Do the Falcons have a QB problem? Why Michael Penix Jr. deserves more respect (and time) despite Week 3 dud
It's not quite time to revert to Kirk Cousins
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4 min read
Whenever you lose 30-0 in the NFL, everything is up for debate. Even the starting job of your first-time full-time quarterback. Such is life in Atlanta after Sunday's Week 3 debacle, in which the Falcons somehow found a way to make the rival Carolina Panthers look like a 2025 powerhouse. Michael Penix Jr. is at the center of the criticisms, with plenty wondering in the wake of his two-interception dud whether Atlanta would be better off going right back to Kirk Cousins under center.
You know, the 37-year-old who had more picks (16) than games played (14) in his expensive Falcons debut. The guy whom not a single NFL franchise -- including plenty of quarterback-desperate ones -- could pry from Atlanta's bench this offseason.
Let's get the obvious out of the way: Penix was not good against the Panthers. He had a direct hand in the ugly defeat. He was especially sloppy in his form on a pick-six, all but sidearming a screen pass without any sense of danger. So why, then, did coach Raheem Morris refuse to entertain a competition at quarterback immediately following the game? Why was Morris so quick to shut down the possibility of Cousins getting more than just fourth-quarter relief snaps?
Maybe, just maybe, because Sunday was Penix's sixth career start? And because Cousins was already demoted as the "missing piece" of a perceived win-now team with a playoff run on the line? That's not to say Cousins couldn't redeem himself as a Falcons signal-caller by returning to the lineup now, as a refreshed and savvier Plan B. He's had his moments as an underdog. But the Falcons are constructed for growth as much as instant contention; their offense is headlined by young building blocks like Bijan Robinson and Drake London, or guys equipped to aid in Penix's progression as the face of the franchise.
Are we positively sure Cousins offers more right now? Maybe for a week, but three? Five? Another 10 games? Hey, it's possible. Especially if Penix keeps turning in deflating performances like Sunday's. But therein lies the rub: Sunday wasn't a continuation of Penix's past struggles. It was a jarring exception. Critics are waving around all kinds of stats in the wake of Penix's bad day against the Panthers, suggesting the Washington product was always destined for such a bumbling outing. The problem is many of those stats are cherry-picked to kick Penix while he's down after, again, his sixth career NFL start.
Take, for example, the viral posts about Penix being 0-4 when his opponent scores more than seven points.
Okay? Do the same people sharing this stat realize that of Penix's four losing starts at the NFL level, three of them were one-score games? And two of them went to overtime? That means in three of the four games Penix lost "because the other team scored more than seven points," Penix also led shootouts Atlanta easily could've won. Like, say, if Raheem Morris' defense could've kept the Commanders or Panthers under 30 points in 2024, when Penix was still just a rookie getting his feet wet.
Flaunting that stat is a joke, frankly. Penix may not be "the answer" in Atlanta. But he most certainly hadn't been the Falcons' biggest issue before Sunday's game. Does anyone recall that on Sept. 7, just two weeks ago, Penix drove Atlanta on an 18-play touchdown drive to go ahead of the rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1? Or that he set up a would-be game-winning field goal right after Baker Mayfield and Co. stormed back against Morris' defense, only for the since-cut Younghoe Koo to shank the 44-yard kick? Are we really crediting that loss to Penix?
And no, maybe his passing marks weren't gaudy against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2, but he still went on the road in prime time and led six scoring drives against Brian Flores' defense -- the same unit that just stuffed Jake Browning and the Cincinnati Bengals into oblivion -- for a near-effortless rout. Are we going to pretend that wasn't a perfectly reasonable performance because he didn't win pretty? Have Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles taught us nothing?
NFL Week 3 overreactions: Time for Falcons to go back to Kirk Cousins? Bengals should move on from Zac Taylor?
Jeff Kerr
Look, none of this means Penix has been MVP material. To repeat: His Week 3 was rough, and it helped cost the Falcons what seemed like an easily winnable matchup. It's also not great to see the weekly statistical regression since the start of this season. But there's a difference between dropping your jaw in disgust at how things went against the lowly Panthers and trying to retroactively apply that disgust to each of Penix's other NFL starts, which were uneven at worst and promisingly sharp at best.
If, say, Penix's accuracy and composure remain damagingly shoddy when the Falcons return home to face the Commanders in Week 4, dropping Atlanta further below .500 as the Bucs keep hold of the NFC South, maybe Morris will reconsider inserting Cousins as a breath of fresh (old) air. Maybe he'll be right. Or maybe he'll draw just as much, if not more, attention from those trying to pinpoint the Falcons' problems due to his own unsteady tendencies running the entire show.
Until then, however, there's not a whole lot of sense in jumping the gun to plant Penix on the bench and put him back in watch-and-learn mode. He was a winning starter one week ago and a very poised one one week prior. Can we afford the young man a lick of patience to reform that narrative? Only time will tell whether it's the right call, but he at least deserves the chance.
