Falcons Make Move with OC Zac Robinson

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga – After the continued issues with communication, the Atlanta Falcons will be moving offensive coordinator Zac Robinson down from the press box to the field moving forward. Head coach Raheem Morris confirmed the decision during his Monday press conference after the team’s Week 3 30-point loss to the Carolina Panthers. 

“We’ll move Zac [Robinson] down to the field to be able to get that little cleaner communication for him and to be able to get [the play] to [Penix] if something does happen,” Morris said. “To be able to be more visual, and see the quarterback and do some of those things that have him have a clear line of communication with Mike to be able to help him out more. We definitely hold some responsibility in those things, and we’re going to go out and do those things.” 

Moving Robinson was necessitated by several problems between the Falcons' play-caller and Michael Penix Jr, problems that go beyond Sunday’s shutout loss. The headset debacle flared up in the Week 3 loss, while the noise impacted their ability to communicate effectively last week, but they also had some issues in Week 1. 

The miscues and stalls in communication led to unnecessary timeouts and pre-snap penalties that hurt their ability to be effective on offense. 

“I don't know. I just do what I'm told in the headset and keep it pushing,” Penix said on Sunday after the loss. “I can't control that. I know the plays. Once I hear the play, I've just got to make sure I get the guys out of the huddle so we can go execute at a high level.”

It is hard to know what sort of impact this move can have on the offense, but they clearly recognized that something had to change after scoring just once in their last eight quarters. The second-year quarterback, in particular, has struggled over these last two starts, completing just 31-of-57 of his passes (54.4%) for 307 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. 

“There are definitely ways to get him [Penix] going,” Morris said about his quarterback. “He has high standards for himself, so yesterday he got down on himself. Yesterday, he was not his normal, happy, competitive self. He got a little down on himself, got a little upset. 

“But it’s a lot of stress on a young quarterback, and we can help him do some of those things. Without a doubt, we’ll do those things going forward to help him out.” 

If the Falcons can’t clean up their communication and execution, the margin for error will only shrink against some upcoming playoff-caliber opponents. Time will tell if this move will help them find their rhythm.