METAIRIE, La. -- Patrick Robinson's resurgence has gone from being a nice comeback story to something more in recent weeks.
The New Orleans Saints' No. 2 cornerback spot has been arguably the team's biggest weakness all season. But if Robinson continues to play anywhere near as well as he did this past Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he might actually turn that spot into an asset.
Robinson was outstanding while spending most of the day matched up against one of the NFL's top receivers, Antonio Brown, in New Orleans' 35-32 victory.
As Robinson and many others have pointed out, the performance would have been even better if he hadn't dropped two or three potential interceptions. But the way Robinson aggressively attacked the football on several pass break-ups was a sign of how much his confidence has improved.
"I've said it before that at that position, you have to be mentally tough," said Saints coach Sean Payton, who deserves a great deal of credit himself for sticking with Robinson after benching him early in the season.
Payton called Robinson into his office to share a list of cornerbacks around the NFL who lost their jobs and later came back strong.
"You have matchups each week and you get balls completed. You just have to get back up off the mat and keep competing. He's worked too hard to not respond that way," Payton said of the former first-round pick, whose career has been a constant roller coaster because of injuries and inconsistent play. "That's the one thing about him, his offseason and what he's had to overcome (returning from a major knee injury). I think that's served him well."
The biggest issue with Robinson has always been confidence. He's the first to admit it, and every coach and teammate that's ever been around him has said the same thing.
Robinson has always been refreshingly honest about that issue. And in recent weeks, it seems like he's finally taken an "enough is enough" approach.
"Well, it's about time, to be honest," Robinson said. "I think my confidence is a lot better than it was the last couple years. I think that makes a huge difference. … I think I was doing too much thinking. I think in the last couple years, I was playing not to get beat instead of just playing my game, playing my technique. …
"I think when I lost my starting job, I was thinking, 'This cannot get any worse. And I can only go up from here.' So I just kept working hard, staying focused, just doing my job, that's it."
Robinson reiterated Friday that the faith Payton showed in him made "a huge difference."
"You know, Sean had confidence, he's the head coach, he's the top guy, I should be fine," said Robinson, who said the first time the confidence issue crept up was when he entered the NFL in 2010.
"I think it started as soon as I got here. This is a huge stage, the NFL. Everybody around the country around the world is watching. And you start thinking about it like, 'Oh my God, I got millions and millions of people watching, I can't mess up, I can't get beat, I can't be the one on SportsCenter,'" said Robinson, who said he's tried to change that mindset, focusing on what he can do better on the next play instead of dwelling on a bad one.
Teammates have noticed it, too.
Safety Kenny Vaccaro said Robinson was one of many defensive players who struggled in Weeks 1 and 2 against Atlanta and Cleveland -- Robinson just got the heaviest dose of the blame.
"But since then, you name a time when y'all think P-Rob hasn't been playing at a high level," Vaccaro said. "He's done a great job this year. Honestly, I think he's playing one of the best of the DBs as a whole this season.
"We just gotta keep his spirits high and he'll keep playing like that, because he has an elite skill set. It's ridiculous. And he has good hands, too -- I don't know how he dropped those [interceptions]."
Robinson actually has more career interceptions (eight) than any other current Saints player -- including a spectacular leaping pick against Tampa Bay in Week 5, when his resurgence began as the Saints' nickel cornerback.
After that, Robinson battled a hamstring injury before playing well in that nickel role for a few more weeks. Then he regained his starting job on the outside two weeks ago.
Of course, Robinson will continue to be a work in progress, probably until the end of his career. But if he can play at a high level -- or at least show an ability to bounce back after getting beat -- then the Saints may finally have the steady No. 2 option at cornerback that they envisioned when they chose Robinson over veteran Champ Bailey coming out of training camp.
The entire secondary showed improvement at Pittsburgh, with undrafted rookie Pierre Warren also holding up fairly well as the new starting free safety.
"I think we've become closer as a secondary, I don't know if y'all have noticed. But we're starting to [get a] feel for each other a little more," said Vaccaro, who said he has tried to step up into more of a leadership role with the safeties while Keenan Lewis has done the same with the cornerbacks.
"A lot of the outside criticism brought us real tight together, like real tight. So honestly I think were a completely different unit from the start of the year," Vaccaro said. "I think we had a lot of individual goals, but now it's just like, we've gotta stick together, kind of like you're at war, we're stuck in a bunker. And we've gotta get out together."