At one point this offseason, the Atlanta Falcons had a clear plan at quarterback. Start Tua Tagovailoa, and wait for Michael Penix Jr. to get back to 100% before handing him the job. But then Tua got sidelined with an oblique injury in practice, and chaos ensued. Third string QB Cooper Rush got pushed into the starting role, threw two picks and took 4 sacks in a 20-13 defeat in their season opener. Then came Week 2 against the Carolina Panthers.
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Facing Carolina, Rush threw two picks again and got benched in favor of rookie quarterback Jack Strand. He wasn’t any better either, going 8-of-15 for 59 yards, a pick, and two sacks. The 34-3 blowout was so disastrous that the fanbase actually started tagging former Panthers quarterback Cam Newton to come in and save the team. But Newton wasn’t having it.
“Everybody hitting my mentions is talking about, ‘Bro, Cam, bro, come back. Come to the city, bro. Be the quarterback. They need you,’” Cam said on his 4th & 1 podcast. “No. No, bro. Don’t throw me into that slop cause when I was available, y’all just looked over me and then y’all calling for Kevin Stefanski. But really, what can Kevin Stefanski do?”
In truth, no one expected the quarterback room to become a minefield of disappointments right out of the gate, but this has been a long time in the making.
In 2024, when they drafted Michael Penix Jr. 8th overall, they’d just signed veteran Kirk Cousins to a massive four-year extension a month before. Kirk got benched midseason in favor of Penix, but he couldn’t punch a playoff ticket for Atlanta.
In year two, last season, the Falcons went all in with Penix as the QB1, but the season-ending ankle injury ended that hope in Week 11 against Cam’s old team. Newton looked at all that history, combined it with Atlanta’s offseason move to get Tua Tagovailoa, and put the franchise on blast.
“The more this plays out, the more this shows, the Atlanta Falcons made the worst pick in NFL draft history with selecting Michael Penix in the first round,” Newton said. “It’s not to say that Michael Penix isn’t worthy. It’s to say that this is also coming after you’re given a person the biggest bag in Kirk Cousins and he ain’t even on your team no more. Do you understand what I’m saying? Like, a bad pick, a bad deal can set a franchise back years. And we’re seeing it unfold in real time.
“And then, if a pick doesn’t live up to its expectations, okay, cool. Injury happens. But we knew that was the case before we even got the guy. All right, insert Tua Tagovailoa, which we also should have known what we were getting ourselves into if I’m the Atlanta Falcons. And now we have to lean on Cooper Rush. I’m watching the game… and everybody’s hitting my phone saying, ‘Hey, bro, where you at?’ First off, it don’t work like that. This ain’t that. And then, second, I’m like, I’m glad they suffering cause what do you think this is?”
Now, injuries had hounded Penix most of his collegiate career. In his freshman year, he tore his ACL. The next year, he only played 6 games with injuries. In 2020, he suffered another torn ACL.
That history followed him to the draft boards, and the Falcons bet on him anyway.
Then came Tua this offseason, who has his own history of concussions and injuries that had derailed the Miami Dolphins multiple times. All of this culminated early this season, and led to the Falcons stars like Drake London, Bijan Robinson and Kyle Pitts being frustrated. The Falcons had all the weapons to make plays, but no one reliable to get the ball from.
To that end, a lot of criticism has been directed towards the new head coach Kevin Stefanski, who came to Atlanta on the heels of his own tumultuous tenure with the Cleveland Browns. But as Cam Newton sees it, it’s not really Stefanski or the front office’s fault.
“But once again, you know these things when you become the head coach,” Newton said. “And I just want people and fans to understand it’s not much that Kevin Stefanski can do. You don’t expect your starting quarterback not to be available. You don’t expect your players not to be available – even the backup not to be available. You know, it’s only so much that Matt Ryan (President of Football) could do with his decision making…
“When players get hurt, it sets the whole strategy back. You guys are 0 and 2, but at the same time, you got to think of it as where’s the light at the end of the tunnel. You guys still have guys that are extremely talented and it’s just so frustrating knowing that you’re wasting their best years because you’re not ready as a team.”
Now, “the light at the end of the tunnel” that Newton mentions comes through Michael Penix Jr. himself.
Per the latest updates from the team, the Falcons have named Penix the starting QB for their Week 3 matchup against the Green Bay Packers. Penix would have his work cut out for him since Tua took most of the first team reps through camp while Penix was recovering. Now, he has to be thrust into gameday chaos and help get the Falcons their first win of the season.
Win, and the fanbase stops calling for other quarterbacks to save the day. Continue the losing streak, and the front office probably won’t hear the end of it.