Unsolicited Support For Zac Robinson
April 5th, 2026
New Bucs OC Zac Robinson.
How special is new Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson?
Well, he wasn’t special enough to score head coach interviews in January, which is rare for a Sean McVay disciple. But Robinson has earned respect around the NFL.
Joe picked up on that during a few 1-on-1 chats at the NFL annual owners meetings in Phoenix last week.
Interesting was former Bucs playcaller and current Panthers head coach Dave Canales talking about Robinson to Josina Anderson of The Exhibit on Monday. Canales was not asked about Robinson but brought him up anyway.
Robinson spent the last two seasons guarding the Falcons offense.
“Zac Robinson joins Todd [Bowles] in Tampa; he’s got all the familiarity with our defenses, so he has the expertise. You know, I thought at times the way that he was able to utitlize Bijan [Robison] and all that skill on the offensive side, you know, was special,” Canales said. “So we’re definitely aware of that and we know it starts with the division. That’s why free agency and the draft are so important to us to continue to challenge our roster to show up and be ready to battle for the South.”
Could Robinson be why, at least in part, the Panthers sprinted out in free agency and on Day 1 signed free agent edge rusher Jaelen Phillips and inside linebacker Devin Lloyd to huge money? Keep in mind the Panthers offense was godawful last season, ranking 27th in yards and points scored, and they lost their 1,000-yard rusher.
Joe isn’t sure what to expect from Robinson. The Falcons offense was improving late last season and it averaged 23.3 points per game through the final 10 games. If Atlanta had done that for the entire season, then the Falcons would have ranked 14th in the league in scoring. The Falcons ranked 13th in scoring in 2024, Robinson’s first-ever season as a playcaller.
Will Robinson prove to be a top-tier playcaller with Baker Mayfield at quarterback, a guy who has proven to be better than the Falcons’ QBs of the past two seasons? And Robinson will have a better offensive line in Tampa and more talent at receiver.
April 5th, 2026 at 10:20 am
Can’t be worse than Grizz. If he gets anywhere close to Coen we’ll have a parade for the guy.
April 5th, 2026 at 10:23 am
The Falcons biggest problem was flip flopping with their QBs.
Kirk Cousins, Michael Penix Jr wasn’t the answer
The rest of the offense was playing good football
April 5th, 2026 at 10:36 am
Though his play calling against the Bucs was good, especially with Cousins. Glad he is replacing Grizzard and that he knows the NFC South. Think he is a huge upgrade over Grizzard. Expect the offense to be a lot better.
April 5th, 2026 at 10:47 am
As bad as we were last season, the Bucs’ offense ended up ranking #18 by scoring 380 pts (22.4 PPG average). Two key stats: 41.2% Third Down Conversion Percentage to rank #10, but only 54.0% Red Zone TD Percentage to rank #23.
Atlanta’s offense wasn’t THAT good though. They ended up ranking #24 by scoring 353 pts (only 20.8 PPG average). Two key stats: only 33.3% Third Down Conversion Percentage to rank #30, but 62.0% Red Zone TD Percentage to rank #9.
Averaging only 20.8 PPG isn’t sterling IMO. Falcons had 6 games last season in which they scored LESS than 20.8 PPG … they lost 5 of them. They only had ONE game in which they scored over 30 pts … they won that one. They scored between 21-29 pts in the other 10 games … and went 6-4, to include winning their last 4 games of the season to finish 8-9.
Their 33.3% Third Down Conversion Percentage is very bothersome because that’s how you keep drives alive (an important precursor to actually scoring points to win ballgames). Interestingly though, the Falcons still ended up with an average TOP of 29:46 (ranked #18). Still that was far below what our Bucs averaged last season: 31:53 TOP (ranked #3).
April 5th, 2026 at 10:49 am
Robinson will be an improvement over Grizzard, especially if Bowles does not meddle with the O. Special teams should be improved as well but the big elephant in the room is the defense. Will the defense still be awful given that the Bucs have the same stubborn play caller or will the newly acquired free agency talent and any pieces Jason drafts this month make a difference? Hoping for the best but with Todd Bowles at the helm it seems like this team is destined to win between 8 and 10 games. 9 or 10 wins likely gets the Bucs a division crown but probably another one and done in post season. If this happens, all signs point to a head coaching change next January, perhaps if Zac puts up Coen like numbers the Glazers will not repeat the mistake they made after the 2024 season with Coen and promote Zac. Go Bucs!
April 5th, 2026 at 11:15 am
@DR
Thanks. Kind of puts a huge wet blanket on the Zac euphoria though. I’m hoping Penix was the problem in Atlanta and Baker has a huge rebound. Our Oline needs a rebound also. Do you think Zac is worse than advertised or was Grizz better?
April 5th, 2026 at 11:19 am
Your offense is only as good as your QB
If your QB is playing great football, the offense is great
If your QB suck, your offense sucks
Zach Robinson was handicapped by poor QB play with the Falcons
If Baker play like he did during the 2nd half of last season
It will be Deja Vu for Robinson, the offense will suck again
If Baker play good, like he did in 2024, the Bucs offense will excel
April 5th, 2026 at 11:21 am
Optimistic.
April 5th, 2026 at 11:26 am
Will be interesting to see how he does with our offensive line, given they stay healthy, Baker and of course our pool of receivers. I think he’ll do just fine with our running backs. TEs may be used more in passing game as well.
I’m staying positive on this one
April 5th, 2026 at 11:31 am
@JA: Your offense is only as good as your QB
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not necessarily; the QB has no control over weather or not the receiver drops, fumbles or runs the wrong route. We get what your saying but it is a team sport.
April 5th, 2026 at 11:35 am
The Bucs offensive line wasn’t the problem last season
Even with the injuries, they did a helluva job in the football field
The offense went into stall mode , because of Baker Mayfield
I’m a Mayfield supporter, but he stunk the 2nd half of the season
And it was one play that stood out the most to me
It wasn’t the interceptions, it was a clutch play, a high school QB makes
It was the 2nd and 14 play against Atlanta, after the Falcons had stuffed Bucky
The Falcons knew the Bucs were running out the clock
They had stacked the box, like they did the previous play
Bowles, Grizz made a bold decision to pass the ball
The Falcons were out of timeouts wasn’t expecting the pass
Emeka Egbuka was running a crossing route, Dee Alford was trailing him
Baker threw the ball behind Egbuka, and Alford batted the ball down
It was a simple 8-10 yard pass, a high school pass
There was no pressure on Baker, he had lots of time
He just blew a perfect call and perfect play.
If he makes the simple toss and run, game is over
Baker was sacked the very next play, and the Bucs punted
If Baker makes the play, game over, there will be no 3-28
Bottom line, Baker has to make the simple plays for Zac to have success
April 5th, 2026 at 12:03 pm
Can we play complementary football ? Will ST coach Smith have these guys playing with their hair on fire ? Will the QB & offensive line stay healthy ? Will this toilet bowl of a head coach finally figure out how to deploy enough pressure from the line & not need to blitz as much ? Can he figure out how to have his defensive/ defective gang tackle , fly to the ball & play with pride ? Whole lotta’s there guys !
April 5th, 2026 at 12:09 pm
Oh the injuries. We just need to run the ball more. Zac might be good if he had a competent and undistracted boss. 🤡
April 5th, 2026 at 12:15 pm
I think the Bucs brass know that Baker and Bucky sucked down the stretch
That’s probably the reason they haven’t signed any O-Line help
They did resign Dan Feeney, that’s a telling card, that they were ok with the OLine
April 5th, 2026 at 12:24 pm
Is he man enough to tell Baker to sit down you are injured? Cmon Lamar sits down if he has a boil on his back.
April 5th, 2026 at 12:39 pm
👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆
That’s why Harbaugh got fired.
April 5th, 2026 at 1:16 pm
Tampa Bay Bucs Head Coach in 2027, ending the run of new OC every year.
Sorry Todd, but not sorry.