The Atlanta Falcons have decided to make rookie Michael Penix Jr. their starting quarterback and bench veteran Kirk Cousins as they aim for their first playoff appearance since 2017.
Coach Raheem Morris shared this decision in a statement on Tuesday night.
“After review we have made the decision Michael Penix Jr. will be the Atlanta Falcons’ starting quarterback moving forward,” Morris said. “This was a football decision and we are fully focused on preparing the team for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.”
The Falcons (7-7) ended a four-game losing streak with a messy 15-9 victory at Las Vegas on Monday night. Cousins threw for 112 yards with one touchdown—his first TD pass in five games—and one interception. The 36-year-old has thrown nine interceptions in his last five games and leads the NFL with 16 interceptions.
Atlanta signed Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract in the offseason with $100 million guaranteed before selecting Penix No. 8 overall in the NFL draft.
Cousins ended his touchdown drought with a 30-yard scoring pass to Drake London in the first quarter but had few other positive moments against the struggling Raiders.
“It’s not where I want to be,” he said about his performance. “There’s a lot of room for improvement and we’d like to finish a lot stronger here these last three weeks.”
The Falcons made the change about three hours after Morris had told reporters that he wasn’t ready to decide who would start this week.
“We talked about it last night,” Morris said. “You know, there’s no secret. We didn’t play well enough at the quarterback position, and we’ve got to find ways to play better. So, all those things over the course of the week and we’ve got to do whatever is best to win versus the Giants.”
This move comes while the Falcons are still in the hunt for the NFC South title. Atlanta is one game behind the division-leading Tampa Bay, but they hold the tiebreaker advantage.
Penix has only played in two games, completing 3 of 5 passes for 38 yards. He was the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2023, passing for 4,903 yards with 36 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for Washington.
Cousins had a strong start to the season, leading the Falcons to a 6-3 record and first place in the division. He has completed 66.9% of his passes, matching his career average for his 13-year career. He has thrown for 3,508 yards but has an unhealthy 18 touchdown passes to 16 interceptions.
Morris admitted that it seemed Cousins’ confidence had been affected by his recent struggles.
“I’m not trying to sugarcoat this thing for him,” Morris said. “He’s not trying to sugarcoat it for himself. … When you go through the stress that we’re going through right now, you’re not going to have that same confidence and the same swagger that you had in the first, two months or three months, whatever it was, of the season.”
Morris had said earlier in the season that Cousins would handle the starting job this year while Penix would prepare to take over at some point in the future. Although Morris had been hesitant to change that plan, he said earlier in the day that he saw no harm in choosing to start Penix.
The first-year coach praised Penix for how he handled his backup role.
“You could never say there’s a downside to turn it over to somebody that you put a lot of investment into, somebody that you brought in here, somebody you’ve done some things with, somebody that’s done nothing but the right thing since they’ve been here,” Morris said.
Morris added he had been “just being really smart and cautious in how we go about our business” by sticking with Cousins during his recent struggles.
