help straighten the thing out a bit."

Shaun Alexander, who has never missed a game in his five seasons, needed Robinson's crack-back blocking. Who knows, Alexander might have won a rushing title if Robinson, an excellent blocker, had played.

Robinson's absence caused a trickle-down problem. It meant an inexperienced receiver like Taco Wallace had to play in situations and at positions he wasn't used to playing. It meant, after practicing with one plan all week, the game plan had to be re-scripted on the night before the game.

On a Sunday as important as any this franchise has seen, a game that meant the difference between winning a division or sneaking into the playoffs as an 8-8 wild card, Robinson abandoned his teammates.

He let them down. Let them down as he has so many times before. This guy with so much ability still doesn't understand responsibility. At a time of the year when all of his teammates are playing with pain, he is a pain.

Koren Robinson is a lousy teammate.

He was suspended for four games this season for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy. And he missed two others for acting as if there were one set of rules for his teammates and another for him.

He's a serial knucklehead, and his irresponsibility is taking a toll on his teammates.

"I really don't want to comment (on Robinson) right now," said Jerry Rice, the 20-year anti-Koren. "I'll say one thing about it. This guy's a great athlete, and I hope he realizes that he's letting something special pass him by. We're just going to try to rally around him and pull him through this."

His teammates have enough on their minds. They don't really have time to nurse Robinson through his immaturity. They have a home playoff game against St. Louis to prepare for. They shouldn't be playing Dr. Phil with Robinson.

But they will waste time this week trying to get Robinson ready. They will spend time with him, hoping he'll be focused in practice, hoping he will be prompt to meetings, hoping suddenly Robinson will realize how precious and fleeting this time of his life is.

He's letting his career pass him by.

He missed a lot yesterday. He missed the 28-26 win that clinched the NFC West. He missed the warm feeling in the postgame locker room that comes from the realization that this team, collectively, had reached another goal.

He missed the sound in the stadium after Warrick Dunn's two-point conversion attempt landed a foot short. He missed another week in his brief professional life.

"He was (going to be) a huge part of the passing game," said Hasselbeck said. "It's tough, but sometimes you play a game and on the first or second play of the game somebody gets hurt and the next guy has to step up and go, and that's how you have to approach it. You have to sort of pretend the guy got hurt and the next guy has to step up."

What happens on Saturday against the Rams? Will Robinson, who has missed six of the last seven games, be ready physically or mentally? In a must-have third-down situation with Rams rusher Bryce Fisher bearing down on him, will Hasselbeck have the confidence to go to Robinson?

"I have confidence in him as a football player, and I have confidence in him as a person," Hasselbeck said. "But you need to be there for your teammates, and your teammates need to know that they can count on you, and he needs to learn that lesson."

Koren Robinson? It is doubtful he'll ever learn.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com.