The Atlanta Falcons Are Great With Michael Penix Jr. Unfortunately, He Is Very Injury-Prone

Michael Penix Jr. has been excellent for the Atlanta Falcons this season. In his three starts, he has thrown for 719 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He won his first two starts with a 256-yard, 1-touchdown, 1-interception performance against the Green Bay Packers, then followed it up with a 223-yard, 1-touchdown, 0-interception game against the New Orleans Saints. 

This week, he played well against the Baltimore Ravens, throwing for 240 yards and 1 touchdown to help the Falcons reach overtime. Unfortunately, while attempting to get Atlanta into field goal range at the end of regulation, Penix Jr. took a huge hit to the ribs that sent him to the medical tent. He returned to the sideline with a towel over his head and did not play in overtime. 

The Ravens scored a touchdown to start overtime, making it 30-23, and backup quarterback Tua Tagovailoa came in to try to tie it back up. He completed a pass to wide receiver Drake London that set Atlanta up near midfield, but on the next play he tried to connect with London again, and Baltimore’s Kyle Hamilton intercepted the pass. 

So now the Falcons are waiting to see how severe Penix’s injury is. If he misses substantial time, that would be a disaster. Tagovailoa hasn’t been the same quarterback since he aggravated his hip injury in college. Last year with Miami, he looked like a shell of himself, and in very limited action this week, he continued to look like it. The novelty of having a lefty to back up another lefty in Penix Jr. wears off as soon as you see Tua throw one of his terrible interceptions. 

Unfortunately, the Falcons have already seen how poorly Cooper Rush and Jack Strand can play. With Penix Jr., I believe that the Falcons can contend in a very weak NFC South. Currently, the 2-2 Carolina Panthers sit atop the division and will remain there because they have a bye week. However, the Panthers aren’t a force to be reckoned with; they were blown out by the Chicago Bears in Week 1 and lost to the Cleveland Browns in Week 3. 

So the Falcons’ season rests on the results of Penix Jr.’s MRI scheduled for later today. As for head coach Kevin Stefanski’s take on the game, he was candid that the Falcons didn’t do enough to win. He touched on this during his postgame press conference. 

“That’s credit to Baltimore; that’s a good football team.” He Said. “Obviously, we didn’t do enough to win that game. We had really missed opportunities. And when you’re playing a good football team, and these margins are razor-thin like we knew they would be, we gotta come through on some of those plays,” 

“But that’s all of us, that’s coaches, that’s players. We can be better in those moments, and then you can put a good football team away late, which we did not do. And then again, give them credit, they came back and scored and did a nice job. So we’ll learn from it, disappointing, frustrating, all those things, but we’ll learn from it.”

The only question is whether Penix Jr. will be part of learning from the loss anytime soon. Or will they have to turn toward Tagovailoa for a while?

source https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/the-atlanta-falcons-are-great-with-michael-penix-jr-unfortunately-he-is-very-injury-prone