Asked what he's proven since his return to the lineup, Michael Penix kept it humble on Monday night, replying that he's only proved that he's healthy and the Atlanta Falcons still have a lot of work to do.
That's the kind of thing you want your starting quarterback to say, but in this case Penix is being far too modest.
Since Penix rejoined the Falcons in Week 3, they have had the best scoring offense in the NFL and are also leading the league in EPA, according to Josh Kendall at The Athletic.
"In the two weeks since Penix’s return, the Falcons have scored 80 points, the most in the league in that span, totaled 918 yards and led the NFL in expected points added per drive (1.89) by a wide margin."
Very impressive stuff, especially coming against
two above-average defenses in Green Bay and New Orleans.
To be perfectly fair to everybody involved, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees deserves some of the credit, as does Bill Callahan, who has the offensive line performing far better than they were to begin the season.
Bijan Robinson, Brian Robinson and the league's second-best rushing offense also are largely responsible, but none of this was happening until Penix completed the picture.
All offseason we were perplexed by the awful rankings that Atlanta's roster was getting from the national media, especially ESPN. Our take was that this is one of the NFL's most-talented teams, it was just being hidden by a poor quarterback situation.
Now it seems that take is being justified, and Penix's performance has brought the Falcons to a competitive level that we haven't seen since they last made the playoffs in 2017. As long as he stays healthy, this is a legitimately scary dark-horse team.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Falcons offense has been NFL's best since Michael Penix's return
