Maybe Zac Robinson Can Help Todd Bowles’ Defense
January 22nd, 2026
Intel.
For the 2025 season, the Dixie Chicks’ offense under Zac Robinson was, well, meh. Average.
But in Robinson’s first year with the Dixie Chicks, 2024, Atlanta’s offense was good. Atlanta averaged 369 yards offense in 2024, sixth in the league (the Bucs were third under Liam Coen).
This past season, the Bucs and the Dixie Chicks’ offense slipped. Atlanta ranked No. 14, the Bucs No. 21.
However, when Robinson faced a Todd Bowles defense, all of a sudden, it was like Don Coryell came back to life!
In the four games Robinson matched up against Bowles the past two seasons, the Dixie Chicks offense averaged 444 yards per game. Averaged!
And we all remember the infamous overtime loss early in the 2024 season when Kirk friggin’ Cousins ripped apart Bowles’ defense for 509 yards passing.
Hopefully, with this new hire of Robinson, a condition was agreed upon and written into Robinson’s contract: That Robinson must spill the beans on how and why Bowles’ defense was/is such a sieve.
January 22nd, 2026 at 9:53 am
Tell him how to stop the 3rd and 28 or 4th and 14 that essentially ended our season on TNF against the Dixie Chicks.
Damn, I am champing at the bit for the defense to show marked improvement in edge rush, simplicity of scheme, and not giving up the booty to rookie, backup, and journeyman QBs in a soft ass vanilla zone. No more losing by those defensive points.
And, Baker needs to stay healthy down the stretch. Getting his ass kicked and fading late in the season helps no one. He’s a warrior, an id contend his play down the stretch was still “better” than Bowles’ defensive problems when you consider he’s had 8 years in this scheme for crying out loud!
January 22nd, 2026 at 9:54 am
Robinson had no QB in Atl so it is hard to judge him till he has one.
January 22nd, 2026 at 9:57 am
I’m not sure Bowles would take any advice from a lowly OC. The good news for the Bucs is that Zac Robinson is familiar with working for an ineffective, over his head and clueless head coach so there is no learning curve there.
January 22nd, 2026 at 9:58 am
Atlanta’s offense did not do good against us because of this guy They did good because Todd Toilet Bowels defense is ABSOLUTE GARBAGE SMFH How is it possible that no one see’s that No name QB’s continuously expose Toilet Bowels pathetic attempt to coach the defense ABSOLUTE TRASH
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:00 am
Bowles decided to never pressure Kirk THE STATUE Cousins. It was bloody brilliant not once, not twice but all three times the past two seasons. 3rd and 28 baby! Wow what confidence I have in Todd Bowles. Can’t wait for the 2026 Titantic of a Bucs season.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:03 am
FormerBucFan Says:
January 22nd, 2026 at 8:28 am
Funny when jbf polled you clowns only 18 out of 544 voted for him. Today he’s pure gold. In 2 years with the Falcons he didn’t make the playoffs or even manage to win more games than lose. Yep he’s our savior all right. With him and fat a$$ we a destined for greatness. What a effing joke. I’m sure the Joes are getting ready to unleash a plethora of pro Robinson propaganda that would make any communist proud. Todd Bowles should have been fired after his monumental collapse especially with so many options to replace him available. Nope we got Zac Robinson. What a crock of sh*t
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:03 am
Exactly what I was hoping for.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:03 am
No, I think
1.) Raheem Morris
2.) Jonathon Gannon
Could help with Todd Bowles’ defense!
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:05 am
I called it. This guy is sol good he can help fat a$$…. Yuccaneers
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:06 am
Todd: “Zac, please tell me, how do you shred my defensive secondary?”
Zac, “Todd, you hired me for that? Everyone figured that out the last four years.”
Todd: “Never mind. I’ll just blame you when you can’t score enough to bail my D out. Thanks for coming!”
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:06 am
So was Zac still employed by ATL or on the street after Raheem was fired? Many here state that we took him from ATL, but wasn’t he fired?
Anyway – hoping for the best. Preparing for the worst.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:07 am
[Just to spell things out for you: Joe has significantly better things to do during the day (like research stories and, you know, type up stories) than to sit on a keyboard 24/7, drooling with an evil scientist’s smirk, just salivating at putting comments in moderation — in fact it is a pain in the arse. The software on this site — which Joe did not program and since Joe doesn’t know software code, cannot overwrite the stock code — is triggered by dozens of things that put comments into moderation. One of those triggers is when a commenter uses an unusual format for a comment — which you did. That apparently put your comment in moderation. And yes, Joe dug it out for you. Relax. — Joe]
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:09 am
Not be more negative, but “approved by Baker” doesn’t hold a lot of water these days. How many games down the stretch did Baker not get the job done with the game on the line? Yeah he’s hurt, but aren’t 95% of QBs “hurt “ late in the season? Tired of that excuse.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:12 am
So what’s up with the “defensive coordinator” hire? Why are we not hearing anything on this? NADDA. ZIP. ZILCH. Are we really to believe Bowles will give the keys to someone else? I will believe it when I see it. Of course Bucs had to make an OC hire but now lets all focus on the other side of ball. What, if anything, is going on?
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:14 am
The defensive coordinator is already on staff. His name is Todd Bowles.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:14 am
How to fix the sieve you ask? Hire a DC!
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:15 am
We need to start chiming in on D coordinator now ,,, we have the new OC ,, and we have the new STC,,, but what we truly need is a DC,,, I agree w others that says bring Raheem back in for that (before he goes back to LA once Shula gets hired)
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:17 am
This site says it’s all things buccaneers but somehow refuses to discuss why the team won’t address the defensive coordinator position. They avoid it like the plague.Ive seen it asked over and over but total silence. We had the worst red zone defense you can’t go any lower. We only won 2 of our last 9 games. Something isn’t right…not by a long shot.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:20 am
FormerBucFan – not to mention the team quit on their coaches. And the head coach admits “guys” get bored. Yet it’s tolerated.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:22 am
“The defensive coordinator is already on staff. His name is Todd Bowles.”
So there you have it. End of discussion. What a sham
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:23 am
Bring Ronde in as a permanent Defensive assistant and mouthpiece!!! Watch things change immediately!!!! Go Bucs
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:28 am
Embarrassing! If he needs help he should retire. He works on that trash defense in the offseason and they do installs after the draft it’ll be too late to help Bowles
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:30 am
Zac Robinson’s real estate agent advised him to rent.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:31 am
Are we to believe that the defense that “lacked energy, focus, scheme understanding, and was bored” – all quotes from Bowles, is going to improve with no change at DC / HC? THAT is the problem that failed to be addressed! Yet here we sit acting like that didn’t happen and all with be fine with a new OC and ST coach. Failure by ownership!
I’ve been a fan since ‘76 and have seen plenty of uninspired football. What we witnessed after the bye week was grotesque. So let’s just ignore that right? Did t happen. All will be fine. Confidence and effort will be sky high this year right? Failure.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:36 am
It’s a stretch Joe, but I guess anything is possible. In my eyes Bowles defense is unfixable. He’s too arrogant and too stubborn to change his ways.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:40 am
74 Bucs Fan – that’s exactly what they want fans to believe. They are like politicians and just deflect, deflect, deflect – place blame, create scapegoats. It never happened. Right? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. Bringing back this regime is insanity.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:40 am
Zac is perfect for these losers. Besides he really needs the money.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:42 am
When Rondé calls out Bowles for an overly complicated scheme, and D players clearly are uninspired, you have a major problem that is not being addressed. That’s why us fans are uninspired – which will be reflected in sales. Maybe then the owners will take notice.
Perhaps owners are playing chess with a full reload and high draft picks for ‘27 coming. ‘26 Bucs season is a giant “meh” right now.
Even with a “great” draft and some solid FAs on D, the scheme leaves me with “meh”.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:44 am
There are two ways to fix this defense with Todd Bowles still at the helm.
1. Our GM needs to do better. This is a key free agency and draft where he needs to get athletic playmakers at the front seven and an extra piece at cornerback assuming we lose Jamel Dean.
His scheme is dependent on generating pressure from an unexpected source. That could be a blitzing linebacker corner or safety. The problem has been that unless that guy got home for the sack which would happen only occasionally we did not develop enough pass rush from the rest of the front seven to cause enough pressure to the quarterback to misfire. And more often than not even if we did get pressure defenses usually knew a blitz was coming and had an outlet for a easy first down cuz somebody would always be uncovered.
Now if we were to get another good edge rusher to pair with Yaya, somebody who at least can get to the quarterback 7to 10 times and be a threat that lineman have to pay attention to that would help. What would help as well would be to have more athletic inside linebackers. That could easily be fixed by drafting Sonny Styles and signing one of the many good veteran free agent linebackers who will be available. Since I do not trust McCollum after what I saw this past season I would also look for another corner unless you believe Parrish can move outside and pair with Morrison to be our two starters and then have someone like Christian izian play in the slot. Either way I think we will still need another reasonably good corner for depth if not to start.
That combination of a improved speed and talent with a bit better of an edge rush will prevent the opposing defenses from having too much time to pass and the speed at linebacker will help cover the outlet players which are usually the running back and tight end.
2. Change the scheme!
This scheme is too player dependent. If you don’t have the right talent at the right position it falls apart too easily as players are expected to perform duties out of position to cover the blitzing player. This works okay if you have great talent at every position which is rare and we have not had since our Super bowl season. Additionally since injuries are a real part of this game, it seems that every time Todd has the defense he wants ready to play, a key starter goes down whether it is a corner or a safety… And then he shifts into some soft zone coverage knowing that his scheme cannot work without those players.
To me his biggest failure as a defensive coach is not recognizing that he needs to adjust the scheme to fit the players he has when he does not have the horses to run what he wants. A default to a prevent zone style defense which gives up a lot of chunk plays and then hopefully causes the offense to stall in the red zone giving up a field goal. That worked 2 years ago but this year team scored at will from the red zone and we did not have enough offense to overcome…
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:46 am
It defies logic. Much better coaches were terminated yet we’re having silly discussions that a 2nd or 3rd tier offensive coordinator can help the defense. Here’s a stretch…bear with me…fire the person in charge!
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:55 am
Canabuc, you left out one of the most important aspects of the game. Heart & motivation. After watching every NFL playoff game to date, it is obvious that after the bye week this team looked like it didn’t even want to be there. No hitting, very little emotion, simple mistakes that good teams don’t make, and lastly zero urgency. If Bowles has lost this team, then there is no turning this ship back around. I wish this wasn’t the case, but body language tells a different story.
January 22nd, 2026 at 10:58 am
Wish the owners had the balls to fire Bowles the minute buffalo fired McDermott and hired him on the spot. Wishful thinking but I’m ok with the Robinson hire he is from the Mcvay tree so that seems to mesh well with our personal. I’m not worried about offense. I’m worried how we need 6 new defensive starters and we whiff at free agency every year. And about 1 out of 8 defensive draft picks pan out. So if we draft all defense we will get one good player one average player and 6 wait till next year there going to blow up and shock a lot of people for the remainder of there free paycheck for there rookie contract.
January 22nd, 2026 at 11:03 am
“The defensive coordinator is already on staff. His name is Todd Bowles.”
And the Buccaneers have now been eliminated from postseason play in the 2027 playoffs.
So this is what it feels like to be a Browns fan. The draft is the high water mark of the season. All downhill from there.
Bowles is an even worse decision than Jameis Winston. And that’s a high bar!
America’s Defensive Guru, Toad Bowels.
January 22nd, 2026 at 11:05 am
First thing I will stay is, I am very surprised that there is more positives then negatives about this hirer. All week I’ve been hearing nobody want to come here, Bowles is a garbage coach, you get my point. Joe about that DC , I threw a couple of pennies into the wishing well, because pennies or no longer usable and wished that Bowles would bring in R Morris as DB coach / DC just my wish. One thing that should be proven this year is, was it Bowles Defensive play calling or position coaches now that he’s replacing those coaches at DL, CB and S
January 22nd, 2026 at 11:17 am
I agree Popmike there will be no hiding behind his assistants this year!!
I wonder what the excuse could be if we see the same thing next season we have seen for 5 years?
January 22nd, 2026 at 12:06 pm
Sure maybe he can show him how to call defensive plays. Or maybe he can get a few Falcon def players to come to the Bucs. Hmmmm.
January 22nd, 2026 at 12:54 pm
With Robertson coming to the Bucs with Mayfield’s blessings 🙌 renewing his contract might be on the agenda also. If Mayfield is hurt again in 2026 rest him. Bakers play has been really poor when injured. Why play him when he shouldn’t be on the field losing when he could be healing on the sideline.
Jason Light needs to tell Bowles to rest him. End of story, rest him…and find a young Quarter back and slowly develop him.
January 22nd, 2026 at 1:04 pm
Bucnjim
I didn’t leave that out. As I said in my post this was a post about how to fix the defense while being stuck with Todd as our defensive coordinator as well as head coach.
I think a change of scheme something that is simplified that allows players to play instinctively taking advantage of their best traits instead of making them do things that don’t fit their skill set would probably change morale to some degree. I think when you are a pass rusher and you are dropping into coverage to follow a tight end or a receiver and you get beat you get demoralized….
Additionally I talked about ensuring up the front seven with another good edge rusher and two aggressive and talented inside linebackers. As well as another corner who has likely more fire than McCollum.
That is potentially four new starters on the defense who would also hopefully bring little bit of that aggression that we need .
I think Tykee,Parrish, Roberts, Morrison, Kancey, Vea can be the guys with the attitude but we need an alpha or 2. Fix those other four defensive spots and hopefully get Winfield to get his act together and play like we know he can and this can actually be a good defense.
January 22nd, 2026 at 1:14 pm
I think he could help Todd. It sounded like Todd was excited about hiring him. After Zak left the interview, Todd Bowles was the one that called him and said “Don’t leave town, we are hiring you.”
January 22nd, 2026 at 1:42 pm
How’d he do when Penix wasn’t the quarterback?
January 22nd, 2026 at 1:58 pm
The offense is enough work for the guy. It sucked and cost us a number of games last year though you’d not know it reading JBF.
And will some of you I’m thru with the Bucs fans just leave ? Why say you’re writing something or someone off (giving up) only to show up DAILY to discuss them.
It’s like you’re stalking your ex now.