{"id":999273,"date":"2026-09-13T01:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T01:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/999273\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T01:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T01:24:18","slug":"the-falcoholic-reacts-the-countdown-to-michael-penix-jr-s-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/999273\/","title":{"rendered":"The Falcoholic Reacts: The countdown to Michael Penix Jr.\u2019s return"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Tua Tagovailoa\u2019s latest injury setback may accelerate the push to get Michael Penix Jr. back on the field. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefalcoholic.com\/atlanta-falcons-injuries\/96049\/falcons-vs-steelers-week-1-injuries-tua-tagovailoa-ruled-out-for-sunday\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">An oblique injury has ruled out Tagovailoa<\/a> against the Steelers on Sunday. That leaves Cooper Rush as the default starter in what has quickly become a dire situation in Atlanta. After giving Tagovailoa an opportunity to revive his career, he has suffered multiple injuries and struggled to earn the starting spot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">It\u2019s only a matter of time before Penix Jr. takes over as the starter. Given his recovery process, October seems like the ideal time. That could change now, with the latest quarterback conundrum Kevin Stefanski faces. Things can change rapidly within a week. For now, fans believe Penix Jr. will be back on the center stage in primetime against the Falcons\u2019 biggest rivals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">With extra time to prepare after a Thursday night road trip against Green Bay, the timing could set up nicely for Penix Jr. Playing in a hostile environment on primetime won\u2019t be overwhelming for him with his experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">That said, it\u2019s hard to believe Rush will start multiple games if the coaching staff feels Penix Jr. can play and Tagovailoa is still injured. That could lead to him starting in the home opener against Carolina. Despite the uncertainty, the fanbase remains optimistic about the team\u2019s direction in what will be a transitional season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tua Tagovailoa\u2019s latest injury setback may accelerate the push to get Michael Penix Jr. back on the field.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":999274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,84697,2591,2554,224,7,6],"class_list":["post-999273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlanta-falcons-discussion","tag-atlanta-falcons-news","tag-atlantafalcons","tag-falcons","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117261124498565924","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999273","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=999273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/999273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/999274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=999273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=999273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=999273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}