Atlanta Falcons OC Zac Robinson: 'Play Action is a Big Part of Our Offense'

The Atlanta Falcons enter Monday night's game against the Buffalo Bills sitting at 2-2 on the season and a chance to enter the national conversation against an AFC elite.

Before their last game against the Washington Commanders, offensive coordinator Zac Robinson found himself under fire following an embarrassing 30-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Two of the biggest criticisms hurled at Robinson were the predictability of play based on formation and the lack of play action despite one of the NFL's best rushing attacks.

Michael Penix Jr. attempts fewer than five passes per game from play action, 30th in the NFL. By comparison, the LA Rams, where Robinson learned under head coach Sean McVay, attempt 10 per game.

Robinson understands the big-play potential from the play-action pass, considering the strength of Penix's arm, and the dangers Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier pose in the running game. He thinks the lack of play action is more situational through just four games than an indictment on his overall philosophy.

"This year, four-game sample, you kind of look at the flow of the games," Robinson said this week. "Obviously, all those – every game is its own entity, and every game is so different. You look at really two of the four. Minnesota was run-heavy. They were having a hard time stopping it, so there was no need to force play action. There were actually a couple times in that game I was like, ‘Man, we probably should have just kept running it.’

"Then Carolina game, you get into kind of catch-up mode, and so really it's kind of too early, I would say, in the season to look at the statistics on those things."

There seems to be some revisionist history going on in Flowery Branch regarding the Panthers' game.

Atlanta was only trailing 10-0 and had the ball early in the third quarter, too early to abandon the running game and subsequent play action. That said, the team course corrected quickly against the Commanders and posted a season high in points and yards.

Tight end Kyle Pitts found the end zone off a play-action pass.