He may have been playing football on Sunday instead of Saturday, but Nickell Robey-Coleman still knows how to patrol the secondary at the L.A. Coliseum.
Robey-Coleman, who spent three years as a dependable corner at USC, boosted his legacy in Southern California by snatching two interceptions, and helping to propel the Bills to victory over the Rams.
Robey-Coleman made the game's biggest play with the score deadlocked at 16 in the third quarter. He stepped in front of Rams rookie receiver Pharoh Cooper on a short out-route and sped 41 yards down the sideline to take it in for a touchdown.
"We were in man-to-man coverage," Robey-Coleman said. "In film--the whole week-- they have been showing us that same look. We just had to break on some routes, and I was just expressing my technique and I broke when he broke and the ball was there and I intercepted it."
The interception put the Bills ahead for good, 23-16 with 3:54 to go in third quarter.
"(The game) was kind of sluggish and then that play I feel like it sparked us," Robey-Coleman said. "I feel like it gave our defense some juice. It gave the team some juice, the sideline some juice and sometimes that's what you need to bring everybody together."
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Robey-Coleman wasn't done there. He put an exclamation point on his play and the team's win with an interception on a 4th-and-18 scramble play with the Rams down 11 deep in their own territory with just two minutes to play.
The Bills ran the clock down on the following drive to end the game. Robey-Coleman's pick-six in the third quarter was his second defensive touchdown of the season. In Week 2, he scooped up a New York Jets fumble and took it 36 yards to put the give the Bills the lead at the time in that game.
His head coach has taken notice of his play through five games.
"You know, he did a great job and obviously he's played this season with a ton of confidence and I think it's based on the fact that he allows himself to really be coached," Rex Ryan said. "And he has really bought into it with the film study, the preparation, and everything else. He's got a lot of ability, but he doesn't just rely on ability only. He's a tireless worker, and it's really paying off for us this year."
Robey-Coleman helped to spearhead another solid defensive performance. The Bills said that they knew what to expect from Case Keenum and the Rams passing game. Keenum threw only two balls that traveled more than 20 yards past the line of scrimmage, allowing the Bills to play aggressive on some routes, such as Robey-Coleman's interception.
"We just stayed with our game plan," Robey-Coleman said. "We knew that the quick routes might agitate us, but it wasn't going to beat us. So we just kept going with our game plan and sure enough they never threw the ball downfield so we just kept playing our defense."
Robey-Coleman had seven interceptions during his time with the Trojans, and was a First-Team All-Pac-12 selection as a sophomore in 2011. Despite Robey-Coleman's success at USC, he went undrafted. He says that goes towards making days like Sunday feel even sweeter.
"It days like this that make you feel like all your hard work that you ever did is paying off," Robey-Coleman said. "I'm just happy, I'm just blessed and I'm glad we had a great day. It was a great team win.
