Why was Michael Penix answering Falcons media questions instead of Kirk Cousins?

NFL: AUG 23 Preseason Jaguars at Falcons

The Falcons are trying to forget about their Week 1 showing against the Steelers, but several questions needed answers, and Raheem Morris did that. However, there was something peculiar. Michael Penix Jr. answered for Kirk Cousins.

In a conversation with Josh Kendall of The Athletic, Penix said Cousins was “calm and collected through the whole game,” and that he felt the offense wasn’t as bad as the box score suggested.

“We had a lot of things in our game plan that we wish we could have executed a little better, but it’s never as good as you think, never as bad as you think once you go back and look at it. We left a lot of things out there, but we did execute a lot of things as well, more than a lot of people outside our facility could see.”

The Falcons only scored 10 points in the highly anticipated debut of Kirk Cousins and Zac Robinson. Cousins went 16-of-26 for 155 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. It could’ve been even worse too if a tipped pass didn’t find Ray-Ray McCloud.

In total, the Falcons only managed 226 yards despite all of the investment in the offense. The game plan from Robinson was predictable, and the Steelers dominated in the second half.

The biggest takeaway was Kirk Cousins’ health, but he wasn’t available to take questions. Instead, the Falcons had Michael Penix Jr. fielding questions, despite not taking a single snap. Am I going crazy?

I’m not sure about the intricacies of media relations with the Falcons organization, but a little birdie has alluded that Flowery Branch is ruled with an iron fist in this sense. I sincerely doubt the Falcons beat writers chose to ask Michael Penix questions about Kirk Cousins. He just wasn’t available.

What it seems like is the Falcons were shielding Cousins. Maybe he was getting treatment. Maybe he was watching film. Maybe he was doing a million other things, but why throw your rookie quarterback in front of the media to field questions that were obviously going to be about Cousins?

It’s all sketchy. I’d love for there to be a simple explanation, but I doubt there is one.

Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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