The Falcons announced Tuesday that Penix will be the team's starting quarterback moving forward. A change at quarterback in Atlanta had been brewing since head coach Raheem Morris expressed frustration over Kirk Cousins' performance following Monday's 15-9 win over the Raiders. Cousins has been struggling over the Falcons' past five games, posting a 1:9 TD:INT while the team has gone 1-4. Penix has gotten into just two games this season, completing three of five passes for 38 yards after being drafted eighth overall in April's NFL Draft. The Washington product was always going to be the Falcons' quarterback of the future given his lofty draft selection, but his time to shine is coming sooner than expected, as Cousins was slated to lead the team this season after signing a four-year, $180-million contract in March. Atlanta is currently 7-7 and one game behind Tampa Bay in the NFC South, so Penix will be playing with the aim of leading the team into the postseason. His first start will come in a soft matchup Sunday versus the 2-12 Giants.
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The Falcons announced Tuesday that Penix will be the team's starting quarterback moving forward. A change at quarterback in Atlanta had been brewing since head coach Raheem Morris expressed frustration over Kirk Cousins' performance following Monday's 15-9 win over the Raiders. Cousins has been struggling over the Falcons' past five games, posting a 1:9 TD:INT while the team has gone 1-4. Penix has gotten into just two games this season, completing three of five passes for 38 yards after being drafted eighth overall in April's NFL Draft. The Washington product was always going to be the Falcons' quarterback of the future given his lofty draft selection, but his time to shine is coming sooner than expected, as Cousins was slated to lead the team this season after signing a four-year, $180-million contract in March. Atlanta is currently 7-7 and one game behind Tampa Bay in the NFC South, so Penix will be playing with the aim of leading the team into the postseason. His first start will come in a soft matchup Sunday versus the 2-12 Giants.
Head coach Raheem Morris said Monday that Penix will remain the backup to starting quarterback Kirk Cousins in the Falcons' Week 15 game in Las Vegas next Monday, Terrin Waack of the team's official site reports. "Kirk is our quarterback. Kirk is still going to lead us," Morris said. Atlanta has dropped four straight games to fall to 6-7 on the season, and Cousins' ongoing struggles have led to more discussion about a changing of the guard under center. In those four losses, Cousins has completed just 62.4 percent of his passes for 7.6 yards per attempt and a 0:8 TD:INT while also taking eight sacks and fumbling four times (losing none). Cousins' track record and sizable contract looks as though it'll be enough for him to stick atop the depth chart, but another poor showing against a reeling Raiders squad could prompt the Falcons to turn the job over to Penix, the No. 8 overall pick in April's draft. Penix has made just two brief mop-up appearances through the first 14 weeks of the regular season but looked composed during his lone preseason outing, completing nine of 16 pass attempts for 104 yards.
Falcons coach Raheem Morris was emphatic that he would not swap in Penix for the struggling Kirk Cousins, Jay Glazer from Fox NFL Sunday reports. Peter Schrager earlier reported that Penix didn't take any snaps with the starting offense in practice this week, instead exclusively working with the scout team.
Penix completed his only pass attempt for 14 yards during Sunday's 34-14 loss to the Seahawks. With the game out of hand, Penix made his NFL regular-season debut. He played seven offensive snaps and completed his only pass to fellow rookie Casey Washington. Despite Sunday's dud, Kirk Cousins has fully shaken off the early-season rust and revitalized Atlanta's offense, so Penix is relegated to backup duties for the foreseeable future.
Penix is expected to be held out of Atlanta's final exhibition game against Jacksonville on Friday, Marc Raimondi of ESPN.com reports. Penix didn't play in the Falcons' second preseason contest versus Baltimore on Saturday and won't suit up for the team's final exhibition contest either. Head coach Raheem Morris explained that the team feels it "saw enough last week [in Atlanta's preseason opener] of him and the live stuff," adding that "[Penix] showed us last week enough that we don't have to play him in the preseason." The rookie QB completed nine of 16 passes for 104 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions against Miami in Atlanta's first game of the preseason and is slated to open the regular season as the team's backup behind Kirk Cousins.
Coach Raheem Morris said Penix showed enough in his preseason debut last week that the Falcons didn't feel the need to play him against the Ravens on Saturday, Tori McElhaney of the Falcons' official site reports. This was a surprising decision given that Penix is a first-round-pick and expected to ride the pine once the regular season starts, but it perhaps makes more sense in light of the Falcons holding out other highly regarded backups. Both Baltimore and Atlanta largely used Saturday's exhibition to evaluate players at the bottom of the roster or on the wrong side of the bubble, leaving Penix and many others to watch in street clothes. Penix completed nine of 16 passes for 104 yards the previous week in a preseason loss to Miami.
Penix appears unlikely to play in Saturday's preseason game at Baltimore, ESPN's Marc Raimondi reports. With the rookie in street clothes for warmups and Kirk Cousins not expected to play at all this preseason, the Falcons have Taylor Heinicke and John Paddock to take QB snaps Saturday afternoon. Penix completed nine of 16 passes for 104 yards last Friday in Atlanta's preseason opener against Miami.
Penix started the Falcons' 20-13 preseason loss to the Dolphins on Friday night, completing nine of 16 passes for 104 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. The rookie eighth overall pick played on the Falcons' first five possessions, leading Atlanta to 10 points overall on the third and fourth drives of the contest. Penix displayed solid command of the offense during his time in the game and connected with Chris Blair on a 41-yard pass for the Falcons' biggest pass play of the night. The performance was certainly an encouraging one for a pro debut, and with Kirk Cousins not slated to play this preseason, Penix should be afforded ample playing time again in Atlanta's second exhibition on the road against the Ravens on Aug. 17.
Penix looks slated to start Friday's road exhibition matchup against the Dolphins with Kirk Cousins not in line to play this preseason, Victor Prieto of Fox 5 Atlanta reports. Penix, the eighth overall pick of April's draft, looks positioned to spend at least his rookie campaign redshirting behind Cousins, so even preseason game reps figure to be valuable for his development. D. Orlando Ledbetter of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Cousins isn't expected to take the field at all this preseason, which should mean Penix is also primed to start versus the Ravens on Aug. 17 and against the Jaguars on Aug. 23, before returning to a backup role at home against the Steelers in Week 1. Coach Raheem Morris declined Wednesday to name a starting quarterback for Atlanta's preseason opener, Josh Kendall of The Athletic reports, but the expectation is that Penix will enter the game first, followed by Taylor Heinicke and Nathan Rourke.