{"id":380359,"date":"2025-09-19T13:35:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T13:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/380359\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T13:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T13:35:10","slug":"are-fans-and-analysts-looking-at-michael-penix-jr-s-start-all-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/380359\/","title":{"rendered":"Are fans and analysts looking at Michael Penix Jr.\u2019s start all wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you remember when the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> signed Kirk Cousins<\/a> in the 2024 offseason? Do you remember the conversations you had? Do any of the following statements sound like something you would have said, heard, or believed<\/p>\n

\u201cThey finally have a quarterback that can operate an NFL offense.\u201d
\u201cWith the infrastructure around him, he just needs to keep the offense on track.\u201d
\u201cHe\u2019s a high-level game manager, and that\u2019s enough for the Falcons to make the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Well, don\u2019t worry; you\u2019re not alone. There\u2019s a support group for people like you, and if you\u2019re reading this, that means you\u2019re already in the right place. Michael Penix Jr.\u2019s arm has caused many to forget the above topics, statements that I believe could still prove to be true.<\/p>\n

There is more to quarterback play and development than gaudy passing numbers, and volume stats don\u2019t tell us what a quarterback can do.<\/p>\n

Can they execute multiple game plans? How are they under pressure? Can he roll right and left? Can they change arm angles? The list goes on.<\/p>\n

Penix won\u2019t have many seasons like this current one. He\u2019ll have the longest leash of his NFL career, a locker room that\u2019s completely behind him, and individuals blinded by their fandom ready to go to bat for him. He needs to make the most of it. Penix\u2019s first year starting shouldn\u2019t consist of him having to win the game with individual dominance (it\u2019s nice to know he can do it); wins should come as a result of a group effort on offense. More importantly, Penix needs to learn how to win in multiple ways, like he did on Sunday Night Football.<\/p>\n

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Where\u2019s the deep ball? Opposing defenses aren\u2019t giving it to him, and when they have, the offense hasn\u2019t been able to connect. It\u2019s easy to understand why, as while the sample size was small, Penix put on tape that letting him take deep shots is an unwise decision. Veteran defensive minds like Todd Bowles and Brian Flores know better than to give a quarterback what he wants, and both do an exceptional job at speeding up the process and forcing quarterbacks into quick decisions. Penix missed some opportunities, but he executed Zac Robinson\u2019s game plan and never put the football at risk.<\/p>\n

Being a game manager doesn\u2019t produce highlights, but it can deliver wins. If Penix has to be a high-level game manager for the Falcons to win this season, then that\u2019s what it takes. Even Patrick Mahomes (a dangerous comparison, I know) faced this challenge after teams got sick of him torching them through the skies. Viewers need to come off their priors and adjust to reality. The gun-slinging Penix that closed out 2024 might only show up a few times this season.<\/p>\n

Flores won\u2019t be the last defensive coordinator to use a two-high shell against Penix, but that means Bijan Robinson will get the opportunity to take over a game the way he did Sunday. This pick-your-poison scenario was the end goal Terry Fontenot had in mind when selecting four offensive players in a row with his first four first-round picks.<\/p>\n

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Eventually, teams will decide that selling out for the run is more important, and when that happens, Penix will need to be an efficient striker, something he\u2019s still working on. This is all a part of the process of developing into a multi-year franchise quarterback. There\u2019s no cutting corners in this league. You rarely get to win the same way week to week; it\u2019s why employees of the league consistently talk about how hard the W\u2019s are to come by.<\/p>\n

Penix saw what happened to the 6-3, 2024 Atlanta Falcons; their demise is why he was inserted into the starting lineup. He knows that winning and protecting the ball will reward him with more job security than individual numbers, and that\u2019s the mentality the leader of the offense needs to have. Selflessness is a trait all the elite offenses carry, and so far, this offense has it.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, what we\u2019ve seen overall from the offense isn\u2019t good enough; they will need to make strides as the season progresses. It\u2019s also important to note that starting on the mountain top isn\u2019t always a sign of sustained success; ask the New Orleans Saints offense, which looked unstoppable through the first two weeks of 2024. September lies in the NFL.<\/p>\n

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Recalibrating the mind takes time. We all had our own idea of what this offense would look like, but we must examine what\u2019s happening on the field with a clear mind, not a biased one. The Falcons will give us more information to digest after Sunday, so remember to take slow bites and consider the depth of flavor in each one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do you remember when the Atlanta Falcons signed Kirk Cousins in the 2024 offseason? Do you remember the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,4127,6696,224,7,43861,294,18665,55,6,499,1257,2661,9145],"class_list":{"0":"post-380359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-bijan-robinson","12":"tag-brian-flores","13":"tag-falcons","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-game-manager","16":"tag-kirk-cousins","17":"tag-michael-penix","18":"tag-new-orleans-saints","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-patrick-mahomes","21":"tag-quarterback","22":"tag-the-falcons","23":"tag-zac-robinson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115231229473742184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}