Make no mistake, Penix sitting and watching and learning and getting acclimatised for essentially an entire season is what has helped him look as ready as he currently does.
Being a Huskies fan and seeing every game and every throw Penix made. I felt they should have started him from day 1. The kid is a special player. What you need to have the it factor in a QB to win Superbowls Penix has it. No question.
The question wasn't so much, "Why did they draft Michael Penix?" The question was, "Why did they draft Michael Penix and sign Kirk Cousins to such an inflated and guaranteed contract?" If Kirk succeeded then you didn't need Penix and would've been better off getting a top rated pass rusher. If you were going to look to Penix ... why spend all that money on Kirk instead of spending that money on wide receivers and offensive linemen to help the rookie?
That's why certain teams never win. I think the plan was to let Penix sit for a couple years kinda like Green Bay does with their QBs. If he had started earlier, he might have stunk it up. Over reaction by Rich for sure.
@@Jigman51 I don't see the wisdom in overpaying for a wounded and aging QB, drafting an older QB, and sticking the kid on the bench for 3 years so you can extend his contract when he's 28 and never started a single game. Better to have committed to one QB or the other, used the resources saved to boost other aspects of your team, and later on draft a rookie QB with potential to replace Cousins. I mean, the Chiefs had Alex Smith but traded up to get Patrick Mahomes and started him soon after. If you have a proven QB like Favre you can plan ahead and get a Rodgers, though even that wasn't handled well. Rodgers sat longer than he should have ... but he was young enough. Penix isn't so young. You have Penix sit for one year ... not 3. And they didn't even get that right. They bailed on their overpriced QB and threw Penix in at an awkward time. At least he'll have a head start for next year and can make his rookie mistakes this season. Wiser to have passed on Cousins and gone all in on Penix. It worked for Denver and Washington ... though the Bears flopped with their rookie. That or gone all in on Cousins and used the first pick to get a good pass rusher. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. 😉
Outside Bo nix, penix was the most nfl ready qb during the draft. Obviously, Daniels has shown in reality he is, but penix was literally the worst choice if they thought Kirk would play two years. Dude would’ve been I believe 26 by his first start. Just terrible decision making. If they were that concerned about Kirk that they drafted one of the qbs who in draft evaluation looked like the highest floor with possible a low ceiling, why the heck did we give him that contract? Just awful decision making and it’s going to massively hurt our already limited cap space. I’m honestly not upset with them picking a qb and wanting to go the packers approach, it’s just they picked the wrong qb to play and the wrong qb to bench.
@@michaelstrickland6108played good ? He couldn’t get us in the end zone. Koo saved our asses when we couldn’t score and beat NO the first time and people expect him to do it again without any help from the offense ?
Penix DID pull it off yesterday in Landover. Raheem lost that game for us. I have zero doubt that we would have gotten 10-20 more yds on that final drive in regulation had he used the effin timeouts. Raheem has lost me.
In 16 games? Give him time. Dan Campbell lost his first 10 games with the Lions. Not saying we'll be 15-2 in 3 years, but everyone across the board is improving. Bijan is better, London is better, great moves picking up Mooney, Judon, and Simmons. You can't look at last season and this season and say "Falcons haven't improved under Raheem"
@@TheMissiIenot comparable at all. That move was idiotic, can’t defend that. It didn’t take the world 16 games to realize Brandon Staley wasn’t the guy. The signs are there lol
Penix is who I wanted from the very beginning. I thought Kirk would have been better for longer but I really like what we have now. Wasted an entire year 😢
The problem with the pick was the combo of Penix AND Cousins. So one of two truths would come out: 1) Cousins would live up to the contract, but Penix wouldn’t play for X number of years and so the pick would be terrible. 2) Penix would have to relieve Cousins either due to injury or poor play. That means the pick wasn’t as bad a decision, but Kirk’s contract would go down as one of the worst in NFL history + the Falcons lost a pick for tampering with a player that only played 9 games.
Arthur Blank is responsible for the downfall and slide of the Atlanta Falcons. Period. A billionaire who thinks he success with Home Depot is a qualifier for being a successful football owner. He hires Morris because he wants control... and the entire season is toast now, 7 years straight. Penix Jr. is a much better QB than Cousins.... Morris is an idiot coach...
I will admit Author is too passive, but for those who weren't there for the Smith family ownership know that Author is the greatest thing to happen to the Falcons. Again, Author is just too passive
Im just going to pretend like I wasn't the only human on Earth that knew exactly what an amazing pick/decision the Falcons made that draft night. I was chuckling to myself telling everyone "wait til you see this kid". They had to pay Kirko that much cause he's always made a fortune. Couldn't have brought him in any other way. Falcons front office was savvy enough to let Penix get practice reps ALL SEASON LONG without throwing him to the fire immediately. Its almost like this Falcon's team knows how to evaluate QBs, develop them and implement their plan at the best time.
Agreed. The lack of clock management on the highest level of the sport is mind-boggling to me. There is zero reason for Morris not to call timeout after that completion to London. That was coaching malpractice.
Comparing a multiple division winner to Matt E. Means you NEVER played football, I know. 2. You don't know what the hell your looking at. Todd ain't the greatest, but he's a good coach. Couch GMs are bums
I've called the Falcons drafting Penix Jr, on draft night, a good move... The dude was lights out in College, and, seriously though, the Giants w'd have been better off with that picked in hindsight!
Keep saying... that front office is and has been the problem. Nothing new Kirk has done this before not surprised by it.. this season is on Arthur, Terry, and Raheem......
But they also drafted Penix and made all these roster moves so can we be all that mad? It’s half and half man.. being a falcons fan is tough bc year over year it’s the same stuff
@smokinhot1673 Cousins had 0 TD’s and 8 INT’s in a 4 game stretch.. they most definitely waited to long. Losing to the saints, then getting blown out by the Broncos should’ve been the time to make the switch going up against the chargers. Even if they wanted to just pulling him after his second INT would’ve been a smart move.. they lost 17-13, he had 4 INT’s including a pick 6, all thrown while on Chargers side of the field and the last 2 in red zone territory.. they could’ve been able to compete with the Vikings too had Pennix Been the QB. Atlanta not making the switch sooner on what you clearly could see that Kirk Cousins had no power behind his throws and making bad decisions was costing them games and the playoffs
Now the Falcons need the victory against the Panthers AND a loss of the Buccaneers vs the Saints next week. It seems to me that it's a mountain too high to climb. Won't happen. Too little, too late.
Since the Falcons was able to sign such a high calibre player, like Penix, he should have been playing all season. Sadly, had Cousins not messed up so badly, we wouldn't have experienced Penix's talent at all this season. Really, a classic Falcons error...waiting too late to do the right thing.
I been saying they weren’t gonna make the playoffs with Cousins. Not because he’s not good, but because he was coming off an ACL and needed to get back into the swing of things. And there was no guarantee he’d come back 100%. They never should’ve paid him 100m guaranteed either
I commend the coach for allowing Kirk the opportunity to figure it out. Unfortunately, Kirk could not do it, and as with all things in life, we had to move on. Kirk has no gripe. His play was subpar. Good luck to him, and the future looks bright for the Falcons.
Quibbling about when they should have turned to Penix is shortsighted. The Penix plan has always been a long-term plan. The Kirk Cousins plan was to make the playoffs this year. Kirk is the reason that probably won't happen. The Falcons drafted in the best interests of the future of the franchise. Kirk was brought in to help the franchise. It's backward thinking to say the franchise should have prioritized helping Kirk. Kirk works for the Falcons. The Falcons don't work for Kirk.
Is crazy how few people understand this. And I would add this team isn’t even close to being able to make a run so getting to the playoffs is mostly irrelevant.
Why are pretending penix was out there playing like bo nix or Daniels. Like he’s been serviceable at best. Hes airmailing open receivers from a clean pocket. 6 yards per attempt with a qbr or 70. Stop with the over compensation.
he still played good enough to win the game, that game is on the coach for not making any defensive adjustments and the horrible clock management, we barely squeaked by the desmond ridder led raiders with kirk at qb
Wow, somebody that gets it. Check out my comment on this podcast so you can win all the conversations that you are going to have with Falcon fans over your opinion on Kirk.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't KC beat the Bucs twice? Was only 1 game behind the Bucs, who apparently are having a "wonderful" year. And, already equalled the number of wins from 2023? Also, when's the last time the Falcons made the playoffs??? These Falcon fans are acting as if they're SB contenders each year. 🤣😂
I get drafting penix. Signing an almost 40 year old qb coming off major surgery to 150 million is what I don’t get. And I’ve seen enough this year from morris. He’s not a head coach. A dc coach but not head coach
Raheem Morris decision making is a problem this year (most likely his Tampa stint too) He waits too long to take time outs or doesn’t take them at all. Definitely could have cost the Washington game. He knows Cousin can’t throw and is injured and waits too long to put in Penix. That’s cost us maybe two games. He knew Koo was hurt and yet waited too long to bring someone in. That definitely costs the Falcons a game or two. Excited for Penix. Not excited about bringing back Morris. At least he needs a time management coach on sidelines. He’s not a great decision maker in game or out of game, Falcons fans don’t have faith in him. Great guy, lots of coach speak. Need excellent coaching to win at next level. Arthur Blank promised us playoffs, someone has to be held accountable.
Gotta be a rhetorical question. It would take a long time to list all the mistakes that make them look like clowns. Hopefully they get lucky and penix stays healthy and develops. They have a good roster thanks to Arthur smith. If they can find someone to manage the clock and get guys to tackle, they have a shot. And fire whoever thought of bringing in Cousins
No matter what the situation is they will spin it in a negative direction they've done it 15 times even admitted it To the Falcons no matter what they do they can't win so if I'm in the front office why would they listen to the media this year is Perfect Living Proof of that
Bruh Michael Penix Jr. wasn't even that old when he got drafted🙄 the man was only 23 soon to turn 24 two weeks after the draft. Y'all act like he was Brandon Weeden's age when he got drafted at 28
Dude, I knew your take was dumb. Quarterback is the most important position that teams would gladly overpay to get the future of their franchise. Just look at Denver and how fine they were with letting Russ go for a rookie that has panned out. And for those of you who ask why did they get Kirk instead of a pass rusher, better to have a proven guy and a potential rookie than one guy. If Penix pans out and is a 10 year+ guy, no one will care.
It easy to make these decisions in hindsight but the signing of cousins and penix were both hedges and they both are still in play. If need be they can more or less get away from cousins after next season. Can you assume penix wouid have been as ready week one or that he goes on to continue to develop?
Nah ...they paid cousins 90 mil for 14 games. That's idiotic any way you try to stretch it. They should have done what everyone else does, go get the QB you want in the draft and play him all year. Maybe you get lucky and he has a rookie year like Jayden Daniels. The falcons tried to have their cake and eat it too. It was dumb to get cousins. It was smart to get penix.
No, cause Penix is not out there for the playoffs run i keep telling y'all. Y'all seeing our plan for the future early. And the interception you talking about Blair was held on the play and the flag wasn't thrown, go look at it.
I'm thinking they should have put Penix in right before the bye week; at least then I think they would have had a better chance at locking in the NFC South. Can't trust the sAints to be the bucs next week. But as I saw in a comment in this thread, "At least we know what we have going into next yr at QB".
If they keep Raheem Morris, i feel like he's going to kill Penix confidence the same way arthur smith killed Ridder confidence. Raheem is not a good coach, and idk why they even chose him
1) They didn’t know that Penix would be available to them so they signed Cousins. The QBs on the roster at the time were so bad they couldn’t even properly evaluate the players they had on offense. 2) Go to the playoffs this year for what? This team ain’t even close to being good enough to make a run. So who cares?
Defense hasn’t been bad the last month, hell they been on the field for the last five games because the offense couldn’t SCORE POINTS OR KEEP DRIVES ALIVE.. Kill that theory. Kirk killed this season. SD Kirk threw three pix including the pick six that lost the game. NO We didn’t score a TD and Kirk threw like 3 picks and a fumble, the defense scored all the points. The Seattle game up at the half, Kirk pick 6 and another pick to Kill those 3 and the Bronco dabacle crushed us.
Man.... if they were serious about winning they would've got Bill and won the division. Folks are comfortable in their positions putting their guys on. The team is good enough to win with anyone who is competent at the position both on and off the field. Blank are you serious about winning or selling tickets. The future is bright but I hope you can see it...
🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️ What Being A Falcons Fan Looks like. We always seem to end the years what is what if. I'm tired of asking that question. Well Morris and Fontenot were right. We won't be picking #8 this year.
I honestly wasn’t that impressed, he overthrew a touchdown in the end zone, and had overthrows on WRs in 1 on 1 coverage who torched the corner, and had a bad INT, I think Atlantas defense was smothering and kept them in the game by giving them possessions
He came back and threw a TD next play. How about calling tos. And killing then I’m the 4th like a real coach??? And kicking a closer fg ???? U wasted 20 seconds the game was over right there..
Penix threw the same ball in college! Atlanta should not have waited so long. He is not a magician who can pull a rabbit out of a hat. The defense needs a little help.
What if Carolina had gone with Young over Dalton ....... oh right, they did and that didn't go so well. No one knows what might have been, only what was. If they had gone with Penix from the start, they might now be 6-10. If, if, if.
I was never expecting this team to compete this year. I’m glad we will likely miss the playoffs. We have a lot to build on for next season. We definitely need CB help cuz those mf’s were getting roasted last night
So did you even watch the game last night. AJ Terrell completely made Terry Mclaurin a non factor. Not his fault Hughes and Dee Alford can't fucking stop the other receivers. I was at the game last night I saw up and close just how dominate AJ was he was the best defender on the field for us.
@juttybear7024 i wish he could because he's our best defender in the Secondary, but I agree we need a corner on the other side because Phillips Alford Hughes aren't cutting it.
Rich you are my favorite pundit and I feel like you are right on nearly all the time but you are way off the mark this time and I will explain to you why. Penix has played okay for his first two starts and good for him I wish him the best. But he has played two of the worst 4 games that an Atlanta quarterback has played this season. Strength of schedule is the first thing I will talk about. Only Caleb Williams has faced defenses as tough as Kirk this season and Kirk has performed very well for the most part against those defenses. The league averages against those 6 elite defenses that Cousins has faced are a 52.5 completion % and 5.4 yards per attempt. Cousins numbers against those defenses, which includes his only two actual bad games are 64.7 and 7.4. That is a completion % that is 23.2% better than average. I am sure that you don't know this because I am probably, literally, the only person in the world who does, but the best percentage above average of any quarterback since 1947 in completion % is Steve Young at 13.9% above average. Cousins was 37% above average in those 6 games in Y/A. The best any quarterback has been since 1947 is Norm Van Brocklin at 17.8% above average and it is a fairly steep drop from there. Cousins faced 5 defenses about the quality of the Commanders this season. His completion percentage was 68.2 % compared to Michael's 54.3%. His Y/A was 8.0 compared to 6.4. And against those average defenses. His TD/Int ratio was 9/4 which is good but not great. And his numbers against the only 3 poor defenses that he faced, like the Giants that Penix faced in his first start, this year were even better. I will suggest that the only reason that Cousins ratio was not great is play calling. Cousins physical ability is not as limited as it seems. He chased down a defensive back after an interception in practice in August and knew then that he was back. He may not be quite the same guy who in week 5 or 6 against the Cardinals a couple years ago broke the pocket and became the fastest Vikings ball carrier so far that season when he out raced a linebacker, turned the corner and dove for the pylon on a 21 yard TD run but he is not far off. Cousins has been labeled "not mobile" because of his style of play. not his ability. He has stated that he can do more damage with his arm in the pocket than he can do with his legs and, although it does seem that he should run more, statistics probably bear him out. The Falcons are rightly a run first offense but unfortunately for them don't take advantage of how good their running game is by very poor play selection and design. In 2022 Kirk set an NFL record by completing at least 60 passes to 4 different receivers. Now if you think that was only a result of the longer season you are incorrect. It is true that he only reached 60 because of the longer season but he set the record before week 18. It was not a fluke because in 2023 he was on a pace to break that record when he was injured even though again he faced the toughest defenses of any quarterback in the first half of that season and his receivers were leading the league by a mile in dros and the offense was robbed of time on the field by a league leading number of lost fumbles. Definitely not a fluke because after week 14, in his worst statistical season as a starter, he was again on a pace to break that record and on a pace to set the record for 5 different receivers as well breaking Fran Tarkenton's 46 year old record. Although Fran did it in 16 games but no other quarterback has ever come close to that mark. Now, after reading that information, it is beginning to look like Cousins has had one hell of a season and that is far more true than the narrative that you have been hearing. A couple more points. Cousins was the only quarterback in the league to be on a pace to have two receivers get 1,000 yards, so all those completions were not dinking and dunking like many quarterbacks. Also back to the strength of schedule. Kirk playing against 6 top tier defenses and only 3 bottom tier defenses is a difficult season and projected out would be the most difficult career by lightyears of any quarterback since 1947. The two most difficult schedules of any quarterback, by far, since 1947 who in in the Hall of Fame or should be in the Hall of Fame belong to Fran Tarkenton and John Brodie with Fran's being the most difficult. In 18 seasons Fran faced a total of 25 more top tier defenses than bottom tier. Less than 1.5 more per season. Kurt Warner, on the other hand, faced almost 3 more lower tier defenses than top tier per full season. But that is a conversation for another day. Now take into consideration that the Falcons rookie offensive coordinator was the most predictable of any in the league while Kirk was the QB. I was going to say under center but that is just one of the problems. He didn't let Cousins play to his strength which is under center and running play action which the Falcons very rarely did as well. Which is crazy with that duo of backs and truly outstanding run blocking offensive line. The reason that I keep referring to 1947 is that is where the research for my book begins because 1950 is where they started keeping the statistics that I needed for my research and Y. A. Tittle's career started in 1947 and he is the first of the quarterbacks covered in the book. Well I have taken enough of your time and I hope I was able to enlighten you on a few things. I learned a lot while researching my book on Hall of Fame quarterbacks and developing the "REAL GOAT" scoring system. As my favorite pundit, I was planning on sending you a copy of my book when it comes out anyway but now I will send you one of the very first copies. One more tidbit, the Vikings have figured out something that I did by year two of my research which is that this game is not all about the quarterback as most pundits keep regurgitating. It is approximately 50% about coaching, 5% special teams and about 22.5% each about the offense and defense. That means that the quarterback, as the most important player, carries maybe 5% of the responsibility for winning and losing. But if you want more on that reach out and we will cover that another day.
Now factor in Cousins only being allowed to throw 4 times on 1st downs, in goal line situations, in 14 games (with one of them being against Philadelphia, with only 26 seconds in the 1st half and another being on 1st and goal from the 25, after 2 Atlanta penalties, in the 2nd New Orleans game) and only about 30%-40% on 2nd downs, in goal line situations. This obviously suppressed the number of Cousins' touchdown passes, along with hardly any play action, terrible play-calling, play design (especially in the Red Zone), route concepts and spacing of his receivers, with them struggling to create any separation. Kurt Warner does an excellent job, of pointing out how Cousins was undermined, in his break down of the games against Pittsburgh and Vegas.
@@stoneweight Nice research and I could not have said it better myself. After watching the play calling change so drastically when Penix became the starter it actually made me wonder if the coaches didn't sabotage Kirk so they could get Penix in.
@@bryanjones4444 They did. With the abysmal play-calling and game plan against Pittsburgh, being a prime example. You would never leave a turnstile, like McGary, one-on-one against Watt and later use Pitts to help, when you signed a blocking tight end, like Woerner. No one's that inept and you can rest assured, that if Zac Robinson, really was that bad of a play-caller and play designer, he would've already been stripped of play-calling duties. Cousins being benched, was a foregone conclusion, once the decision was made to have Atlanta draft Penix. In professional wrestling parlance, what was done to Cousins' career, is called a burial and the ridiculous propping up, of a bottom 5-10 quarterback, like Darnold, making him look like an All Pro in Minnesota, is intended to further Cousins' humiliation. Absolutely vile!
@@stoneweight Nobody except me seems to want to point out that when Cousins was in Minnesota last year his numbers were even better than Darnold's are this year. O'Connell is a truly great coach who will go down as one of the best ever in time. You are extremely knowledgeable and really do your research. I think you would like my book on Hall of Fame quarterbacks and the Real Goat scoring system that I have created.
what were they doing screwing up time management against Washington..that was a win but screwhead coach blew it. Well minus a few ??? penalties but hey. Atlanta has too much talent to be squandered.
I never questioned why the Falcons drafted Penix. After the Packers have twice demonstrated enormous success sitting a rookie behind a proven veteran, that's just the way that the league is moving. We've seen enough of throwing a college kid out there with grown men to get the living daylights beaten out of him, his confidence gets shattered, and he's never the same again. In fact, he's bounced out of the league before his rookie contract is up. The coach staff and front office that drafted him are blown up, and this tawdry cycle is attempted again and again without purpose. So, I ask anyone who questioned the Falcons draft decision. Where would the team be now without this strategy? Additionally, there's still a market for Kirk Cousins. Perhaps the Falcons can get a third round pick for him, which is highly valuable in the 2025 Draft.
I didn’t question drafting a qb. I questioned drafting the oldest qb in the draft to sit for multiple years. Penix was 24 at the nfl start. If the plan was to sit him 2 years, we get like what? The packers have a franchise looking by qb for as long as they want to keep paying him. If they wanted a guy to develop, we should’ve traded down and gotten a McCarthy or someone. Penix was a guy who needed to start sooner rather than later, and he’s showing it right now.
@bradenculver7457 3-years was just the number on paper, but there was never a 3-year plan. Please find and watch J. Love's first start in his 2nd or 3rd year against KC, the guy couldn't couldn't complete a pass to save his life. There's ample evidence to show us that nearly every rookie needs some initial time to develop. As I stated, we've all watched the rookie quarterback show countless times to understand that these guys need this maturation period. This is how we're now seeing reclamation QBs like Geno Smith, Sam Darnald, and Baker Mayfield. They all could have used time to marinate from the beginning. How that develop period is dependent on the individual and system the guy lands in. Agree or not, the Cousins to Penix plan is a success. I look forward to seeing more teams using this model, particularly whichever team drafts some like a Jalen Milroe.
@@delbertphillips5124 I mean, if it was just a number on paper, it’s a number they stuck too. I’m really not sure what point you’re trying to make here. I didn’t say love didn’t have any struggles, he did, but his first year as a starter, he still took them to the playoffs. It clearly has worked for the packers sitting and developing love behind Rodgers. Love “matured” far faster than some other rookie qb’s we’re seeing right now. I only brought that up as that is what Fontenot literally referenced as their game plan. My entire point was that penix was one of the qb’s in this draft most ready to start day one and didn’t really need a long term developmental structure like love. I should’ve clarified in my initial post. I wasn’t upset with the penix pick. I was upset with the penix pick in conjunction with the Kirk trade, and Fontenot telling us we’re following the packers model. In reality, they realized Kirk’s weaknesses and had penix fall into their hands. That’s not good process. That’s not a Kirk to penix success. I disagree it’s an unequivocal success right now. We’re saddled with Kirk’s albatross of a contract and have a significant amount of player turnover next season. If we had either not pushed for Kirk and got a bridge qb and decided to draft the best qb available, we might be in a better position. I think penix will be a good qb, but that doesn’t mean the process behind getting him was a success. While Fontenot may have hit on a qb, his process is far from commendable. When you throw two massive darts at qb’s and brag when one may have hit, I don’t think that’s a complete success. The decision to overpay Kirk was always a bad decision, too much risk for a rather a potential upside of maybe a top 12 pocket passer qb at his best. Football is not a sport have having the best guy at one position, it’s a team sport, and things like the salary cap make having a contract like Kirk’s detrimental to the rest of the team. And my dude, I hope teams do not use this model. Overpay an old qb coming off a major injury and draft a qb who looks ready to play at least by mid season and pray you’ve hit on a good qb draft class? That’s not a recipe for success. If we miss the playoffs, has this still been a success with Kirk? If next season, Fontenot doesn’t manage to revamp the defense has this been a success? The personnel was already here, Kirk was supposed to lead us there and penix be the future.
@bradenculver7457 I'm a Browns fan since way back when they were going to AFC championships. So, I'd love to see them do what ATL did. And by the way, if the Falcons want to trade for what's left of the cash value of the Watson contract for Cousins and the 3rd rounder we got from the Bills for Cooper, that's a win-win for both franchises given the Cousins/Stafanski and ATL/Watson connections. In any case, I declare that you've got your man in Penix, and there are multiple takers out there that will possibly give above market value for Cousins. Thus, regardless of your misgivings of the process, it all appears to have worked out thus far.
His numbers are lower tier. The Commanders are slightly better than a 500 team. Plenty of young QB's get off to a good start only to become backups. Let's see how this ages before rendering a judgement.
This is such garbage. I dont remember seeing him complete a pass past the first read...You can put a highschool QB and tell him to throw it to his first read....
Sorry one more tidbit while the whole world seems to be drooling over Penix. He threw a total of 10 bad passes against the Commanders. In Cousins worst two games combined he didn't throw 10 bad passes.
Womp womp Bucs run the south again! We should have beat ATL both times regardless. Especially the one in Tampa without starting WRs we still almost won. I got Frauds in Atlanta! 😂
Atlanta are frauds? How yall lost to frauds twice? If anything the Bucs are the frauds. Atlanta clearly the better team. Kirk Cousins just fell off a cliff for 5 straight games and we lost 4 of them. I’d bet $300 the Falcons win the division with Penix next season.
Not a falcons fan.. Am I the only one thinking it was pointless to bench kirk anyway?? Like you had already started him this far… as soon as yall started Penix I assumed youd lose to the commanders.. kirk is the only reason you were in contention in the first place. I guess in my mind, starting kirk the rest of the season was the best of both worlds: Either A he implodes and yall lose like you did anyway, or B he helps you beat the commanders and the trade is legitimized and yall can still move on in the offseason. Benching him just made everything more complicated imo..
You’re forgetting how valuable these real time reps are for penix In fact, I would argue starting penix is the real win-win. Because no matter what happens, win or lose your future franchise quarterback gets a few reps to develop late in this season heading into the off-season which should give him some confidence Whereas if you start kirk, win or lose you’re still stuck in a limbo state where you don’t think you can make a legitimate run at the Super Bowl but you also don’t know for sure whether penix is the answer At least now they actually have some kind of answers to their questions
Kirk had 9 INTs and 1 TD the previous 5 games combined...you're right in a way, he was the reason they were 6-7 and below .500 The Falcons defense held the Steelers and Chargers to 0 offensive touchdowns, yet lost BOTH games solely bc Kirk played awful and turned the ball over (4 picks against Chargers including a pick6) Kirk just imploded, they tried their best to get him out of his funk, but he just stopped performing. Switch had to be made.
@@hamedismaeal1288 🙄 I literally started off by saying Im not a falcons fan. The only time i heard about yall is when kirk threw for 1k and 8TDs in the bucs games… and when he got benched. It was a general thought process for conversation…
The falcons aren't good enough to best good teams. They never play a complete game. The one game they did was against the shitty Giants. Just enough to make the this delusional fan base think they are actually a quality team.
NFL fans are delusional. Penix hasnt played good. Hes barely been serviceable. He lost a game to the commanders who will probably be the weakest team of the 14 playoff teams. Did i miss something here? If Kirk cousins had played the exact same way with the exact same stats people would be saying how he sucks. Penix plays below average and people bout to throw a parade for him. Im not a Kirk cousins fan but the Bias here is insane. Penix has one TD and two INTS. What am i missing here? Dont give me bull about his team playing harder either since they look exactly like the same team as the Falcons with Cousins.
@@ethanstechworld207 If i showed you Penix stats and said Kirk played the last 2 games you would probably believe me. Im saying Kirk could have gone 1 and 1 in the last 2 games. They brought Penix in to win 3 in a row. If they wanted to go 2-1 they could have kept Kirk in there. Penix isnt doing anything special hes average at best but people have a bias and say he was amazing. Amazing would be beating the commanders.
@@PointBlankInc Thats the go too excuse. Bros been on the team for 18 weeks. Hes had practice time with them. His stats look exactly the same as Kirks stats his last few games and they used them to bash him.
Make no mistake, Penix sitting and watching and learning and getting acclimatised for essentially an entire season is what has helped him look as ready as he currently does.
Being a Huskies fan and seeing every game and every throw Penix made. I felt they should have started him from day 1. The kid is a special player. What you need to have the it factor in a QB to win Superbowls Penix has it. No question.
The question wasn't so much, "Why did they draft Michael Penix?" The question was, "Why did they draft Michael Penix and sign Kirk Cousins to such an inflated and guaranteed contract?" If Kirk succeeded then you didn't need Penix and would've been better off getting a top rated pass rusher. If you were going to look to Penix ... why spend all that money on Kirk instead of spending that money on wide receivers and offensive linemen to help the rookie?
This ⬆️
That's why certain teams never win. I think the plan was to let Penix sit for a couple years kinda like Green Bay does with their QBs. If he had started earlier, he might have stunk it up. Over reaction by Rich for sure.
Exactly. I’m tired of people really trying to bastardize the issue surrounding their QB situation
@@Jigman51 I don't see the wisdom in overpaying for a wounded and aging QB, drafting an older QB, and sticking the kid on the bench for 3 years so you can extend his contract when he's 28 and never started a single game. Better to have committed to one QB or the other, used the resources saved to boost other aspects of your team, and later on draft a rookie QB with potential to replace Cousins. I mean, the Chiefs had Alex Smith but traded up to get Patrick Mahomes and started him soon after. If you have a proven QB like Favre you can plan ahead and get a Rodgers, though even that wasn't handled well. Rodgers sat longer than he should have ... but he was young enough. Penix isn't so young. You have Penix sit for one year ... not 3. And they didn't even get that right. They bailed on their overpriced QB and threw Penix in at an awkward time. At least he'll have a head start for next year and can make his rookie mistakes this season. Wiser to have passed on Cousins and gone all in on Penix. It worked for Denver and Washington ... though the Bears flopped with their rookie. That or gone all in on Cousins and used the first pick to get a good pass rusher. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. 😉
Outside Bo nix, penix was the most nfl ready qb during the draft. Obviously, Daniels has shown in reality he is, but penix was literally the worst choice if they thought Kirk would play two years. Dude would’ve been I believe 26 by his first start. Just terrible decision making. If they were that concerned about Kirk that they drafted one of the qbs who in draft evaluation looked like the highest floor with possible a low ceiling, why the heck did we give him that contract? Just awful decision making and it’s going to massively hurt our already limited cap space. I’m honestly not upset with them picking a qb and wanting to go the packers approach, it’s just they picked the wrong qb to play and the wrong qb to bench.
Yes. I think they could have beaten the Saints and Chargers with Penix. At least I’m excited about next season now.
To be fair, Cousins played pretty well against NO. Koo missed 3 Fgs. Defense let Carr have his best game of the season too
Too bad 😂
@@stockssneakers5036y’all lost 34-0 to the packers saints fans will never have room to talk
@@stockssneakers5036 So sad.
@@michaelstrickland6108played good ? He couldn’t get us in the end zone. Koo saved our asses when we couldn’t score and beat NO the first time and people expect him to do it again without any help from the offense ?
Penix DID pull it off yesterday in Landover. Raheem lost that game for us. I have zero doubt that we would have gotten 10-20 more yds on that final drive in regulation had he used the effin timeouts. Raheem has lost me.
In 16 games? Give him time. Dan Campbell lost his first 10 games with the Lions.
Not saying we'll be 15-2 in 3 years, but everyone across the board is improving. Bijan is better, London is better, great moves picking up Mooney, Judon, and Simmons.
You can't look at last season and this season and say "Falcons haven't improved under Raheem"
@@TheMissiIenot comparable at all. That move was idiotic, can’t defend that. It didn’t take the world 16 games to realize Brandon Staley wasn’t the guy. The signs are there lol
Rich this is what we call Falconing. Falcons gonna falcon
Noun & verb 😂😅
No they relied on Morris to screw the time management
that and they ran away from what was working in first half...didnt run that ball to open up more passing. really pisses me off
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t rich just saying a few weeks ago you can’t start a rookie this late in the season?
Probably
he's been back and forth on this topic ever since the draft lol
Considering the Falcons are almost certainly going to miss the playoffs was he wrong?
Am I the only one that has said from draft night on that the Falcons made a good move and never questioned it?
Drafting Penix alone was NEVER the problem. Nobody would question it if they didn’t sign Cousins for 4 years with 100m guaranteed.
No you were not. I understood the pick the moment it was made.
@@TheForbidden_1newhat makes the contract bad is he won’t play the two years planned.
@@christopherwooley1842 exactly. They paying this man for nothing.
Penix is who I wanted from the very beginning. I thought Kirk would have been better for longer but I really like what we have now. Wasted an entire year 😢
The problem with the pick was the combo of Penix AND Cousins. So one of two truths would come out:
1) Cousins would live up to the contract, but Penix wouldn’t play for X number of years and so the pick would be terrible.
2) Penix would have to relieve Cousins either due to injury or poor play. That means the pick wasn’t as bad a decision, but Kirk’s contract would go down as one of the worst in NFL history + the Falcons lost a pick for tampering with a player that only played 9 games.
Commanders fan here...gotta say, was really hard not to root for him last night...he's special if Atlanta can handle him right
Arthur Blank is responsible for the downfall and slide of the Atlanta Falcons. Period. A billionaire who thinks he success with Home Depot is a qualifier for being a successful football owner. He hires Morris because he wants control... and the entire season is toast now, 7 years straight. Penix Jr. is a much better QB than Cousins.... Morris is an idiot coach...
I will admit Author is too passive, but for those who weren't there for the Smith family ownership know that Author is the greatest thing to happen to the Falcons. Again, Author is just too passive
We don't have the Coach to get it right anyway.
Im just going to pretend like I wasn't the only human on Earth that knew exactly what an amazing pick/decision the Falcons made that draft night. I was chuckling to myself telling everyone "wait til you see this kid".
They had to pay Kirko that much cause he's always made a fortune. Couldn't have brought him in any other way. Falcons front office was savvy enough to let Penix get practice reps ALL SEASON LONG without throwing him to the fire immediately.
Its almost like this Falcon's team knows how to evaluate QBs, develop them and implement their plan at the best time.
Thanks to ATL, Todd Bowles is going to back into yet another division title in spite of being an unserious coach
He’s Eberflus with better PR
Man ima be so mad when the falcons and panthers are gonna be good next year and we still have todd
Agreed. The lack of clock management on the highest level of the sport is mind-boggling to me. There is zero reason for Morris not to call timeout after that completion to London. That was coaching malpractice.
Comparing a multiple division winner to Matt E. Means you NEVER played football, I know. 2. You don't know what the hell your looking at. Todd ain't the greatest, but he's a good coach. Couch GMs are bums
@@terryclark3973 “multiple division winner” barely winning the godawful NFC South is nothing to brag about
@chrisuncleahmad666 Bro and your comparing that to Matt E. Again. Nevermind lol
The Falcons are pathetic from ownership down to the coaching staff.
No. If they had a HC who could call timeouts, they would have beaten WAS and would be in the playoffs.
Cousins threw 1 td in 5 games, thats why we missed the playoffs.
I've called the Falcons drafting Penix Jr, on draft night, a good move... The dude was lights out in College, and, seriously though, the Giants w'd have been better off with that picked in hindsight!
When the Falcons FINALLY played hard for four quarters, the game went to overtime...
Penix is a dude, Atlanta made a good choice taking him. This could be the best qb class we’ve seen in a long time
Keep saying... that front office is and has been the problem. Nothing new Kirk has done this before not surprised by it.. this season is on Arthur, Terry, and Raheem......
But they also drafted Penix and made all these roster moves so can we be all that mad? It’s half and half man.. being a falcons fan is tough bc year over year it’s the same stuff
There was no way to know that Cousins was going to implode during the year, so too late - no.
@smokinhot1673 Cousins had 0 TD’s and 8 INT’s in a 4 game stretch.. they most definitely waited to long. Losing to the saints, then getting blown out by the Broncos should’ve been the time to make the switch going up against the chargers. Even if they wanted to just pulling him after his second INT would’ve been a smart move.. they lost 17-13, he had 4 INT’s including a pick 6, all thrown while on Chargers side of the field and the last 2 in red zone territory.. they could’ve been able to compete with the Vikings too had Pennix Been the QB. Atlanta not making the switch sooner on what you clearly could see that Kirk Cousins had no power behind his throws and making bad decisions was costing them games and the playoffs
@@kylem6370Saints loss is on Koo
I have an outline for a book about the Atlanta Falcons.
It would be called "They Were Never Who You Thought They Were."
Now the Falcons need the victory against the Panthers AND a loss of the Buccaneers vs the Saints next week. It seems to me that it's a mountain too high to climb. Won't happen. Too little, too late.
They thought he would be gone. They didn't think Michael Penix would be there when they picked and y'all thought we wasn't gone pick em.
Since the Falcons was able to sign such a high calibre player, like Penix, he should have been playing all season. Sadly, had Cousins not messed up so badly, we wouldn't have experienced Penix's talent at all this season. Really, a classic Falcons error...waiting too late to do the right thing.
I been saying they weren’t gonna make the playoffs with Cousins. Not because he’s not good, but because he was coming off an ACL and needed to get back into the swing of things. And there was no guarantee he’d come back 100%. They never should’ve paid him 100m guaranteed either
I commend the coach for allowing Kirk the opportunity to figure it out. Unfortunately, Kirk could not do it, and as with all things in life, we had to move on. Kirk has no gripe. His play was subpar. Good luck to him, and the future looks bright for the Falcons.
Quibbling about when they should have turned to Penix is shortsighted. The Penix plan has always been a long-term plan. The Kirk Cousins plan was to make the playoffs this year. Kirk is the reason that probably won't happen.
The Falcons drafted in the best interests of the future of the franchise. Kirk was brought in to help the franchise. It's backward thinking to say the franchise should have prioritized helping Kirk. Kirk works for the Falcons. The Falcons don't work for Kirk.
Is crazy how few people understand this. And I would add this team isn’t even close to being able to make a run so getting to the playoffs is mostly irrelevant.
Why are pretending penix was out there playing like bo nix or Daniels. Like he’s been serviceable at best. Hes airmailing open receivers from a clean pocket. 6 yards per attempt with a qbr or 70. Stop with the over compensation.
The two QBs you mentioned played the ENTIRE season, while Penix is in game 2.
@ and? What does that have to do with the misperception of how he’s played. Is good quarterbacking good quarterbacking?
@@Marquesjones5 ok you got it....16 games and reps vs 2 games. Nix and Daniels had mid games during the year.
@ bro. You’re too dense. That’s my point. He had a MID game. You just said it. Call it a f’ing mid game. Not OMG THE FALCONS SAVIOR HAS ARRIVED
You know a QBR of 70 is really good right? Especially for your second start but go off
The main goal at the start of the season was to sure up the QB spot and look likes they have😆
The wide open passes that Penix miss Kirk cousins would’ve hit. If y’all stayed with Kirk y’all would have been in the playoffs
he still played good enough to win the game, that game is on the coach for not making any defensive adjustments and the horrible clock management, we barely squeaked by the desmond ridder led raiders with kirk at qb
Wow, somebody that gets it. Check out my comment on this podcast so you can win all the conversations that you are going to have with Falcon fans over your opinion on Kirk.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't KC beat the Bucs twice? Was only 1 game behind the Bucs, who apparently are having a "wonderful" year. And, already equalled the number of wins from 2023? Also, when's the last time the Falcons made the playoffs??? These Falcon fans are acting as if they're SB contenders each year. 🤣😂
@@alwaysright7063 It is more disappointing this year because Atlanta has all the parts it needs to compete for a Super Bowl except the coaching staff.
Cousins destroyed our season
No, it wasn’t too late. They had a plan. They were sticking to the plan and more NFL teams need to do that
The fumble of this season falls solely on coaching and FO.. as a Falcons fan I am TIRED
Rich Eisen is a joke. Go look at how badly this guy criticized the Falcons for taking Penix. Acting like somebody was disrespecting Kirk Cousins
I get drafting penix. Signing an almost 40 year old qb coming off major surgery to 150 million is what I don’t get. And I’ve seen enough this year from morris. He’s not a head coach. A dc coach but not head coach
Raheem Morris decision making is a problem this year (most likely his Tampa stint too)
He waits too long to take time outs or doesn’t take them at all. Definitely could have cost the Washington game.
He knows Cousin can’t throw and is injured and waits too long to put in Penix. That’s cost us maybe two games.
He knew Koo was hurt and yet waited too long to bring someone in. That definitely costs the Falcons a game or two.
Excited for Penix. Not excited about bringing back Morris. At least he needs a time management coach on sidelines. He’s not a great decision maker in game or out of game, Falcons fans don’t have faith in him. Great guy, lots of coach speak. Need excellent coaching to win at next level.
Arthur Blank promised us playoffs, someone has to be held accountable.
Spot on ! And I gotta add he waited too long to get more involved with the defense
Falcons will be playing against other teams and their own coach for the next few years.
Welcome to the Bucs experience
Lots of time that I saw a move like this by the NFL team I really wonder that these people doesn’t know what the heck are they doing
Gotta be a rhetorical question. It would take a long time to list all the mistakes that make them look like clowns. Hopefully they get lucky and penix stays healthy and develops. They have a good roster thanks to Arthur smith. If they can find someone to manage the clock and get guys to tackle, they have a shot. And fire whoever thought of bringing in Cousins
Let's not forget you wasn't suppose to see Michael Penix this year.
Regardless! Rise Up!!!
… But , Arthur Blank and his induction into the 2024 Falcons Ring of Honor 😮
Hey Rich. Skip.Dicaprio and go with Lawrence Fishburne at the championship in Searching for Bobby Fisher. That's a better reaction.
Yes and that makes Atlanta the dumbest team in the NFL, the main problem is the owner.
No matter what the situation is they will spin it in a negative direction they've done it 15 times even admitted it To the Falcons no matter what they do they can't win so if I'm in the front office why would they listen to the media this year is Perfect Living Proof of that
Bruh Michael Penix Jr. wasn't even that old when he got drafted🙄 the man was only 23 soon to turn 24 two weeks after the draft. Y'all act like he was Brandon Weeden's age when he got drafted at 28
I don't know why they have to exaggerate the hell out of his age.
Actually, they should have played Kirk last night.
The only different that would have made is the Falcons would have lost in regulation time
@@jovaughnthompson354💯😂
Your right. Check out my comment and you will win every conversation that you have about your opinion on Kirk.
When you put Penix in, youre not trying to win, you're building a team for the future. 🤔
Atlanta absolutely waited too long to switch. Drafting Penix was the "wrong" choice that will turn out accidentally right.
i blame the HC all the way 🤷🏾♂️
The falcons messed up... No ifs or but about it... You can never squander a chance to go to the playoffs... Falcons dropped the ball
Dude, I knew your take was dumb. Quarterback is the most important position that teams would gladly overpay to get the future of their franchise. Just look at Denver and how fine they were with letting Russ go for a rookie that has panned out. And for those of you who ask why did they get Kirk instead of a pass rusher, better to have a proven guy and a potential rookie than one guy. If Penix pans out and is a 10 year+ guy, no one will care.
The Falcons offence was different from the first half to the second half. Penix got out of the pocket in the first half and didn't in the second half.
What happened is we stopped running the ball in the second half, and the commanders chewed up so much clock.
It easy to make these decisions in hindsight but the signing of cousins and penix were both hedges and they both are still in play. If need be they can more or less get away from cousins after next season. Can you assume penix wouid have been as ready week one or that he goes on to continue to develop?
Nah ...they paid cousins 90 mil for 14 games. That's idiotic any way you try to stretch it. They should have done what everyone else does, go get the QB you want in the draft and play him all year. Maybe you get lucky and he has a rookie year like Jayden Daniels. The falcons tried to have their cake and eat it too. It was dumb to get cousins. It was smart to get penix.
RM fumbled the game away!
No, cause Penix is not out there for the playoffs run i keep telling y'all. Y'all seeing our plan for the future early. And the interception you talking about Blair was held on the play and the flag wasn't thrown, go look at it.
I'm thinking they should have put Penix in right before the bye week; at least then I think they would have had a better chance at locking in the NFC South. Can't trust the sAints to be the bucs next week. But as I saw in a comment in this thread, "At least we know what we have going into next yr at QB".
If they keep Raheem Morris, i feel like he's going to kill Penix confidence the same way arthur smith killed Ridder confidence. Raheem is not a good coach, and idk why they even chose him
Indeed, the Falcons should have benched Cousins and gone with Penix no later than after Cousins' second consecutive loss
Yes they did
Yes!
1) They didn’t know that Penix would be available to them so they signed Cousins. The QBs on the roster at the time were so bad they couldn’t even properly evaluate the players they had on offense.
2) Go to the playoffs this year for what? This team ain’t even close to being good enough to make a run. So who cares?
They could jave taken that kirk money and actually put it into their defense 🤯
Defense hasn’t been bad the last month, hell they been on the field for the last five games because the offense couldn’t SCORE POINTS OR KEEP DRIVES ALIVE..
Kill that theory.
Kirk killed this season.
SD Kirk threw three pix including the pick six that lost the game.
NO We didn’t score a TD and Kirk threw like 3 picks and a fumble, the defense scored all the points.
The Seattle game up at the half, Kirk pick 6 and another pick to Kill those 3 and the Bronco dabacle crushed us.
Man.... if they were serious about winning they would've got Bill and won the division. Folks are comfortable in their positions putting their guys on. The team is good enough to win with anyone who is competent at the position both on and off the field. Blank are you serious about winning or selling tickets. The future is bright but I hope you can see it...
You did also see the misses,right? TBH if I'm Cousins I'm taking every $ I'm owed.
🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️ What Being A Falcons Fan Looks like. We always seem to end the years what is what if. I'm tired of asking that question. Well Morris and Fontenot were right. We won't be picking #8 this year.
I honestly wasn’t that impressed, he overthrew a touchdown in the end zone, and had overthrows on WRs in 1 on 1 coverage who torched the corner, and had a bad INT, I think Atlantas defense was smothering and kept them in the game by giving them possessions
He came back and threw a TD next play.
How about calling tos.
And killing then I’m the 4th like a real coach???
And kicking a closer fg ????
U wasted 20 seconds the game was over right there..
Penix threw the same ball in college! Atlanta should not have waited so long. He is not a magician who can pull a rabbit out of a hat. The defense needs a little help.
Should’ve stayed with Kirk, Kirk likes that
What if Carolina had gone with Young over Dalton ....... oh right, they did and that didn't go so well. No one knows what might have been, only what was. If they had gone with Penix from the start, they might now be 6-10. If, if, if.
I was never expecting this team to compete this year. I’m glad we will likely miss the playoffs. We have a lot to build on for next season. We definitely need CB help cuz those mf’s were getting roasted last night
So did you even watch the game last night. AJ Terrell completely made Terry Mclaurin a non factor. Not his fault Hughes and Dee Alford can't fucking stop the other receivers. I was at the game last night I saw up and close just how dominate AJ was he was the best defender on the field for us.
@ Again, We need help at CB. Is Terrell supposed to cover everybody?
@juttybear7024 i wish he could because he's our best defender in the Secondary, but I agree we need a corner on the other side because Phillips Alford Hughes aren't cutting it.
@@SuperFamousProPhillips is better than Alford and Hughes he’s just undersized
Rich you are my favorite pundit and I feel like you are right on nearly all the time but you are way off the mark this time and I will explain to you why. Penix has played okay for his first two starts and good for him I wish him the best. But he has played two of the worst 4 games that an Atlanta quarterback has played this season. Strength of schedule is the first thing I will talk about. Only Caleb Williams has faced defenses as tough as Kirk this season and Kirk has performed very well for the most part against those defenses. The league averages against those 6 elite defenses that Cousins has faced are a 52.5 completion % and 5.4 yards per attempt. Cousins numbers against those defenses, which includes his only two actual bad games are 64.7 and 7.4. That is a completion % that is 23.2% better than average. I am sure that you don't know this because I am probably, literally, the only person in the world who does, but the best percentage above average of any quarterback since 1947 in completion % is Steve Young at 13.9% above average.
Cousins was 37% above average in those 6 games in Y/A. The best any quarterback has been since 1947 is Norm Van Brocklin at 17.8% above average and it is a fairly steep drop from there.
Cousins faced 5 defenses about the quality of the Commanders this season. His completion percentage was 68.2 % compared to Michael's 54.3%. His Y/A was 8.0 compared to 6.4. And against those average defenses. His TD/Int ratio was 9/4 which is good but not great. And his numbers against the only 3 poor defenses that he faced, like the Giants that Penix faced in his first start, this year were even better.
I will suggest that the only reason that Cousins ratio was not great is play calling. Cousins physical ability is not as limited as it seems. He chased down a defensive back after an interception in practice in August and knew then that he was back. He may not be quite the same guy who in week 5 or 6 against the Cardinals a couple years ago broke the pocket and became the fastest Vikings ball carrier so far that season when he out raced a linebacker, turned the corner and dove for the pylon on a 21 yard TD run but he is not far off. Cousins has been labeled "not mobile" because of his style of play. not his ability. He has stated that he can do more damage with his arm in the pocket than he can do with his legs and, although it does seem that he should run more, statistics probably bear him out. The Falcons are rightly a run first offense but unfortunately for them don't take advantage of how good their running game is by very poor play selection and design.
In 2022 Kirk set an NFL record by completing at least 60 passes to 4 different receivers. Now if you think that was only a result of the longer season you are incorrect. It is true that he only reached 60 because of the longer season but he set the record before week 18. It was not a fluke because in 2023 he was on a pace to break that record when he was injured even though again he faced the toughest defenses of any quarterback in the first half of that season and his receivers were leading the league by a mile in dros and the offense was robbed of time on the field by a league leading number of lost fumbles. Definitely not a fluke because after week 14, in his worst statistical season as a starter, he was again on a pace to break that record and on a pace to set the record for 5 different receivers as well breaking Fran Tarkenton's 46 year old record. Although Fran did it in 16 games but no other quarterback has ever come close to that mark.
Now, after reading that information, it is beginning to look like Cousins has had one hell of a season and that is far more true than the narrative that you have been hearing. A couple more points. Cousins was the only quarterback in the league to be on a pace to have two receivers get 1,000 yards, so all those completions were not dinking and dunking like many quarterbacks. Also back to the strength of schedule. Kirk playing against 6 top tier defenses and only 3 bottom tier defenses is a difficult season and projected out would be the most difficult career by lightyears of any quarterback since 1947. The two most difficult schedules of any quarterback, by far, since 1947 who in in the Hall of Fame or should be in the Hall of Fame belong to Fran Tarkenton and John Brodie with Fran's being the most difficult. In 18 seasons Fran faced a total of 25 more top tier defenses than bottom tier. Less than 1.5 more per season. Kurt Warner, on the other hand, faced almost 3 more lower tier defenses than top tier per full season. But that is a conversation for another day.
Now take into consideration that the Falcons rookie offensive coordinator was the most predictable of any in the league while Kirk was the QB. I was going to say under center but that is just one of the problems. He didn't let Cousins play to his strength which is under center and running play action which the Falcons very rarely did as well. Which is crazy with that duo of backs and truly outstanding run blocking offensive line. The reason that I keep referring to 1947 is that is where the research for my book begins because 1950 is where they started keeping the statistics that I needed for my research and Y. A. Tittle's career started in 1947 and he is the first of the quarterbacks covered in the book.
Well I have taken enough of your time and I hope I was able to enlighten you on a few things. I learned a lot while researching my book on Hall of Fame quarterbacks and developing the "REAL GOAT" scoring system. As my favorite pundit, I was planning on sending you a copy of my book when it comes out anyway but now I will send you one of the very first copies.
One more tidbit, the Vikings have figured out something that I did by year two of my research which is that this game is not all about the quarterback as most pundits keep regurgitating. It is approximately 50% about coaching, 5% special teams and about 22.5% each about the offense and defense. That means that the quarterback, as the most important player, carries maybe 5% of the responsibility for winning and losing. But if you want more on that reach out and we will cover that another day.
Now factor in Cousins only being allowed to throw 4 times on 1st downs, in goal line situations, in 14 games (with one of them being against Philadelphia, with only 26 seconds in the 1st half and another being on 1st and goal from the 25, after 2 Atlanta penalties, in the 2nd New Orleans game) and only about 30%-40% on 2nd downs, in goal line situations. This obviously suppressed the number of Cousins' touchdown passes, along with hardly any play action, terrible play-calling, play design (especially in the Red Zone), route concepts and spacing of his receivers, with them struggling to create any separation. Kurt Warner does an excellent job, of pointing out how Cousins was undermined, in his break down of the games against Pittsburgh and Vegas.
@@stoneweight Nice research and I could not have said it better myself. After watching the play calling change so drastically when Penix became the starter it actually made me wonder if the coaches didn't sabotage Kirk so they could get Penix in.
@@bryanjones4444 They did. With the abysmal play-calling and game plan against Pittsburgh, being a prime example. You would never leave a turnstile, like McGary, one-on-one against Watt and later use Pitts to help, when you signed a blocking tight end, like Woerner. No one's that inept and you can rest assured, that if Zac Robinson, really was that bad of a play-caller and play designer, he would've already been stripped of play-calling duties.
Cousins being benched, was a foregone conclusion, once the decision was made to have Atlanta draft Penix. In professional wrestling parlance, what was done to Cousins' career, is called a burial and the ridiculous propping up, of a bottom 5-10 quarterback, like Darnold, making him look like an All Pro in Minnesota, is intended to further Cousins' humiliation. Absolutely vile!
@@stoneweight Nobody except me seems to want to point out that when Cousins was in Minnesota last year his numbers were even better than Darnold's are this year. O'Connell is a truly great coach who will go down as one of the best ever in time.
You are extremely knowledgeable and really do your research. I think you would like my book on Hall of Fame quarterbacks and the Real Goat scoring system that I have created.
what were they doing screwing up time management against Washington..that was a win but screwhead coach blew it. Well minus a few ??? penalties but hey. Atlanta has too much talent to be squandered.
I never questioned why the Falcons drafted Penix. After the Packers have twice demonstrated enormous success sitting a rookie behind a proven veteran, that's just the way that the league is moving. We've seen enough of throwing a college kid out there with grown men to get the living daylights beaten out of him, his confidence gets shattered, and he's never the same again. In fact, he's bounced out of the league before his rookie contract is up. The coach staff and front office that drafted him are blown up, and this tawdry cycle is attempted again and again without purpose. So, I ask anyone who questioned the Falcons draft decision. Where would the team be now without this strategy? Additionally, there's still a market for Kirk Cousins. Perhaps the Falcons can get a third round pick for him, which is highly valuable in the 2025 Draft.
I didn’t question drafting a qb. I questioned drafting the oldest qb in the draft to sit for multiple years. Penix was 24 at the nfl start. If the plan was to sit him 2 years, we get like what? The packers have a franchise looking by qb for as long as they want to keep paying him. If they wanted a guy to develop, we should’ve traded down and gotten a McCarthy or someone. Penix was a guy who needed to start sooner rather than later, and he’s showing it right now.
@bradenculver7457 3-years was just the number on paper, but there was never a 3-year plan. Please find and watch J. Love's first start in his 2nd or 3rd year against KC, the guy couldn't couldn't complete a pass to save his life. There's ample evidence to show us that nearly every rookie needs some initial time to develop. As I stated, we've all watched the rookie quarterback show countless times to understand that these guys need this maturation period. This is how we're now seeing reclamation QBs like Geno Smith, Sam Darnald, and Baker Mayfield. They all could have used time to marinate from the beginning. How that develop period is dependent on the individual and system the guy lands in. Agree or not, the Cousins to Penix plan is a success. I look forward to seeing more teams using this model, particularly whichever team drafts some like a Jalen Milroe.
@@delbertphillips5124 I mean, if it was just a number on paper, it’s a number they stuck too. I’m really not sure what point you’re trying to make here. I didn’t say love didn’t have any struggles, he did, but his first year as a starter, he still took them to the playoffs. It clearly has worked for the packers sitting and developing love behind Rodgers. Love “matured” far faster than some other rookie qb’s we’re seeing right now. I only brought that up as that is what Fontenot literally referenced as their game plan. My entire point was that penix was one of the qb’s in this draft most ready to start day one and didn’t really need a long term developmental structure like love.
I should’ve clarified in my initial post. I wasn’t upset with the penix pick. I was upset with the penix pick in conjunction with the Kirk trade, and Fontenot telling us we’re following the packers model. In reality, they realized Kirk’s weaknesses and had penix fall into their hands. That’s not good process. That’s not a Kirk to penix success.
I disagree it’s an unequivocal success right now. We’re saddled with Kirk’s albatross of a contract and have a significant amount of player turnover next season. If we had either not pushed for Kirk and got a bridge qb and decided to draft the best qb available, we might be in a better position. I think penix will be a good qb, but that doesn’t mean the process behind getting him was a success. While Fontenot may have hit on a qb, his process is far from commendable. When you throw two massive darts at qb’s and brag when one may have hit, I don’t think that’s a complete success. The decision to overpay Kirk was always a bad decision, too much risk for a rather a potential upside of maybe a top 12 pocket passer qb at his best. Football is not a sport have having the best guy at one position, it’s a team sport, and things like the salary cap make having a contract like Kirk’s detrimental to the rest of the team.
And my dude, I hope teams do not use this model. Overpay an old qb coming off a major injury and draft a qb who looks ready to play at least by mid season and pray you’ve hit on a good qb draft class? That’s not a recipe for success. If we miss the playoffs, has this still been a success with Kirk? If next season, Fontenot doesn’t manage to revamp the defense has this been a success? The personnel was already here, Kirk was supposed to lead us there and penix be the future.
@bradenculver7457 I'm a Browns fan since way back when they were going to AFC championships. So, I'd love to see them do what ATL did. And by the way, if the Falcons want to trade for what's left of the cash value of the Watson contract for Cousins and the 3rd rounder we got from the Bills for Cooper, that's a win-win for both franchises given the Cousins/Stafanski and ATL/Watson connections. In any case, I declare that you've got your man in Penix, and there are multiple takers out there that will possibly give above market value for Cousins. Thus, regardless of your misgivings of the process, it all appears to have worked out thus far.
His numbers are lower tier. The Commanders are slightly better than a 500 team. Plenty of young QB's get off to a good start only to become backups. Let's see how this ages before rendering a judgement.
Penic has been bad, almost no difference over Cousins
This is such garbage. I dont remember seeing him complete a pass past the first read...You can put a highschool QB and tell him to throw it to his first read....
And Cousins super power as a quarterback is going through his reads. Check out my comment to back that up.
Sorry one more tidbit while the whole world seems to be drooling over Penix. He threw a total of 10 bad passes against the Commanders. In Cousins worst two games combined he didn't throw 10 bad passes.
This guy was crying for kirk all off-season about drafting his replacement now penix was played too late f outta here
Michael Penix Jr. As A Starting Quarterback In The NFL is not sure yet honestly
As far as rookies go, starting their SECOND game. He's more promising than most at the same point.
@AccentShmaccent I agree as A Canadian-Steelers Fan I honestly wanna see him succeed no doubt about it
Jaden Daniels didn't turn it on until the third or fourth start
You are Blind Ben. Michael Penix Is way ahead of the curve. Next year is going to a monster year for him.
Ya Think 😂✋
Ya’ll know Kirk would’ve won game that night.
Nope Kirk don’t ever pass he double pumps would a ate like 6 sacks.
Y’all don’t even watch the falcons we know Kirk was Horrible for five games str8
It was weird as heck to see Cousins wearing his helmet standing and pacing on the side lines like he was playing last night. Atlanta made a hot mess.
Womp womp Bucs run the south again! We should have beat ATL both times regardless. Especially the one in Tampa without starting WRs we still almost won. I got Frauds in Atlanta! 😂
Shoulda, woulda, but couldn't. Ya'll still got swept.
Atlanta are frauds? How yall lost to frauds twice? If anything the Bucs are the frauds. Atlanta clearly the better team. Kirk Cousins just fell off a cliff for 5 straight games and we lost 4 of them. I’d bet $300 the Falcons win the division with Penix next season.
@@Zikk0_oenjoy watching us come playoff time 😢
Shoulda woulda coulda, but you DIDN'T. Bottom line is they still swept you.
@@FamilyFirst04. lol, don't nobody got ya'll going to the SB. Enjoy the 1 and done.
Brockman take a victory lap
Not a falcons fan.. Am I the only one thinking it was pointless to bench kirk anyway?? Like you had already started him this far… as soon as yall started Penix I assumed youd lose to the commanders.. kirk is the only reason you were in contention in the first place. I guess in my mind, starting kirk the rest of the season was the best of both worlds: Either A he implodes and yall lose like you did anyway, or B he helps you beat the commanders and the trade is legitimized and yall can still move on in the offseason. Benching him just made everything more complicated imo..
Kirk is the only reason we were in contention???
Do you even watch the games he was horrible and the only reason we will not make the playoffs 😂
You’re forgetting how valuable these real time reps are for penix
In fact, I would argue starting penix is the real win-win. Because no matter what happens, win or lose your future franchise quarterback gets a few reps to develop late in this season heading into the off-season which should give him some confidence
Whereas if you start kirk, win or lose you’re still stuck in a limbo state where you don’t think you can make a legitimate run at the Super Bowl but you also don’t know for sure whether penix is the answer
At least now they actually have some kind of answers to their questions
Kirk had 9 INTs and 1 TD the previous 5 games combined...you're right in a way, he was the reason they were 6-7 and below .500
The Falcons defense held the Steelers and Chargers to 0 offensive touchdowns, yet lost BOTH games solely bc Kirk played awful and turned the ball over (4 picks against Chargers including a pick6)
Kirk just imploded, they tried their best to get him out of his funk, but he just stopped performing. Switch had to be made.
@@hamedismaeal1288 🙄 I literally started off by saying Im not a falcons fan. The only time i heard about yall is when kirk threw for 1k and 8TDs in the bucs games… and when he got benched. It was a general thought process for conversation…
Or you put in the kid and see what he has instead of keep playing against QB, who's clearly washed.
Just waiting for rich to talk about his pathetic jets again 🍿
Aaron Rodgers is a bad man.
The falcons aren't good enough to best good teams. They never play a complete game. The one game they did was against the shitty Giants. Just enough to make the this delusional fan base think they are actually a quality team.
The Saints will beat the bucks!
His I just hate LeBron lol
Penix isn't that good y'all, the end. Cousins don't play defense either
NFL fans are delusional. Penix hasnt played good. Hes barely been serviceable. He lost a game to the commanders who will probably be the weakest team of the 14 playoff teams. Did i miss something here? If Kirk cousins had played the exact same way with the exact same stats people would be saying how he sucks. Penix plays below average and people bout to throw a parade for him. Im not a Kirk cousins fan but the Bias here is insane. Penix has one TD and two INTS. What am i missing here? Dont give me bull about his team playing harder either since they look exactly like the same team as the Falcons with Cousins.
So you just look at the stats. Got it
@@ethanstechworld207 If i showed you Penix stats and said Kirk played the last 2 games you would probably believe me. Im saying Kirk could have gone 1 and 1 in the last 2 games. They brought Penix in to win 3 in a row. If they wanted to go 2-1 they could have kept Kirk in there. Penix isnt doing anything special hes average at best but people have a bias and say he was amazing. Amazing would be beating the commanders.
His second start with hardly any chemistry with his WR’s. Your’e babbling at this point 🤣
Clearly didn’t watch the game and is a box score observer 🤣
@@PointBlankInc Thats the go too excuse. Bros been on the team for 18 weeks. Hes had practice time with them. His stats look exactly the same as Kirks stats his last few games and they used them to bash him.
Did Joe Biden turn to Kamala Harris to late to save the election? NO...With Raheem Morris as the head coach the falcons never had a chance.