There should be nobody more excited about the Atlanta Falcons' Week 8 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers than Zac Robinson. Robinson spent the last two seasons as the Falcons' offensive coordinator before Atlanta opted not to retain him when they hired Kevin Stefanski this offseason.
Stefanski instead opted to bring over his own handpicked OC in Tommy Rees, while Robinson stayed in the NFC South as the Bucs' OC. And while the Falcons' offensive identity has changed drastically from what we saw under the previous regime, the core principle is same: they like to pound the rock.
It turns out that the Bucs have the same philosophy, and it's something the Dirty Birds got a close look at. While the rainy conditions forced both teams to rely on the ground game, Tampa Bay's run game fared much better, which resulted in the 16-0 shutout victory where the 40-year-old could get some revenge against his former team in his first matchup since his departure.
Zac Robinson and the Bucs beat the Falcons at their own game on Sunday
And on Sunday, the Buccaneers gashed the Falcons in the ground game. Baker Mayfield threw the ball just three times and they became the first team since 1974 to win a game without completing a pass, as the Bucs' offense ran the ball 56 times for 324 yards (5.8 YPC) and a touchdown on the day.
The Bucs entered Week 8 as one of the run-heaviest offenses in the NFL, and with Mayfield less than 100%, their goal has been to ask him to do as little as possible to win games since his return a thumb injury--and that was successful. Bucky Irving logged 27 carries for 170 yards and a touchdown (and a fumble on the one-yard line), while Kenneth Gainwell turned 25 carries into 140 yards.
In a rain game, especially one where there was much torrential downpouring as we saw yesterday, you should expect to see the run game a lot, but this is something Robinson wants Tampa Bay to do anyways, because he is much better at designing run game concepts than passing game concepts.
Here's what doesn't make sense. The Falcons entered Sunday with the fourth-best run defense and were allowing less than 90 rushing yards a game. You'd think given Robinson spent two seasons calling plays in Atlanta, and one with Jeff Ulbrich, he'd should be plenty familiar with his offensive tendencies and knowing to stop the run, especially when you know it's coming.
This isn't to say they should regret letting Z-Rob go and bringing in Rees, since Michael Penix Jr. has been a much better fit in Rees' system, but it definitely does sting to see him beat them at their own game because they weren't very efficient on the ground in comparison.
The Atlanta Falcons needed to lean on Bijan Robinson and the ground game more against the Bucs
Atlanta has the best running back in football in their backfield in Bijan Robinson, so if there's any team that should be prepared to handle a battle of the run games, it's them. But instead, they were considerably less successful in this area because they did not rely on it as much as their rivals did.
Compared to the Bucs, they ran it exactly half as many times in the elements, as they ran the football just 28 times. That cannot happen, especially in a rain game. But they also averaged just 3.5 yards per carry, as the absence of Brian Robinson Jr. as the change-of-pace back was again felt behind Bijan.
While No. 7 still had a quality game, as he rushed 19 times for 76 yards, the Falcons didn't exactly feed him the way you'd expect them to. Against a top run defense the run blocking struggled, as, there were many instances where he was stopped for a minimal game, and it saw Atlanta turn away from the run after going down early--which is a trend that needs to eventually break.
The annoying part is that Penix clearly didn't have it today, as he threw four interceptions and completed eight of his 24 pass attempts--which makes such a considerable split between run and pass so baffling. You have Bijan back there, what was the reason for Rees to not feed him the rock?
That's what gets frustrating. Zac Robinson and the Bucs' run game had a historic game, which saw them help hand his former team a pathetic loss --which helped them squander their chances of taking control of the NFC South.
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