Michael Penix Jr. gives Falcons first glimmer of vindication in preseason debut

It may have only been the first game of the preseason vs. vanilla coverage, but Michael Penix Jr. certainly impressed for the Atlanta Falcons. While this preseason game vs. the Miami Dolphins did not feature Kirk Cousins or Tua Tagovailoa at all, Penix started and played the better part of the first half, looking far better than third-stringer and occasional starter last season in one Taylor Heinicke.

On the evening, Penix completed 9-of-16 passes for 104 yards. Atlanta may have fallen 20-13 in the final seconds of regulation to Miami in this exhibition contest, but Penix was the star of the show on Friday night down in South Florida. With many friends and family in attendance, the Tampa native showed Dirty Bird Nation that Raheem Morris, Terry Fontenot and Arthur Blank were right to pick him.

Although his numbers don't jump off the page, that is not what it is about with Penix. It is all about making incremental strides to the point that when it is his time to start an actual game that counts, he will be ready. Penix dazzled us with his powerful left arm, one that could be improved with better accuracy and slightly more refined footwork. He threw with touch and anticipation, playing with poise.

More importantly, the moment did not seem to big for him. Atlanta may have something special here.

Atlanta Falcons might have something special in Michael Penix Jr.

The Falcons got raked over the coals for taking Penix at No. 8 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. This had very little to do with the player himself, but rather what the Falcons paid to get Cousins to come over from the Minnesota Vikings in his free agency. Cousins is the guy for this year and next year, but after that, anything is within the realm of possibility up in Flowery Branch. Right now, Atlanta feels validated.

This was all part of Morris' big plan when taking over for Arthur Smith. The new Falcons head coach and previous interim head coach during the 2020 NFL season pounded his fists on the table to no avail that Atlanta needed a succession plan beyond Matt Ryan. It wasn't important enough to the Falcons brass, and the team paid a price for it dearly. Now we should be so lucky to have a great one.

I said on the most recent episode of The Blogging Dirty Podcast last Wednesday that all I needed to see out of Penix in this first preseason game was any sign of promise. I can safely say I got more than that and then some on Friday night. What seems to be the case is Penix being a 24-year-old rookie with so many banked starts at two Power Five schools make him way more pro-ready than expected.

He may not be insanely mobile, as he did have a few knee injuries in college, but I can certainly live with that. While Penix may need to work on ball placement throughout this season and next, I believe that being in the same quarterback room as Cousins and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson will help him out a ton in his development. He is far more of a finished product than I even had thought.

Overall, this was one of the few moments over the last seven years where even in defeat, I felt positive about the direction the Falcons were going in. Nobody was trying to win their way; they are trying to win. Keep in mind that Miami is also a team that could win its division this year. That is a playoff team over there for sure. For now, the Penix draft hype seems to have been rightly justified.

Even as a rookie, Atlanta may have one of the better backup quarterbacks in the league in Penix.