Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. starts scuffle with Titans during joint practice

FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. touched off a major rumble and then pronounced himself ready for the regular season at the conclusion of joint practices with the Titans on Wednesday.

About midway through the session, Penix tossed a touchdown pass to receiver Ray-Ray McCloud III and had words with members from the Titans, which led to a bench-clearing fight.

The Falcons rushed to the defense of their quarterback. Penix and receiver Drake London still had words for the Titans as the coaches tried to get the players refocused on the work at hand.

“Competitive,” Penix said. “Threw a deep pass. They had a lot of words throughout practices. So, I gave my words. Just went a little bit too far. I don’t know. That was somebody else. I don’t really remember.”

Before that, things had been rather calm between the Titans and the Falcons. There weren’t any fights during Tuesday’s practice.

Then Wednesday, at least three scuffles broke out.

“I threw a deep ball and man, celebrating,” Penix said. “Celebrating. Somebody didn’t like it, and then it just went on from there. I really don’t remember too much after that, to be honest. Everything happened fast.”

The Falcons rescued Penix from the battle.

“Obviously, you don’t want that,” Falcons quarterbacks coach D.J. Williams said. “But I take some positives out of it. You saw the guys take up for him. I think that speaks to his leadership and who he is in that locker room.”

Williams and the other coaches have offices upstairs at the team’s facilities. The players’ locker room is on the lower level.

“We don’t really see a lot,” Williams said. “But obviously, he has relationships and the trust of the guys because everybody ran to his defense. I think that’s a good thing for the Falcons.”

The quarterback is not normally the one in the middle of training camp fights.

“Absolutely, but it’s football at the end of the day,” Williams said, on whether he panicked when he saw Penix mixing it up. “Once we start playing on Sunday for real, he’s going to get hit a couple of times. It was his first hit of the season.”

Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss approved of Penix standing up to the Titans.

“I’m off on the sidelines and one of the guys comes up to me and says, ‘Dude, our quarterback is different; our quarterback is different,’” Elliss said. “I said, ‘What happened?’ He was the one fighting, and everybody jumped the dude. I was like, ‘Alright, Mike.’ I love that dude. QB 1. It’s awesome seeing the competitive energy from him.”

There were two other fights, but the teams made it through the practice. Right tackle Kaleb McGary got a piece of a couple of Titans a few plays after the Penix rumble.

Later, receiver Case Washington was in the middle of another fight after a punt return.

The normally mild-mannered Penix appeared somewhat embarrassed by his fight.

“I’m glad they did,” Penix said of his teammates coming to his defense. “That’s not something we want to be doing in practice. We want to get our reps in, get that good work it. But it went how it went. To see the team have my back. They were there to protect me. A lot of guys asked me if I was good. It was good to know that those guys had my back.”

Penix was wearing a red (no-contact) jersey. But that didn’t stop the Titans from going after him.

“They probably looked at me as just a quarterback,” Penix said. “I’m not that type of person. But I’m from Tampa. Dade City. It’s a respect part of it. We are all competing at a high level. But when disrespect comes in, this ain’t football no more. That’s when it turns into what it was.”

Penix is not set to play in any exhibition games. So, the work against the Titans was his tuneup for the regular season. The Falcons host the Buccaneers at 1 p.m. Sept. 7 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to open the regular season.

“I’m always going to be ready,” Penix said. “That’s my job, to be ready whenever Week 1 comes. In college, you didn’t have (any) (exhibition) season (games). It’s like, you’ve got your spring game and you’re going into Week 1. It’s the same thing. I’m going to be ready Week 1. Whenever it counts, I’m going to show up. I’ll be there.”

Penix believes the fight was out of character.

“Football is a competitive sport,” Penix said. “I like to compete at a high level. I don’t really do too much talking until somebody says something to me.”

He knew what started things.