After weeks of roster uncertainty and losing football, everything went right for the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Following quarterback Kirk Cousins’ benching, eighth overall draft pick Michael Penix Jr. won his first career start, throwing for 202 yards in a 34-7 home win over the hapless New York Giants.
Atlanta (8-7) had squandered a comfortable lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South after dropping four in a row, but thanks to Tampa Bay’s Sunday Night loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Falcons now sit atop the division and control their own destiny heading into meetings with the Washington Commanders and Carolina Panthers.
Ahead of Sunday night’s massive game outside the nation’s capital, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris liked what he saw from his 24-year-old quarterback.
“I was really pleased with his composure and his poise, his ability to work through progressions,” Morris said of Penix on Monday. “Realistically, it was a pretty clean game at the quarterback position. … I thought he did a great job of taking what was given to him, looking at his reads, throwing to open receivers, and really putting some nice zip on it.”
Atlanta’s eighth win of the season marks its most since 2017, when it finished 10-6. That was also the last year the Falcons appeared in the postseason. A win in Washington on Sunday, paired with a Buccaneers’ loss to Carolina, would clinch Atlanta’s first divisional crown since 2016.
Morris will be squaring off with a well-connected counterpart in Commanders head coach Dan Quinn.
When Morris played at Hofstra from 1994-97, Quinn was a defensive assistant. Morris then served on Quinn’s staff in Atlanta from 2015-20, before taking over as interim head coach when Atlanta fired Quinn midway through the 2020 season.
“It’s always fun to play against your friends, your confidants, your mentors,” Morris said. “From Dan coaching me in college, then having a chance to work together and now having a chance to follow the same path to the National Football League. We have a chance to compete against each other at a very high level with high stakes on the line and in primetime. But this week he’s got to be a nameless gray face and we’ve got to go out there and get a win.”
As for getting caught up in the playoff scenarios, Morris won’t be found monitoring other games.
“I am not the emotional roller coaster guy,” Morris said. “I do not like to watch those games with anything ill in my heart. I found out (Dallas) won when I woke up this morning and looked on the ESPN app. I closed the phone and realized we had the pen back. Got to go keep it.”
