The Falcons had several offensive drives stall. Kirk Cousins threw an untimely interception. It wasn’t the best afternoon for Atlanta’s offense in the club’s Week 10 loss to the Saints outside of Bijan Robinson.
Despite throwing for 300+ yards, Kirk Cousins only completed 60% of his passes and took three sacks while only converting five of their 14 third downs. The Falcons offense failed to score 20 points. It’s the fourth time they’ve failed to eclipse that mark, and they’ve lost every single one of those games.
But don’t expect a quarterback change anytime soon. That doesn’t mean we won’t see Michael Penix Jr. soon, though. The Falcons rookie made his regular season debut in mop-up duty in Atlanta’s 34-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, in which he completed his lone pass.
It has nothing to do with Michael Penix. Everything hinges on Kirk Cousins, Raheem Morris told Rich Eisen on an appearance Friday on The Rich Eisen Show.
“I know it was highly criticized, but it was the way we wanted to go about making sure we can develop our quarterback in-house and be ready to go whenever that time comes,” Morris said via Daniel Flick of Sports Illustrated. “And the only person that sets that time frame will be Kirk. As long as he continues to play at the high level that he’s playing, we won’t have to worry about that, and neither will the world.”
Kirk Cousins’ productivity will dictate when Penix will take over, but what’s interesting is a dynamic that not many people are considering. Everyone thinks: “When will Cousins fall off?” That’s when we will see Penix make his first start for the Falcons. A more realistic scenario playing out that could pave the way for Penix to get his first start this season is Cousins being great.
Most Falcons fans believe Penix will make his first start in 2025 at the earliest or perhaps in 2026 when Kirk Cousins’ contractual guarantees run out. But what about in 2024? But not due to Cousins struggles.
If the Falcons get to the end of the season with a locked-up postseason berth, Penix could potentially see his name get called in the season finale against the Panthers. Of course, there could be playoff seeding at play in Week 18. However, if it’s not, why not just trot the top 10 pick out there against the lowly Panthers?
The timeline is on Kirk Cousins’ shoulder. That much is clear, but how about the timeline for Penix’s first career start? That could also depend on the Falcons’ quarterback’s success.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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