Falcons’ Penix ‘almost flawless’ in starting debut

ATLANTA — It’s uncommon for a rookie quarterback to make his first start in late December on a team still vying for a playoff spot, when the incumbent starter has not been injured. But that’s exactly what happened with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

And Michael Penix Jr., the No. 8 overall pick in the draft last April, followed through with a solid performance in the Falcons’ 34-7 rout of the New York Giants at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Penix was 18-of-27 for 202 yards and one interception, which wasn’t his fault. In the second quarter, he found tight end Kyle Pitts on a pass near the end zone. But Pitts bobbled the ball, which was picked off by Giants cornerback Cor’Dale Flott.

The Falcons had 22 first downs, 10 of which came through the air. They were 8-of-14 on third down and 2-of-4 in the red zone, where they had struggled under former starter Kirk Cousins in recent weeks.

“He went out and played almost flawless football and kept the game really clean and kept everything clean for us in order for us to get a win,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said.

Cousins had nine interceptions over his last five games, with just a single touchdown pass. The Falcons went 1-4 in those games, including a four-game losing streak that took them from 6-3 and in pole position in the NFC South to hanging on for their playoff lives.

Cousins has a league-leading 16 interceptions and his 12 fumbles are tied for the most in the NFL with Baker Mayfield. Morris announced the switch to Penix last Tuesday night.

Now, the Falcons are 8-7 with the playoffs within reach, though they’re still a mathematical underdog to make it. They’ll need the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who they own a tiebreaker against, to slip up over their remaining three games.

For a rookie quarterback starting in what was a must-win game for Atlanta, Penix showed a ton of poise. Even if the game was against the two-win Giants and the Falcons defense accounted for 14 points, courtesy of a pair of pick sixes. Running back Bijan Robinson had 94 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns.

“I know that I’m here for a reason,” Penix said. “I worked extremely hard to get to this position and I just had to go out there and execute and we executed to get a win today.”

Penix had not worked much with the starting receivers in practice, since Cousins was QB1. So, they had to ramp things up this week. Atlanta did a walkthrough last Wednesday with 72 offensive snaps, and Penix threw on every single one.

“It was a lot of work put in this week, man,” said receiver Darnell Mooney, who had five receptions for 82 yards. “A lot of work after practice. During practice when we’re not going offense. So, a lot of things we still have to get better at. But like I said, it looked good today.”

When Penix got the call from offensive coordinator Zac Robinson that he’d be starting for the Falcons moving forward, the quarterback was at Costco, about to eat a hot dog. Penix said he won’t be celebrating at Costco after his first career victory as a starter. It’ll be “something fancier.” He’s still hoping for a Costco sponsorship, though.

“Costco is great,” Penix said. “Costco need to hit me up.”