Comfort Brings Confidence for Falcons Offense in Year 2 Under Robinson

When the Atlanta Falcons hired Raheem Morris as their head coach ahead of last season, he brought along passing game coordinator Zac Robinson from the Los Angeles Rams to serve as Atlanta’s offensive coordinator. Robinson proved to be a nice addition, as the Falcons averaged 369.8 yards per game, good for the sixth most in the NFL. 

Heading into his second year at the helm of Atlanta’s offense, Robinson felt good about picking things up where he left off. 

“Just like anybody with second year on the job, I'm sure you can remember the same thing, there's a lot of comfort with it. We have great continuity on the staff, which is awesome,” Robinson said.

“So, being around the staff for another year, knowing how we work with each other, being around the players, it's a really cool vibe that those guys have just overall. They love playing football. They're incredibly smart, and it's been fun to just go to work with these guys every day. We're all feeling you can take a deep breath, knowing we're not in the early stages of an install from a season ago. It's all been positive, and we'll just keep pushing in the right direction.”

Atlanta’s offensive pieces on the field are the same, with the exception of Drew Dalman. Ryan Neuzil is penciled in to be the Falcons' week 1 starter at center. Neuzil started eight games last season, so the offensive line does have some familiarity and game time reps with him as well. 

The organization believes in Neuzil’s ability to take over for Dalman. 

“Obviously, it hurts losing [Drew] Dalman. But, [Ryan] Neuzil, we've got great confidence in Ryan and as you guys know, he played last year and played at a high clip,” Assistant general manager Kyle Smith said.

Year two will also feature a new starting quarterback, Michael Penix Jr. He got some starts toward the end of last season, but it’ll be the first time the scheme is built around him. 

All signs point to Penix being more confident in the system as he heads into his second year. 

“I feel like he knows the system a lot better,” wide receiver Chris Blair said when asked about the difference between Penix in year one vs year two. “Being able to come in and be confident in what he does, he knows the plays well, he’s calling them out, he knows where everyone is supposed to line up. You can see that he’s very confident, and you can see he’s confident pre-snap and post-snap is just him playing ball.”

A quarterback oozing confidence is a great sign. Penix and [Zac] Robinson are going to be two major factors when it comes to how well Atlanta’s offense will perform in 2025. Both the coordinator and quarterback being confident and comfortable in the system is a great thing. Maybe it will translate to the gridiron as well and lead to some wins.

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