After much debate on the will-he, won’t-he, the Atlanta Falcons have named Michael Penix Jr. their starting quarterback against the Green Bay Packers on Thursday Night Football. Both Penix and Tua Tagovailoa, the team’s number two quarterback, have missed the first two weeks of the season, forcing Cooper Rush and Jack Strand to play under center for the Falcons.
Penix tore his ACL in Week 11 last year, was doing limited work with Atlanta starting in May and was able to participate in full practices
after the preseason. This was his third ACL tear, the first in his left knee, after he tore his right ACL twice in college.
Penix hasn’t been great in the NFL, even when healthy, as he’s posted a 4-8 record. He’s completed less than 60 percent of his passes overall, has a 12-touchdown-to-6-interception ratio and has a career 85.8 passer rating. For perspective, Packers quarterback Jordan Love has a 96.5 rating in his career, an 89.6 rating this season and has been above Penix’s career average in both of Green Bay’s games this season, despite the offense struggling.
Still, Penix will be a notable upgrade over Cooper Rush and Jack Strand. The Falcons haven’t even been to the red zone this year, making them the first team since the 2008 St. Louis Rams to not make a trip going into Week 3. Those Rams ended up going 2-14.
Rush and Strand have combined to go 30 of 54 for 247 yards (just 5.3 yards per pass) to go along with one touchdown and five interceptions. Together, they have a passer rating of 38.2 on the year, which doesn’t even include the fact that they’ve already taken seven sacks for 41 yards.
They have two notable pass-catchers in Drake London and Kyle Pitts, but those two have combined for just seven receptions for 95 yards (1.8 receptions per game, 23.8 yards per game, individually) in 2026. We’ll see how much Penix can move around, but the Falcons’ passing game has been the absolute worst in the NFL through two weeks, so a quarterback change can really only be a positive thing for them.
