Michael Penix Jr. will not be the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons during their season opener, but he is not as disappointed by that as one might think.
Penix admitted that he told coach Kevin Stefanski that he was not quite where he wanted to be physically, and that he did not want to rush back from his ACL injury too quickly. That contributed to Atlanta’s decision to name Tua Tagovailoa as their Week 1 starter.
“I just told him I’m not where I want to be right now,” Penix told Will McFadden of the team’s official website. “And I want to be able to be 100% so I can help the team win football games. And I’m really close. Really close.
“I want to be stronger. I want to be able to be out there and give the team 100%. And if I don’t feel like I can do that, that’s not fair for this team. That’s not fair for this organization. I want to make sure whenever I am out there, I’m 100%, and there’s no doubt in my mind that I trust my knee and that I trust being able to go out there and help this team win football games.”
The Falcons announced Monday that Tagovailoa will be their Week 1 starter, though they did so almost begrudgingly. One has to wonder if that still would have been the case if Penix had felt more ready to go. It certainly suggests that Tagovailoa’s hold on the starting job might be quite tenuous, especially since he was not all that impressive during preseason.
Penix only received full clearance to practice in late August. He simply needs a few additional weeks of work after missing all of training camp. He should be available at some point early in the season, at which point the Falcons might have another decision to make.
