Penix, McCarthy to meet in rematch of title game on prime-time NFL stage

FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and Minnesota’s J.J. McCarthy have crossed paths before.

Michigan, led by McCarthy, beat Washington, led by Penix, 34-13 in the College Football Playoff championship game Jan. 8, 2024, at NRG Stadium in Houston.

The two quarterbacks will take the field on national television when the Falcons (0-1) face the Vikings (1-0) at 8:20 p.m. Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Penix does not remember the first meeting fondly.

“I’m just here to win a football game,” Penix said.

Penix was drafted eighth overall, and McCarthy was drafted two picks later by the Vikings. McCarthy missed last season with a knee injury.

“He’s a cool person,” Penix said of McCarthy. “Good guy off the field as well. On the field, you see what he can do. I trained with him as well pre-draft, doing all of that prep. When I was training, I was with him every day. He’s a genuine guy and guy who can make football plays.”

Penix, in his first season-opening start Sunday at home against the Buccaneers, did everything that he could to will the Falcons to victory Sunday.

He scored the potential game-winning touchdown on a 4-yard run with 2:17 left to play. But when the defense couldn’t hold the lead, he got the ball back with 59 seconds left and drove them down the field to get into field-goal range. Kicker Younghoe Koo missed the kick.

McCarthy’s NFL debut was not as smooth. He looked lost for three quarters and then came alive in the fourth quarter to rally the Vikings to 27-24 victory over the Bears on Monday night.

Penix’s showing gave the Falcons more confirmation that they drafted the right quarterback and that they were prudent to bench Kirk Cousins.

“Man, he is a dog,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “I don’t even know if he knew. I’m just telling you, his demeanor, and who he is, and talking to him on game day, that wasn’t his question. I’m sure he cares about his guys, but that was not his mindset. Get open. It is comforting to be around, it really is.”

Penix was without his top two receivers on the final drive, but still managed a drive from the Falcons’ 14-yard line to get down the field, leaning on Ray-Ray McCloud, Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson. The drive stalled at the Bucs’ 26-yard line with six seconds left when Koo was summoned.

Penix’s showing should help to elevate the level of play of his teammates.

“I’m going to get backlash, but (Matthew) Stafford was a dog like that,” said Morris, who saw the former Georgia star up close during his days as the Rams’ defensive coordinator (2021-23). “Had that arm talent, and was that kind of confident.”

Stafford was a seasoned veteran by that point of his career.

“This is (Penix’s) fourth game playing, and he has that type of demeanor,” Morris said.

Penix completed 27 of 42 passes for 298 yards and a touchdown Sunday. Also, he had a rushing touchdown.

Penix has passed for a team-record 1,035 yards over his first four games.

Ryan passed for 669 yards, and the Falcons were 2-2 in his first four starts in 2008. Michael Vick passed for 583 yards, and the team was 1-3 in his first four starts over the 2001-02 seasons. Steve Bartkowski passed for 400 yards over his first four starts, and the team was 2-2 in 1975.

Desmond Ridder, who the Falcons were hoping would be their quarterback of the future after they lost the Deshaun Watson derby, passed for 708 yards in his first four starts in 2022, as the Falcons were 2-2.

Back to Penix after that walk down memory lane.

“Matt Ryan was always confident,” said Morris, who was an assistant coach with the Falcons from 2015-20. “Just the guys that you’ve had, and you’ve been around (like ex-Tampa Bay QB) Brad Johnson, and all those type of guys. He carries himself the right way. He’s what a quarterback should look like.”

Penix watched McCarthy’s rally against the Bears that included a gutsy 14-yard touchdown run and two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.

“He showed heart,” Penix said. “He showed heart, even when it might not have been pretty. Early on in the game he might didn’t play how he wanted to, but he continued to keep fighting, kept bouncing back and was able to help them win that game.

Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson didn’t stay up to watch McCarthy’s magic.

“I was asleep,” Robinson said. “I didn’t see the end of it. ... These games on the East Coast start at a ridiculous time.”

But he was familiar with McCarthy’s work.

“But both (of) those guys have had a ton of success throughout their careers,” Robinson said. “A ton of respect for J.J. McCarthy, we obviously looked at him coming out, too. Both those guys have had a ton of success at the college level. It’s really cool to see them at the pro level doing the same thing.”

The Vikings also were studying Penix for the draft.

“I think Michael Penix is a guy that we studied him a lot, know him very well,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “We know how talented he is as a thrower of the football.”

Before his touchdown run, Penix picked up a first down by diving for necessary yardage.

“The Space Jam picture of it was super cool,” running back Bijan Robinson said. “I was like, ‘Mike, be careful doing stuff like that.’ He made it happen and it worked.”

Now, the Falcons need Penix to start leading the team to victories. His only win was over the lowly New York Giants.

“Mike played really well,” Zac Robinson said. “We’ve got to play better around Mike. But to see him put the team on his back in some crucial situations, it’s nothing different than what he was at Washington and what we saw last year in those three games that he played. He’s just got competitive greatness. It’s in him.”

Penix decided to use his running ability late against the Bucs.

“It’s always been in him from his time in high school to Indiana (where he played before transferring to Washington),” Zac Robinson said. “He kind of thrives on those moments.

“But some of those runs, I’m still not sure how he kept his knees off the ground and how he was able to extend for those. Those were huge, huge plays, obviously, in that game. I thought he played really well with everybody.”