Falcons’ Michael Penix Jr. had fine showing in his first season-opener
Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. turned in a spectacular performance in his first season-opening game.
He scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2:17 to play, but the Falcons could not hold on. The Falcons lost to the Buccaneers, 23-20, on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“Yeah, I mean two huge plays come to mind, down there in the red zone,” Falcons left tackle Jake Matthews said of Penix. “That gave us a chance to win the game. That put us in a good spot right after that.”
Penix, who replaced Kirk Cousins last season, started the final three games of last season. The Bucs tried to blitz him out of the stadium. But Penix would read the blitz and find a receiver before taking a hit.
He won over his huddle with this gutsy showing.
“Just the way, what I’ve noticed from him, he’s so calm and collected under pressure,” said Matthews, who was made his 180th career start. “Just makes plays when his number is called to have someone on your team like that is really special.”
Penix completed 27-of-42 for 298 yards and a touchdown, with a passer rating of 93.2. He rushed six times for 21 yards and the four-yard touchdown. He led an 18-play, 91-yard touchdown drive that took 8:46 off the clock and regained a 20-17 lead with 2:17 to play.
“Yeah, it was great to see him dive like that,” tight end Kyle Pitts said of Penix’s first down and his touchdown dives. “He looked a little bit taller than he is when he was stretching like that. It was great to see.”
The Falcons’ rushing attack was shut down by the Bucs.
“I feel like, all across the board, we all want to be better in that aspect,” Penix said. “But at the same time, it’s football. It’s not always going to be perfect. No matter how hard we strive to be, it’s not always going to be perfect. Like I said, we’ve got to be better in all aspects, not just rushing.”
The Falcons started off quick. Penix threw a swing pass out to the right that running back Bijan Robinson scored on from 50-yards out. The offense could manage just a field goal the rest of the first half.
“It’s the NFL, man,” Penix said. “It’s tough. It’s tough to score. It’s tough to win in this league. Obviously, we all put in all the preparation each and every day coming up to game day to go out there and execute in those big-time moments and not have that lull throughout the game.”
The lull could be attributed to the fact that the Falcons starters did not play a single down of football in the three exhibition games.
But the Falcons did show some stamina on that 18-play touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.
“Everybody continued to do their part and finish plays,” Penix said. “Obviously, you say 18 plays. You don’t really see that too often, so for the (offensive) line and receivers and everybody that’s running routes to be able to still continue to come out there and go full speed and play at a high level on play 13, 14, 15, 16, it’s great to see.
“It just shows – I’ll put a shout-out to our strength conditioning team making sure that we’re ready for those moments when we’ve got to be out on the field a little bit longer than we’re used to.”
After the defense allowed the Bucs to retake the lead, Penix and the offense had 59 seconds to try to score a touchdown. They got into field goal range and took a couple of shots to the end zone.
“Obviously, coach (Raheem Morris) is telling me to be smart with the ball, but we do need a chunk play,” Penix said. “In that situation, the part of the field that we’re on, we needed a chunk play to get the drive going to be able to go down there and get points on the board.
“Obviously, we needed a field goal at the end. We were looking to score. We wanted to score, and if we had to go for a field goal, then that’s what it was. But coming out, as soon as we got on the field, it was like no matter where we start from, the 14, the 30, or the 40, don’t matter where we’re at. We’ve got to go out there and put points on the board to help us win the game.”
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
