Raheem Morris, Falcons open themselves up to early preseason firestorm

While it makes all the sense in the world for Michael Penix Jr. to get a ton of run during the first few games of the Atlanta Falcons preseason, what happens if he does not look the part? Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said on Wednesday in the lead-up to Friday night's first preseason game of the summer vs. the Miami Dolphins that we should expect a lot of Penix, and not much from Kirk Cousins.

Given that Cousins is 35 years old and coming off the first major injury of his career, I can understand why the Falcons are proceeding with caution when it comes to their new starting quarterback. After all, they did draft another quarterback in the first round in the former Washington star Penix. He should be able to look the part, but if he looks less than stellar, then Atlanta will get harpooned again.

Here is what Morris to Terrin Waack of AtlantaFalcons.com about who is going to play on Friday night.

"We haven't really talked about playing time, but you'll get a good look at Michael. You won't seen nearly as much of Kirk, if any."

Obviously, we are not going to see anything overly complicated on either sidelines in this exhibition.

However, the more we see Penix play, the more he will be up for critique, and the pick up for debate.

Raheem Morris expected to play Michael Penix Jr. a ton during preseason

Even though training camp has been going on for awhile now, it is always interesting to see how a team looks in its first preseason game. How buttoned up are they? For a team like the Falcons with a new head coach and two new quarterbacks, you are just hoping that Atlanta can merely tie its shoes tight. In the meantime, we must accept all that comes from whatever Penix does in the preseason.

He is a future of the quarterback position for this team, so you would hope he could spark some confidence in the offense whenever he is on the field. It is Cousins' time to shine in Atlanta, but Penix's day will come. As we sit and wait for that one day to arise, let's hope that Penix looks a bit more refined than he did coming out of Washington only a few months ago. It is all about progress.

I trust that new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson will put him in advantageous spots to succeed running this new offense. It should be noted that this is Robinson's first stab at being an offensive coordinator, as he came over with Morris off Sean McVay's Los Angeles Rams staff after last season. I don't expect for everything to be smooth sailing, but I expect for Atlanta to remain in control of itself.

All I know is if Penix plays poorly, Falcons and the rest of the NFL world will be chirping quite loudly.