Atlanta Falcons' offensive coordinator Zac Robinson showing continual growth

Aside from a mostly pitiful Week 1 performance Zac Robinson's playcalling has shown much more good than bad. Most importantly, he's shown that he is learning from each game, especially each loss. In week 1 Kirk Cousins had 1 total play from under center. There was discourse raging all over the internet about whether or not he was 100% healthy or not.

In Week 2 Cousins came out firing from mostly under center. Not only that, but the Falcons ran the ball A LOT and used play-action to their advantage. They ended up winning the game on a last-second go-ahead touchdown by Drake London. No cute stuff, no gimmicks, just a one-on-one, the Eagles' best corner vs the Falcons' best WR. Obvious things Arthur Smith would essentially refuse to do last year.

In Week 3 it was more of the same. Cousins under center, play action and the team using their full weapons. Drake London had a WIDE open touchdown in the endzone on a fake screen to Bijan Robinson. A truly spectacular play call. Kyle Pitts had a huge catch and run and the Falcons offense was humming (for the most part) but they just couldn't find the endzone.

There were two minor issues with Robinson's playcalling this game:

1. Trying to force the ball to Bijan Robinson

2. Wide receiver bubble screens

Bijan is a great player. A spectacular player even. But against the Chiefs, he had just 1.9 yards per carry. They are a great defensive front anchored by Chris Jones who is probably the best defensive tackle in the entire NFL. Allgeier was averaging 4.6 yards per carry on just seven carries.

Late in the 4th Robinson called a screen to Mooney and had Ray-Ray McCloud as his primary blocker. Now McCloud has played well in this offense but he is only 5-foot-9. He cannot be the lead blocker on a screen. Robinson had a few too many Mooney screens all game.

Well, guess what happened in Week 4? The offense ran way fewer WR screens AND Zach Robinson utilized Tyler Allgeier in critical moments of the game. He learned from Week 3 that he does not have to feed the ball to Bijan if it is not working. That is not a slight to Robinson. Him and Allgeier have completely different running styles and that is the beauty of having two great backs. You can plug them into favorable matchups.

The offense struggled on Sunday, but penalties are mostly what killed them not bad playcalling. There was a Bijan screen that went for a touchdown that got called back for holding. There was a 4th and 1 the Falcons were lined up to attempt that they couldn't due to a false start.

The Falcons still had 315 yards of total offense and averaged over 6 yards a play. Zach Robinson is learning from his mistakes every game, sooner rather than later the Atlanta Falcons will field a beautiful offense.

In week five it looked beautiful, almost perfect.

Kirk Cousins threw for 509 yards and four touchdowns and the Falcons scored 36 points, their first time reaching that mark since 2022. Cousins' 509 yards was the most a QB has had all season and the most a QB has had in a game since Joe Burrow in 2021. It is only the third 500 yard passing game of this decade.

Every weapon was involved in the air, with Drake London hauling in a career-high 12 catches. Mooney added 105 with a pair of touchdowns. Pitts had his best game of the year with seven catches for 88 yards, the most he's had in a game since his rookie year in 2021.

Once again Robinson showed he is learning from each game. Last week Pitts had 0 catches for 0 yards, on Thursday Pitts had a huge catch and run basically out of the gate. Robinson learns and gets better from each game.

One thing we are yet to see is an offense clicking in both the run and pass game. With a bad defensive line and secondary coming up against Carolina a fully functional offense may be closer than we expect.

But one thing is for certain... Zac Robinson learns from each game and is doing a great job at the helm his first year as an offensive coordinator.