Cousins is a 36-year-old husband and father of two living in Atlanta. He’s a four-time Pro Bowler with 13 years of experience on his three-stop resume. He is an adult, and he is a professional.
Penix, who is at age 25 entering his second season, understands and appreciates what those details mean.
“He knows the ins and outs, and he knows how to operate an offense at a high level,” Penix said. “I feel like I learned a lot of that stuff from him — how he operated the offense, how he took command of the huddle, how he talked about the things he wanted whenever he was on the field.”
There’s surely still so much more Penix can learn from Cousins, too.
Better yet, Cousins is willing to teach Penix; he believes in him.
“Michael is going to do great,” Cousins said. “He’s going to have a great career. He’s off to a great starts. He’s got all the tangibles and intangibles you need to be successful.
“I’m just here to support him as he needs it. But I also don’t need to be in his ear so much that I’m sort of another weight, another voice. I just want to be a support as I can, and he knows that.”
“Since I got in, he’s like, ‘I got your back,'” Penix said. “I told him I got his back. We support each other. That’s how it’s always going to be. We’re teammates. We want this team to win football games.”
And there it is, plain and simple. Both quarterbacks said it on Tuesday: Their shared goal is for the Falcons to win. Whoever puts them in the best position to do so will hold the title of QB1, and as the Falcons continue mandatory minicamp on Wednesday, that just so happens to be Penix.
Cousins must be OK with that so long as he is in Atlanta.
“The key is that you don’t pout or stop,” Cousins said. “You just keep moving forward, and believe if you do that, good things will happen.”