Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Week 6 Media Availability | Thursday, October 9th

Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Week 6 Media Availability | Thursday, October 9th | Press Conference

How was your by week? It was good. It was good. Went by fast here. Oh, I went I went to Florida. I went to Kansas. Yeah. Yeah. No, I got a I got a little brother. He he played uh um with Independence at at the Jo there. So, I went out to see him play. That’s the wide receiver. Yeah, that’s the wide receiver. Yeah. The D the DN. I I saw him play um on Tuesday last week. Yeah. Oh, that was good. Well, hey um you’re ready to go. Hey, um you know, I was just thinking about, you know, um trying to dig a little deeper and what it meant to have Zach on the sidelines. I know in the old days they used to just send the players in by the guards, but back in the Paul Brown days, but how was that having him on the sidelines? how that operation function and uh you know is that something y’all you going to try to perfect moving forward? Yeah, it was good. It was it was great. I feel like the communication was there, you know, just being able to have him uh so when whenever we come off the field to just go straight to him and talk to him about what we seeing and he talked to us about what he’s seeing and um what we look forward to calling uh throughout the game. So, I feel like it was definitely good and I do feel like it helped us. As far as moving forward, I’m not sure. I I I didn’t get worried yet if he was going to be on the sideline moving forward, but um either way, we we’ll make it happen. You guys haven’t run a ton of play action this year. I wonder how much input you have in that and what your feelings are about play action personally. Yeah, I I I love it. I love play action. I I love all all every part of our offense, you know. Um I I I can’t sit here and tell you the the percentages of of how much we ran it versus other things, but um I I do feel like it’s definitely uh it brings a spark in our offense whenever we are calling it and running it. I feel like we we ran it quite a bit. So I don’t know about saying we we haven’t ran it as much. I I don’t know. I just be so lost in the game and just you know trying to execute the play that he he calls in. So, how different is it is play action from the pistol versus under center? Is it advantageous that you don’t have to take your eyes off the field as long? Um, I don’t I don’t know how different it is. Um, I’m comfortable with either or. And I’m just doing whatever my coach tell me. At the beginning of the season, you expressed a lot of confidence in Elijah Wilkinson as the right tackle. Um, you know, and some people did not express that level of confidence in him, but he’s done really, really well so far. Can you just talk about, you know, what what he’s done as far as, you know, filling in on that on that side? Yeah, he’s been great. You know, um I talked about it before. This this isn’t his first time playing. You know, I know he was a starter before here actually, you know, before I got here and uh so he played a lot of football and it shows each and every day and each and every game. So, he he’s been doing an amazing job and um man, you you couldn’t ask for anything better to to come in and fill in the way that he he’s been filling in and, you know, playing at a high level. So, um, it’s what we expected out of him and I know that’s what he expected out of himself and he’s been doing it. John feels a little too good to be true from the outside looking at him. He’s always got a smile on his face. He’s one of the best players in the world. Is he really I mean, is is that all legit? Yeah. No, it is. It is. I I can’t I can’t find no like bad thing to say about the guy. So, he he’s that he’s that same person every day. And that’s that’s what you like about him, you know? That’s what you like about people. Whenever you have that consistency, you know what you’re going to get out of him each and every day. And he’s not coming coming in, you know, different moods all the time. You know, I feel like he he’s been the same person since day one, since I met him. And um it’s legit. Kyle P said that the one bad thing is his his uh DJ skills. Oh, lack. Experienced that as well. Not enough Broadway. Maybe I’m not going to say it’s bad. Um it’s I guess it’s for his ear. Um I Yeah, I don’t know. We we we have two different music styles. He listens to like you might hear Miley Cyrus or something. I don’t know. You never know. You never know what you going to hear with B. But I don’t know who uh who’s like in charge of of the music in the locker room? Nobody. Whoever want to go change it really. There’s no hard and fast rules like nah. Anybody can go change it. Anybody. anybody really. If the song is terrible, somebody gonna change it again. But what what has been like the worst that you’ve heard? Like and you you’re like, “What the hell? Why why are you playing this?” I don’t even know to be honest. Cuz if it’s bad, like I I kind of tone it out. So, I don’t know. It’s I don’t really I don’t really pay attention to it. I usually have my own headphones in, so I’m probably listening to my own music. When it comes to the matchup that you’ve got this week, I mean, like you’re playing a reigning MVP. Does that factor into your head at all or is it just another game? Yeah, you got to respect it. You got to respect what he’s done in this league and um the the things that that he brings each and each and every game. So, obviously he’s a special player, but not just him, but that’s that’s a good team over there and um it’s definitely going to be a big time challenge and we’re we’re up for it and we’re ready for it and we just got to go out there and execute at a high level and um you know, take take control of the ball, you know, play smart football and go out there and find find a way to win. So, do you feel the need to kind of like go tip or tat almost in that game in that kind of sense? No, we just got to play our offense. We got to play our football. That’s it. We just got to execute. They They’ll make plays. Our defense going to make a lot of plays, you know. So, we we got to make more more than them. Were you a regular Monday Night Football watcher as a kid? Is that sort of a ritual? I ain’t really watch football too much growing up. Yeah, not really. Unless Vic was on about it. [Music] Hey, what do you see when you um look at that Buffalo defense over there? Yeah. Uh I I see a group that you tell those guys those guys uh been together for a while and they they have a identity and they they really do a great job at it, you know, and uh they got a lot of great players over there as well. So, it’s it’s definitely going to be a good matchup, you know. I I can’t wait for it and excited to see it. But they they definitely show a lot of great things on film. And um Ed Oliver, if he’s back, what does he add? Cuz I know he’s been hurt a little bit. Yeah. Um you know, when he when he’s healthy, he he’s definitely a special player and you know, he he definitely makes a lot of plays. So if he’s back, um we going to play our football. If he’s not back, we’re still going to play our football, you know. But um just best wishes to him, you know, as far as his injuries or whatever he’s going through, you know, you you that’s something that you never you never want to see anybody, you know, going through, especially me, you know, going through all the injuries I’ve been through, you know, but um I hope he’s healthy and you know, if he plays, we still going to play our football. Drake May was able to find some success against this defense last week. Uh are there any elements of what the Patriots were able to do in that game that you’re going to try and bring on on Monday? Being smart with the ball. I feel like Drake May protected the ball and um very high completion percentage, you know, just just finding his checkdowns whenever they weren’t giving up the big shot and you know, just playing smart football and controlling controlling the game. You know, that’s that’s the biggest thing. You know, we want to make sure that we protect the ball and, you know, don’t don’t cause any um self-inflicting wounds. So, how do you like about the way that Kyle Pittz is playing so far this year? Um it’s great to see, you know, he’s at a high level and you know, I said it way back in fall in camp. you know, I knew what type of season he was going to have because of the work that he was putting in each and every day. Um, so it’s it’s only gonna get better and I I can’t wait to continue to watch it. I remember when you said that, you said you saw that we got Kyle the ball a lot today. You’re going to see that a lot this year. Yeah. What was it about that moment that made you say that and believe that Kyle was going to have a special season? Um just his energy, the way that he came he came to practice all camp. You know, he he was always, you know, clued in on the details, you know, trying to find ways to get better each and every day. If it was a route and maybe me and him didn’t connect, he’s always coming up to me, hey, what can I do better to to make sure that we’re on the same page? And, you know, just the way that, you know, he was he was carrying himself as a pro each and every day it showed up. So, outside of Drake London and Mooney who remains dayto-day, how do you feel about this receiver group going into this week? And how do you continue to instill confidence in those players like Ray Ray or Casey who might be need to be targets in these games? Yeah. Um I feel I feel great about him. I feel great about anybody that that we put in. You know, I got a lot of reps with all those guys and uh super excited to see what what Casey does whenever he is in the game. You know, he’s he’s definitely a a great player and he’s going to make a lot of plays in this league. You know, um Ray Ray played a lot of football. Obviously, he played at at a high level last year. You know, made a lot of great plays for us. So, um, don’t expect nothing less from him. And, um, whoever else gets in there, you know, we we feel confident in those guys and whoever we put on the field, they’re on the field for a reason. It’s because we trust them and we trust that they can make plays and, um, they will. So, if you didn’t watch a lot of football as a kid, what did you watch a lot? Um, I’m trying to think. I don’t remember. My mind’s so so flooded with football plays. I don’t remember. I don’t remember. Oops. like uh sports at all? Not really. Baseball? Not. I was always playing sports. So, it was like we got nighttime practice in little league growing up. It was always nighttime practice something going on. So, ZB wasn’t on those. Yeah. Whenever I came back home, I was I was probably outside. Growing up, I was outside kid. I was always outside. I was never in the house. Anything else? You were talking about being up for the game. How much of that is about it being a prime time game and knowing the national eyes of the nation are on you? Yeah. Um it’s another day. It’s another game for us. Um we just got to go out there and execute. You know, obviously the the stakes are always big. It it doesn’t matter when we play, you know, we take each and every game serious and and that’s that’s how we go about our business because this is the NFL. If you don’t, you come in there like, “Oh, this not prime time game and you go get skunk,” you know. Um, so it’s like we we definitely want to come in uh with the right mindset and as long as we execute, you know, uh everything will fall in place. But with it being prime time is definitely a big time and we we look forward to going out there and put on a show.

Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. speaks with the media as the Falcons prepare to take on the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.