Individual stats won’t blow you away, but Michael Penix Jr.’s debut with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday was pretty darn impressive. The recruit, controversially ranked No. 8 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft and even more controversially inserted into starting lineup After Atlanta benched Kirk Cousins this week, he more than held his own in a late-season effort in a tough situation for a rookie.
Yes, the opponent was easy – the New York Giants are a very bad football team right now. Yes, the circumstances were ideal: starting at home against a two-win team is the perfect place to start your career. And yes, he did minimal damage from a statistical standpoint – Penix passed for just 202 yards, no touchdowns and one pick in the 34-7 loss to New York.
But statistics don’t tell the whole story, far from it. On the interception, Penix “made the mistake” of trying to target tight end Kyle Pitts, whom he hit on the numbers, only for the ball to jump into the air where it was snagged by Giants corner Cor’Dale Flott.
Dropped balls were a theme for the Falcons, with some really bad drops on the first drive from Ray-Ray McCloud and Drake London helping lead to an Atlanta punt. I wondered before the game if catching a ball from a lefty – and switching from a righty to a lefty mid-season might be problematic – and it’s possible that those first looks with the different rotations disrupted things for some of the recipients.
Later, London was thrown a touchdown pass that was borderline “catchable”, but it was dropped. The Falcons would feed Bijan Robinson for his second short touchdown of the day on the play immediately after the short pass attempt. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable for Penix to finish with a pair of minimum touchdowns.
Penix’s stats were also “hurt” by Atlanta’s defense, with the Falcons uncharacteristically exploding on defense on two scores, picking off Drew Lock twice and taking him into the end zone, reducing the need for ‘be aggressive in the passing game and/or even really throw.
But throughout the day, Penix looked comfortable in the pocket, moved well and showed exceptional ball placement in almost every area of the court. He used his legs when he needed to and made no unnecessary mistakes. He did NOT look like a rookie quarterback pushed in the middle of a season. Next Gen Stats gives Penix a positive completion rate compared to expectations and noted that he was pressured on nearly 50 percent of his dropbacks, but didn’t take a single sack in the match. He didn’t really try to expand the field vertically, but the Falcons weren’t in a position where they had to take a series of deep shots at any point in this game. When throwing the ball down the court, Penix was extremely accurate.
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He has the weapons at his disposal to be a very dangerous quarterback and plays behind a solid offensive line. There’s no reason why it can’t take off.
This is precisely why the Falcons made this decision. At 7-7, they were in serious danger of missing the playoffs with Kirk Cousins struggling, throwing just one touchdown and nine picks over a five-game stretch that pushed Atlanta out of the division lead and in the mouth which is the wild card. They woke up in first place on Monday, thanks to the Buccaneers’ defeat in Dallas. Talk about a surprising Sunday night plot twist in the Falcons’ favor.
The Falcons, at least based on play calls near the goal line, probably preferred that Penix’s career started with a little more bang than it did. But they want him to win football games and that’s exactly what they did on Sunday. Given the easy W and a spot at the top of the division, they are far from disappointed.
Let them eat moldy bread
The Lions suffered another round of injuries in Week 15, leading to an epic, expletive-laden rant by Dan Campbell on eating “moldy bread” after a loss and moving forward with the healthy guys on their roster. That’s exactly what Detroit did Sunday against the Bears, beating Chicago 34-17 on the road to strengthen its hold on the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
Campbell’s interview sounded like a message the Lions could rely on to win in a shootout, and that seemed to be exactly the case early on against Chicago. Jared Goff got going early and finished with an outstanding outing, going 23 of 32 for 336 yards, three touchdowns and no picks. This included a bomb to speedster Jameson Williams and a ridiculous(!), play-action touchdown pass to Sam LaPorta.
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is a complete psychopath for drafting this. He’s not crazy about feeding Jahymr Gibbs, though, who seems like a fantasy league winner to a lot of people given his usage with David Montgomery. The Lions coaching staff hasn’t flinched when it comes to Gibbs, giving him exactly the kind of workload one would expect with Montgomery’s absence.
Gibbs was also, as advertised, running between the tackles in a physical manner while carrying the ball 23 times for 109 yards and a score on the ground.
No one ruled out the Lions before this week, but it looked like the injuries might be too much to overcome to continue a game. Super Bowl. Given how explosive the offense remains, I’m not sure anyone should rule them out.
Washington improved to 10-5 with its 36-33 win over the Eagles. The Commanders appear to be headed to the playoffs, but even if they weren’t, Washington should feel incredible about what they have at quarterback. We’ve seen this storyline before this season with Daniels, which makes it even more impressive.
Daniels is now the first rookie quarterback In NFL history with multiple passing touchdowns of 30 seconds or less in a single season.
Even before his laser touchdown pass, Daniels made some monster plays, including a clutch run on 4th and 11 to keep the Commanders alive.
The touchdown pass itself, coming with just seconds remaining and the Commanders looking to topple the Eagles — and, by the way, keep their division’s hopes alive — was an absolute laser in the back of the end zone.
It was Daniels’ fifth of the day and Jamison Crowder’s second passing touchdown, which doesn’t sound like a real sentence that should happen in 2024.
Jalen Hurts left that game with a concussion and it certainly mattered. But Philly had Saquon Barkley rolling behind the offensive line and had a pretty substantial lead that seemed to have put this game away.
Daniels simply has the ability to keep his team in games with the combination of his athleticism and active arm. Even though Philly was forced to cut Kenny Pickett (who actually looked decent early), he should have held on to win this game. Daniels said no, firmly, and the Commanders found themselves in a good playoff position with a long shot to steal the division.
If they miss the playoffs or simply get knocked out in the first round, it won’t really matter. The Commanders have their franchise quarterback. Daniels left no doubt about that.
