If you're a fan of the Atlanta Falcons, you should know by now how awful former offensive coordinator Zac Robinson truly was. There is no world an offense that had as much talent as the Falcons had should be as inefficient as it was, especially given his gross failure with the quarterback room.
Robinson set Michael Penix Jr.'s development back way more than we could've imagined by running the offense out of the pistol and neglecting the play-action game. He essentially tried to fit a round peg into a square hole and refused to change things up once it was obvious his job was on the line.
We cannot understate how much the Falcons upgraded going from Robinson's system to having Kevin Stefanski, Tommy Rees, Tanner Engstrand, and Alex Van Pelt working with Penix. And he's already feeling the effects of having a competent coaching staff that knows how to develop him.
Michael Penix Jr. confirmed Zac Robinson was worse than Falcons fans thought
While addressing the media during mandatory minicamp, the 26-year-old told ESPN's Marc Raimondi that the new coaching staff is preaching the importance of strong footwork, an area he once struggled. And in doing so, Penix offered a damning discovery about the way his former OC operated.
"I feel like it's just a lot of time put into it," Penix said about footwork. "It's always something that's being pointed out in routes. ... If you're off time and it's always like they let you know, 'Hey, you got to pick up your feet or take your time a little bit on this drop, you got to work through your progression.' Just stuff like that. So, I feel like it's just something that is talked about more than it was."
The third-year quarterback made it clear that Van Pelt and this staff are emphasizing the importance of footwork in ways the old staff never did. He said that it was "more talked about than it was", which feels like both a credit to the new support system in place and a shot at Robinson's incompetence.
The 39-year-old was a former NFL quarterback and spent time as a quarterbacks coach. How was he not hammering the idea of strong footwork into his QB's head? He should know better than anyone how important precise footwork is for a QB, especially a young one struggling to make his mark.
In two seasons playing for Robinson, the Washington product has a career completion rate below 60%, and if he wants to beat out Tua Tagovailoa to be the Dirty Birds' Week 1 starting quarterback, that number has to go up. And the first step towards doing so is having your feet lined up correctly.
Criticizing Zac Robinson over footwork may seem minor, but it's one of the many ways he set Michael Penix Jr. back. Thankfully, Falcons fans are plenty happy he's gone and are ready for him to have a similar effect in Tampa Bay while Penix turns things around once he gets fully healthy.
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