Michael Penix Jr.’s much-awaited comeback as the Atlanta Falcons‘ QB1 was threatened in the first quarter vs. the Green Bay Packers. EDGE Brenton Cox Jr. came rushing straight at the quarterback and was promptly flagged for roughing the passer. Apart from what it cost the Packers in the very next play, Cox Jr. might soon have to pay up.
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“Packers get flagged for roughing the passer for this helmet-to-helmet contact to Penix,” Rate the Refs posted on X. “What could’ve been a stop on 3rd down turns into an automatic 1st down for the Falcons.”
Atlanta advanced 15 yards by way of the penalty on a fresh set of downs. In the next play, running back Bijan Robinson broke through the Packers’ defense for a brilliant 55-yard touchdown.
The situation could have turned bad for Atlanta had Penix taken a bigger hit. He has only just returned after a season-ending ACL injury from last year, and the Falcons have struggled for the two games this year they were without him. Penix has thrown for over 250 yards and scored one TD in his return.
He’d said before the game that he’d worked “extremely hard” to be able to return. Head coach Matt LaFleur also acknowledged that the Falcons offense will be different, now that Penix has returned. Turns out, he was really all that Atlanta needed, because the offense was thrumming with life.
It was a sight for sore eyes, considering these are the same Falcons who were shut out by the Carolina Panthers 34-3, in part due to bad quarterback play from stand-in QB1 Cooper Rush and rookie Jack Strand.
Roughing the passer carries a first-offense fine of $17,911 under the league’s new outlines for this season, with second offenses doubling toward $23,882. Packers’ Lukas Van Ness was also fined $17,911 for the penalty in Week 2. Carolina Panthers’ Derrick Brown was also faced with the first-time amount in Week 1, making for the third-highest fine that week.
Brenton Cox Jr. is playing his third season with the Packers and was already flagged for a penalty (neutral zone infraction) earlier in the season. He has so far recorded 27 tackles, five sacks, and two forced fumbles.
Penalties have become a glaring problem for the Packers this season, and they are only three games in. After Week 2, head coach Matt LaFleur’s team led the NFL with 26 accepted penalties and 231 penalty yards. Six more from the Falcons game will be added to the penalty tally after Week 3.
What makes it worse is how avoidable a lot of these flags are, as pointed out by PackersWire’s Zach Kruse. Nine of the 26 accepted penalties were pre-snap. Seven different players have already been flagged at least twice, including Keisean Nixon, Lukas Van Ness, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Jordan Morgan, Anthony Belton, Chris McClellan and Javon Bullard.
Bullard leads the team with three penalties as of now. He and Van Ness were involved in the hit that caused Minnesota’s Kyler Murray to suffer a concussion.
Green Bay is already sitting at nearly a third of its entire penalty total from all of last season. In 2025, the Packers finished with 134 total flags and 112 accepted ones, which worked out to about eight penalties a game. Two games into this season, they’re averaging 13.
Penalties are creating a problem for the Packers in-game, too. One penalty removed an interception in the Minnesota Vikings game during a third-down play, as noted by the Associated Press’ Steve Megaree. The Packers were also flagged in two other third-down plays in the same drive, which could have resulted in stops.
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky pointed out that it’s actually the franchise’s worst two-game penalty stretch since 1947, which is not the kind of history anyone wants to be making. The Packers’ worst penalty total through the first three games of a season is 29 penalties or 298 yards, recorded in 1948, per Sports Illustrated.
That record now stands tied after the Atlanta game.
“The ones that are just mind-blowing are just the false starts, jumping offside, lining up offside,” LaFleur remarked this week. “Those are the ones that’ll get you beat.”
SI’s Bill Huber noted that the last time a Matt LaFleur team had racked up a concerning penalty yardage total was in 2023. Why the Packers seem to be this indisciplined is really a mystery.