Zac Robinson Talks About Practicing Against Todd Bowles
September 11th, 2026
Iron sharpens iron.
KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles, the guy with his hands on the joystick of the Bucs’ defense, is known for often using an elaborate collection of blitzes that are said to drive mere mortals at quarterback dizzy and broken.
(Yet, just once since Bowles came to Tampa Bay in 2019 has he had a pass defense ranked above No. 20.)
Some offensive coaches are fortunate if they see Bowles’ devilish blitzes once every four years. Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson sees that blitzing daily.
As a result, Robinson is of the mind he’s becoming a better offensive coordinator.
“You’ve got to be ready for everything at all times,” Robinson said yesterday about practicing daily against a Bowles defense. “[It] makes you work through a lot of things maybe you wouldn’t have to work through until Week 12 when something showed up.
“You get to see a ton of defense, a ton of different looks. It’s definitely challenging on the quarterbacks. It’s challenging on the protection. It can be challenging to run the football with how sturdy they are up front.”
Dueling Bowles in practice, Robinson believes, makes the entire team better
“We got a lot of great work against them,” Robinson said. “There was some good back and forth, which is a sign of a good team. It was a lot of fun to compete against them every day.
“The defense brought juice [and] made us better. We hope that we made them better as well.
“But yeah, it’s a challenging defense to face every single day. I was certainly glad once we were done practicing against them for training camp. Now that we’re on the cards and scout team and everything, it kind of eases your mind a little bit.”
Joe always winces hearing folks — specifically network game announcers — gush over Bowles’ blitzes as if only Bowles himself has the answers to Enigma. If these blitzes are so confusing and cripple offenses, how is it so many opponents have success against Bowles’ defense through the air?
Joe seems to recall once Robinson’s Dixie Chicks offense racked up 509 passing yards facing Bowles and his intricate blitzes two seasons ago.
The way the Bucs’ defense has been sliced and diced the past few years, let’s not get Bowles confused with Joe Rochefort.
September 11th, 2026 at 7:17 am
It really is a lazy take to mention the “pass defense” ranking, without context. If teams KNOW that they can not run on you, they will pass more instead. When they pass more, they will get more pass yards. When they get more pass yards, it will affect your “ranking”. Every time someone brings up defensive pass rankings, they should bring up that since 2019, the Bucs have averaged a top 5 run defense. We have seen how the league has shifted back to respecting RBs and the run game. Being elite against the run matters. Shout out to Todd and Vita.
September 11th, 2026 at 7:28 am
The same people about to bash Bowles are the same people who would trade for McVay and his genius decision making process, ya know fly to the other side of the Earth, step off a plane and play a division rival.
September 11th, 2026 at 7:37 am
Hey Anthony, could you imagine the things Todd would be getting called had he made that decision and then got spanked like that?
September 11th, 2026 at 7:43 am
Who cares if a team is good against the run when the opposition can just pass them to death? We lost the game, but they couldn’t run on us? 🙄
September 11th, 2026 at 7:43 am
Bowles is trash. I don’t think he could get hired as dc anywhere in the league. Great you blitz alot and from everywhere. So what. Your defense gets shredded. You confuse qb’s really. I think the only people he confuses is his own players. Nothing but blown coverages and receivers wide open down field.
Bowles is so dumb I can’t wait to see him put Ruben Bain backpeddling to try and cover jamar chase down field sunday
September 11th, 2026 at 7:56 am
his wizardry send Parrish on the blitz and drop Bain in to coverage lol didn’t see that genius move coming
September 11th, 2026 at 8:05 am
Excited to see how the improved dline performs.
September 11th, 2026 at 8:08 am
OK bashers, give me the names of the next great (up and coming) GM and coach combo the Bucs should pursue. I’ll wait.
September 11th, 2026 at 8:19 am
Bowles’ defense is like advanced calculus: extremely complicated, yet somehow the final answer is still “wide open receiver.”
September 11th, 2026 at 8:24 am
We did not spend money on defense until now since sb. HopeFULLY we will have the top 10 defense and will be all hapily after (or maybe not). No need to bash him now, he is not going anywhere until next year. Enjoy the season if you can. Go BUCS!
September 11th, 2026 at 8:33 am
JD Says:
September 11th, 2026 at 8:24 am
We did not spend money on defense until now since sb.
True, JD. Fingers crossed for this year’s D!
September 11th, 2026 at 8:34 am
looks like Evans made the right move Joe lol….he looked great…9ers beat up a team that embarrassed the bucs…
lets get another Mike Evans article please lol
GO BUCS!!!!
September 11th, 2026 at 8:35 am
I love how the article starts out with talking about going against the defense and then at the end it’s a little Todd bashing🙈
September 11th, 2026 at 8:37 am
Yea – it is baffling that there are people that get tons of praise and admiration for being genius’s but in reality they suck at their jobs. Mediocre Bowles is exhibit 1. Case in point; I had the pleasure and honor of paying $4.79 per gallon of gasoline yesterday and at the grocery store I saw that rib eye steaks have gone from $9.99 per pound to $19.99 a pound since two years ago. The economy and cost of living have never been better! Let’s all give credit. Exhibit 2.
September 11th, 2026 at 8:39 am
I just can’t wait for the games to start. We spend all over season arguing back and forth about Bowles, Baker, the new OC, the GM, the Glazers..blah blah.
The truth will come out this season regarding all above.
This team is healthy and there are no more excuses. Bowles had plenty of chess pieces to put a competent to above average defense out there every Sunday.
Baker has a healthy oline and plenty of weapons.
It’s put up or shut up time.
The truth will come to the surface starting on Sunday.
September 11th, 2026 at 8:41 am
“If these blitzes are so confusing and cripple offenses, how is it so many opponents have success against Bowles’ defense through the air?”
Because our defense kind of works best when it can render offenses 1-dimensional. Unfortunately, discouraging/stopping the opposing run game can force an offense to go one dimensional which comes with the drawback of inflated yards & TD tallies.
Blitzing is just a part of what comes with everything else we do. Pre-snap just a threat of the blitz is enough to get a QB/C to adjust his protection and play right into our hands. QBs don’t like not being able to key on who’s coming, centers don’t want to slide protection that creates blitz lanes, or doesn’t account for the nickel or SS in the box, but lined up like a 3rd ILB. An improved rush just accentuates all the chaos this scheme intentionally attempts to generate.
September 11th, 2026 at 9:01 am
Todd Says:
September 11th, 2026 at 8:19 am
Bowles’ defense is like advanced calculus: extremely complicated, yet somehow the final answer is still “wide open receiver.”
LOL LOL Yeah that about sums it up lol, as long as you scheme to play 10 yards off a reciever all the time lol. A scheme so good, that you scheme for the other team to make pitch and catch first downs against you. With that said, Todd came here with a rep of playing press coverage, but that went out the window a long time ago. Hopefully they do not play 10 yards off the man on 3rd down, when only 5 is needed. Sick of watching the CB so far back you gift first downs to the opponent. Hey Leopard Todd, change those spots lol..
September 11th, 2026 at 9:04 am
Dumb Jock Talk !! This is when you know the Dumb Jock Disease
is taking over Gods Gift of a Brain !!
The numbers tell a different story by a Longgg Shot !!
But he has self Proclaimed he has changed this season 🤞
September 11th, 2026 at 9:08 am
A lot of football is mental, if you as a player KNOW a team is being forced to pass on you and they are ONE DIMENSIONAL, yet you fail over and over to stop the pass, that’s on you as the players and coach.
The Bucs defense KNOWS whats coming, and hey still are not prepared to be anywhere close to an opposing WR
If you have the same sad results EVERY YEAR, it’s on the scheme and coaching
2025
Passing TD’s Allowed 30
Pass Yards Per Game Ranked 27th
2024
Passing TD’s Allowed 27
Pass Yards Per Game Ranked 26th
2023
Passing TD’s Allowed 23
Pass Yards Per Game Ranked 29th
2022
Passing TD’s Allowed 29
Pass Yards Per Game Ranked 9th
2021
Passing TD’s Allowed 26
Pass Yards Per Game Ranked 21st
2020
Passing TD’s Allowed 29
Pass Yards Per Game Ranked 21st
2019
Passing TD’s Allowed 30
Pass Yards Per Game Ranked 30th
September 11th, 2026 at 9:11 am
This criticism of Bowles is so relentless. Just a reminder – remember when Todd Bowles defense shut down the mighty Kansas City offense with Machomes and company never crossing their end zone once. They had the horses (guys) to do it. Will Todd’s defense do it again on Sunday.
A win would go a long way in shutting up the Bowles naysayers. These naysayers would probably say the defense got lucky. Both teams are relatively healthy so we should find out if this Todd Bowles upgraded defense can put some of these naysayers to bed for once and for all.
September 11th, 2026 at 9:16 am
I paid 3.75 a gallon two days ago in the free State of Florida.
September 11th, 2026 at 9:17 am
Dumb Jock Talk !! ……………………………………………
But he has self Proclaimed he has changed this season.
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Redundant, ………No?
September 11th, 2026 at 9:20 am
“If you have the same sad results EVERY YEAR, it’s on the scheme and coaching”
2 of 3 elements isn’t bad, but glossing over the on field play is you confusing
“The Bucs defense KNOWS what’s coming, and hey still are not prepared to be anywhere close to an opposing WR”
Preparation with performance, maybe on purpose because you acknowledge they know what’s coming which points at preparation but still can’t stop it which you also attribute to a lack of preparation(as if football works that way?).
So, which one is it and where does performance kick in to you?
September 11th, 2026 at 9:22 am
@Allen Lofton
The Super Bowl was AWESOME & also an outlier. The number of times this defense has looked GREAT in Todd’s 7 years calling the defense can be counted on one hand.
Keep in mind the Chief’s O Line was decimated in the Super Bowl, Todd’s scheme seems to only look great when he’s play a team ravished by injuries or facing a truly inept coach.
Todd has been calling the same sad pass defense for SEVEN years, who cares if they are top 10 stopping the run if it’s so easy to pass against them in a passing league?
SMH
September 11th, 2026 at 9:24 am
Maybe Bowles really does have defensive schemes that challenge QBs and OCs mentally, but the more important factor is just physical aggression?
September 11th, 2026 at 9:24 am
Joe … ‘(Yet, just once since Bowles came to Tampa Bay in 2019 has he had a pass defense ranked above No. 20.)’
I get tickled that you just can’t help yourself Joe. To you, pass defense is the be-all and end-all obviously. To some others, including myself, minimizing POINTS ALLOWED is the criteria for a good defense, not yards.
Fire the Cannons & Fire Todd follows closely in your footsteps. Passing TDs, allowed; pass defense rankings based on yards. Yup, that’s what defines a solid defense to some.
You asked a pertinent question Joe about Bowles propensity to blitz in this article but then failed to answer it: ‘ If these blitzes are so confusing and cripple offenses, how is it so many opponents have success against Bowles’ defense through the air? Not that hard to answer: it’s a numbers thing. Pass coverage areas get vacated when you send blitzers (most often our ILBs). IF the blitzer doesn’t get there fast enough to sack the QB, even rookie QBs can find open guys in those vacated areas.
Regardless of Todd’s excessive blitzing (I’m NOT a fan BTW), the bottom line still has to focus on POINTS ALLOWED. The preferred way to do that IMO is with a quality pass rush of 4-5 guys, one that allows the defense to optimize pass coverage yet still minimizes the time a QB has to get rid of the ball. And if we can’t get a quality pass rush out of 3 DLineman & 2 OLBs then we’ve got the wrong guys playing those positions.
September 11th, 2026 at 9:25 am
Robinson was so scared of Bowles defense that when he put Cousins in they absolutely torched Todd’s Swiss cheese scheme!!!
It’s laughable that you would even write such an asinine take and post it on the site.
Todd Bowles is the worst HC\DC in all of football. He’s just a complete joke.
Trying to propagandize people into believing the fake hype is reality an insult.
September 11th, 2026 at 9:28 am
I paid 3.75 a gallon two days ago in the free State of Florida.
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Today in the free city of Fort Myers Fl. it was $4.19!!!
September 11th, 2026 at 9:44 am
@Defense Rules
Yes, points allowed is important. Can’t win unless you score more than the other team. But if you allow an opponent to rack up yards, in this case a lot of yards in one phase of the game, you hurt your team as you can’t stop them or give the ball back to your team.
Yards usually equals time of possession as you are moving the ball, keeping the ball away from the opposition, if the defense can only limit one aspect of the offense but allow the offense to do whatever they like in the other phase of the game, you don’t have a good defense or scheme
September 11th, 2026 at 9:56 am
Anyone else ready for we have to coach it better we have to play it better, guys have to do their jobs…burrow isn’t the an to blitz coverage sacks will get it done everytime
September 11th, 2026 at 9:57 am
Isn’t the qb*
September 11th, 2026 at 10:12 am
wait until 9 14
September 11th, 2026 at 10:41 am
I just need to post comments better.
September 11th, 2026 at 10:45 am
If you can’t get to the QB when you blitz, your chance of slowing down a pass attack is futile; I do think our corners need to play press man. One issue against Todd’s defense is that the QB gets rid of the ball quickly, and unless Vita and Calijah can cause immediate havoc, corners are going to get beat in this league.
September 11th, 2026 at 10:49 am
Just gotta coach it better, scheme it better, play it better. On repeat.
Got my counter ready to go for the season.
I’d do a short every time we hear it but I need my liver.
🏈🏈🏈🍺🍺🍺
September 11th, 2026 at 11:00 am
OK bashers, give me the names of the next great (up and coming) GM and coach combo the Bucs should pursue. I’ll wait.
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Been almost three hours and no suggestions, ….. I guess the Trolls prefer to cry, b!tch and whine.