CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — When Carolina Panthers nickel cornerback Chau Smith-Wade saw Michael Penix Jr. turn his body to the left and prepare to throw a short dump-off pass in the left flat, his eyes lit up and he instinctually raced to jump the route.
It was a play Smith-Wade had seen on tape, and knew might be coming.
Smith-Wade accelerated toward the ball, stepped in front of intended receiver Bijan Robinson to grab the pass with two hands and raced 11 yards to the end zone to give Carolina a 17-0
lead. The Panthers would go on to intercept Penix twice and force three turnovers overall in a 30-0 rout of the Atlanta Falcons.
Despite benching Penix with 11 minutes left in the game for veteran Kirk Cousins with the Falcons trailing 27-0, coach Raheem Morris squashed talk of making a change at quarterback after the game.
Morris said he removed Penix to avoid unnecessary injury with the game “out of hand.”
“I just think he missed his throws today," Morris said. “We won’t make excuses. We did not play well in any phase and he did not play well as well. We’ve got to play well around him and we’ve got to play better across the board.”
When asked if Cousins would be able to compete for a starting job leading up to next Sunday’s game against Washington, Morris said, “no.”
Penix finished 18 of 36 passing for 172 yards. He was a non-factor with his feet either, managing just 9 yards on two carries.
The second-year quarterback has just one touchdown pass in three games for the Falcons (1-2). He has completed 63.5% of his passes and is averaging fewer than 150 yards per game through the air.
Penix's struggles came against a Panthers defense that he lit up for 312 yards and two touchdowns in a 44-38 overtime loss in Week 18 of last season in Atlanta.
Smith-Wade said the Panthers planned to take advantage of Penix's inexperience and penchant for being careless with the football.
“We knew going into this week that he could potentially make some some reckless throws,” Smith-Wade said. “And I just happened to go out there and take advantage of it.”
Smith-Wade also said the Panthers were well-schooled on what plays the Falcons were going to run in certain situations.
“That happened to be one of the calls," Smith-Wade said.
Penix admitted after the game he needs to do a better job of taking care of the football and avoiding turnovers.
“We’ve got to execute better to put ourselves in a better position to win," Penix said. “I’ve got to give guys opportunities to make plays, and I did mess up on that at times during the game.”
The quarterback headsets were an issue for both quarterbacks — they kept malfunctioning early in the game — but Penix refused to use that as an excuse.
“Obviously, this is not what we wanted," Penix said of the team's 1-2 start. “We prepared at a high level to make sure we got the results we wanted but we didn’t. They were a better team today.”
As for getting benched, he said that was difficult to take because he loves to compete regardless of the situation.
“I’m never OK with not playing," Penix said. “But, at the end of the day, I listen to my head coach. He’s doing what he feels is best for the team and the decision was made by him. So I’ve got to respect it and support Kirk whenever he is out there because he does that for me.”
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