Sportsnaut
The Atlanta Falcons confidently rolled into the 2025 NFL season with Michael Penix Jr. firmly entrenched as the starting quarterback. That was the plan all along.
Yet, three games into the season, when the Falcons found themselves behind their NFC South division rival Carolina Panthers 27-0, Atlanta made a change. For the first time since he was inserted as the starter in Week 15 of last season, the Falcons pulled Penix from the starting lineup.
It cracked the door open ever so slightly for Kirk Cousins to show what he’s capable of. While Cousins promptly led the team to a turnover on downs, some wondered if the Falcons were ready to make a more permanent change heading into Week 4.
On Wednesday, Falcons coach Raheem Morris addressed those concerns, and his response shouldn’t come as a shock.
Penix threw his first two interceptions of the season in last week’s loss. One of them was even a pick-six, so seeing him get benched, especially as the Falcons were getting shut out by one of the worst teams in the league from a season ago, shouldn’t have come as a shock.
While the Falcons clearly wanted to get a look at Cousins, possibly even just to keep Penix out of harm’s way, expecting them to turn away from the 2024 first-round pick would have been unreasonable this quickly. Penix may already be 25 years old, but he’s only six games into his career.
If the Falcons were willing to move forward with Penix to start the year, then why would a sample size of three games, and a 1-2 start, push him out of the lineup now? However, if the Falcons’ record worsens, we shouldn’t rule out Cousins returning to the lineup at some point in the future.
Related: 2025 NFL QB Rankings: Where’s Michael Penix?
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