After opening the year 0-2, the Atlanta Falcons will turn things back over to their presumed quarterback of the future. Michael Penix Jr. was named the team’s starter for its Week 3 game against the Green Bay Packers, the team announced Monday.
The move comes after Penix missed the team’s first two games while recovering from ACL surgery.
The move also comes after Cooper Rush was pushed into the starting role for the Falcons’ first two games of the 2026 NFL season. Rush struggled in both starts — which were made after Tua Tagovailoa went down with an oblique injury just days before the start of the regular season — completing 56.4 percent of passes and tossing a touchdown against a league-leading four interceptions in those appearances.
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The Falcons signaled the end of the Rush era during the team’s Week 2 game, when he was replaced by rookie Jack Strand in the third quarter of the team’s 34-3 blowout loss to the Carolina Panthers. Strand threw a pick-six on his first-ever NFL pass attempt.
With the move, Penix will make his first NFL start since he sustained yet another ACL injury last November. Penix sustained a torn ACL in an overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers during a Nov. 16 game last season. It marked the third time since college that Penix underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL.
Prior to the injury, Penix was in the midst of a solid, yet unspectacular, second year in the NFL. After beating out veteran Kirk Cousins for the starting job, Penix tossed nine touchdowns against three interceptions in nine starts before sustaining the season-ending injury.
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Though that injury occurred late in the season, Penix showed enough progress in his recovery to take part in full practice in both Week 1 and Week 2. Despite that, Penix was ruled out for both games as he continued to recover from the issue.
But with the Falcons desperate for a spark, Penix will take the field in Week 3. It won’t be an easy task, as Penix will start on a short week against a Green Bay Packers team coming off an overtime win over the New York Jets.
Given the nature of Penix’s injury — and the overall futility of the Falcons’ offense this season — expectations will be low when the quarterback takes the field Thursday. If he can just make the Falcons look like a professional football team in his first start back, it would go a long way toward salvaging what has already been a rough season for the Falcons faithful.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
