Penix, Running Game Lead Falcons to 1st Win

Thank goodness for the NFC South.

While the Falcons have stumbled out of the blocks with a 1-2 record, they are still in contention for a postseason berth for the first time in nearly a decade, or at the very least have a chance to play meaningful post-Thanksgiving games thanks to a division that has been historically bad this decade. Indeed, with 14 games remaining, the Falcons, despite their early season woes under new head coach Kevin Stefanski, still have a puncher’s chance to get past the Saints, Panthers, and Buccaneers, none of whom project to have dynamic teams.

After last Sunday’s 34-3 loss to Carolina in the home opener, the odds were heavily tilted against Atlanta snapping its postseason drought this year — even with the relatively new 17-game schedule — as NFL history indicates teams starting 0-2 have only a roughly 10 percent chance to qualify for the playoffs. But on Thursday night against the Packers at vaunted Lambeau Field, the return of quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (256 yds passing) from a torn ACL and another brilliant performance from running back Bijan Robinson (213 all-purpose yards, a pair of rushing TDs) gave the Falcons a bounce as Arthur Blank’s team rolled to a season-salvaging 35-14 victory.

The Falcons may have ideally wanted to hold Penix Jr. out for extra rest until their next game, Oct. 5 at New Orleans, but Stefanski couldn’t risk going back to journeyman backup QB Cooper Rush, who struggled mightily in his first two games under center for the Falcons, while veteran Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered an oblique injury while preparing to start in Week 1, still wasn’t ready. But the return of the oft-injured, uber-talented Penix Jr. was the perfect antidote, sparing the Falcons from an 0-3 start with dim postseason prospects.

While the quarterback position was a black hole before Penix returned, penalties, shanked field goals, a failure to get in the red zone, and killer turnovers have been other primary culprits behind the underwhelming start. And after Sunday’s flop against the Panthers, who sport the only Jewish player in the league (A.J. Dillon) and a stud tight end from Georgia Tech who hauled in a pair of scores (Darren Waller), Stefanski didn’t back down from acknowledging what the 71,143 in attendance at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS) were surely feeling.

“Obviously, extremely disappointed in that game and extremely disappointed in how that game started,” the first-year Atlanta head coach said minutes after his guys departed the gridiron to a smattering of boos. “[We] could not crawl out of that hole and then the second half got away from us. So very disappointed. Giveaways and takeaways are the key to this game, and to turn it over that many times — and obviously we didn’t take it away at all — there’s no way to win in the NFL like that. We’ll have to learn from it and get better from these experiences.”

Just like in Week 1 (a 20-13 road loss to the Steelers, during which Atlanta actually had the edge in first downs and time of possession) the Falcons kept things relatively close in the early going against Carolina, heading to intermission down 20-3. But as Stefanski alluded to in his brief postgame remarks, the locals were simply overwhelmed in the second half, unable to answer the reigning NFC South champs’ two third-quarter touchdowns.

For the second straight week, Rush, who only started taking first-team reps three days before the season opener, left fans counting the days until Penix Jr. and/or Tagovailoa return. Rush followed up his so-so outing against the Steelers (143 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, including a pick-six) by throwing another pair of INTs and losing a fumble on the first play from scrimmage in the Week 2 debacle.

“It’s a great group of guys. It’s a long season. Every week, there are ups and downs. Right now we’re a little down, but we’re battling. We’re a bunch of professionals in here. We know how to do it,”  Rush said to a gaggle of reporters in the Falcons’ locker room postgame.

Late in the third quarter, Stefanski had seen enough of his last-minute quarterback fill-in and called in undrafted rookie Jack Strand in lieu of Rush. The results were eerily similar as Strand’s first possession ended with a pass returned for a touchdown while his final one concluded with a fumbled snap recovered by the visitors.

“Cooper’s given us everything he’s got and unfortunately we turned the ball over there, including on the first play, which should never be a turnover,” Stefanski responded when he was asked to assess his starting QB’s performance. “So those are the types of things that are correctable. We’ve got to get them fixed.

“I’m disappointed in our performance as a football team. That’s all of us. That’s not just one position. I’m going to make sure that we look at answers and not pinpoint one position, if you will.”

The boos started early Sunday at MBS. After the Falcons’ first drive ended before it got started with Rush fumbling on a QB keeper, the masses weren’t shy about voicing their displeasure. And on the Falcons’ second drive, which concluded with Rush’s intended pass to all-world running back Robinson falling into the hands of linebacker Bobby Okereke, the jeering was amplified.

“I don’t react to our crowd. Our crowd is amazing. When you’re a fan, you can let our team know when you’re displeased. You can let us know when you’re happy. That’s just part of being a fan,” offered Stefanski. “Disappointed that we couldn’t be better for our fans. We have the best fans in the world. They want to support us, but we’ve got to give them a reason to support us”

Stefanski can only hope that when his squad returns to MBS on Sunday evening, Oct. 11, for a primetime matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, fans will only be saying boo for the spooky season.