All season, unlikely heroes have emerged for the San Francisco 49ers. Last week, it was wide receiver Demarcus Robinson who had a huge game in the Wild Card round against the Philadelphia Eagles.
And the Niners will need him to step up again.
Robinson had his biggest game all season, hauling in six receptions for 111 yards and a touchdown. A huge 61-yard grab on the first possession set the tone and led to a touchdown, again to Robinson, just a few plays later which showed Philly that San Francisco had come to play.
Now, with Ricky Pearsall's status uncertain for Saturday's game against the Seattle Seahawks and George Kittle done for the season after tearing his Achilles, Robinson is going to be relied on in a huge way again.
He and Jauan Jennings will have to be Kyle Shanahan's top wide receiver threats. Neither possesses a ton of speed, but they can go up and come down with a catch, which is going to be necessary as the 49ers square off against a Seattle defense that limited them to just three points two weeks ago.
It was a surprise to see Robinson have such a big game because he had been held in check pretty much all season. Part of that had to do with missing the first few games due to a suspension and other threats like Pearsall and Kittle being available later on, but it was fair to wonder if San Francisco had whiffed on Robinson as a free-agent acquisition.
The 10-year pro had only 276 receiving yards and one touchdown catch on 22 receptions this season, but maybe he was saving his best for the playoffs.
Remarkably, Robinson has made the playoffs and played in at least one playoff game in every single season of his NFL career thus far. He has played for good teams in that span, starting with the Kansas City Chiefs before spending a year with the Baltimore Ravens and a few years with the Los Angeles Rams, but perhaps he is a bit of a good luck charm.
The 49ers have needed some luck to get as far as they have considering all of the injuries they have had to deal with up to this point. It is a miracle they find themselves in this spot, one win away from another NFC Championship game.
If they want to keep this miraculous run going, Robinson absolutely has to play a big part against the Seahawks.