Penix ready but believes Cousins will rebound

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. said Monday that he’ll be ready if the Atlanta Falcons coaching staff calls upon him, but he knows the decision is out of his hands. In fact, he believes Kirk Cousins will be able to stem the tide this season.

Cousins is in the middle of arguably the worst stretch of his 13-year NFL career, with six interceptions over the past three games without a touchdown pass. The Falcons have lost all three of those games and have turned a commanding NFC South lead into a statistical tie atop the division with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team they swept earlier in the season. Cousins threw four interceptions in a 17-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.

For all of those reasons, Penix’s name has begun to come up among fans and pundits. The Falcons took Penix, the former standout University of Washington quarterback, with the No. 8 pick in the NFL draft back in April. He has been pegged as the quarterback of the future.

“He’s a vet,” Penix said of Cousins. “He’s been in a lot of different situations, so I have no doubt that he’s going to bounce back from this and he’s going to be great this weekend and for the rest of the season.”

Falcons coach Raheem Morris said Sunday that the team has no intention of benching Cousins.

“That’s not going to be the issue around here,” Morris said of a quarterback controversy. “That guy has carried us. That guy has got us to the point where we are 6-6 and in first place in the division. We’ve got everything in front of us despite what happened today. It’s up to us to bounce back and find a way to win football games. There isn’t a better man than [Cousins] to go do that for us.”

Penix has only seen time in two games this season, both in the fourth quarter of blowouts. He’s 3-of-5 for 38 yards. Penix said he’s not focused on Cousins’ struggles and the outside noise.

“I felt like I’ve been put in this position for a reason,” Penix said. “It’s all God’s plan. It’s all in his hands. I just got to come out here and work each and every day. Kirk is a great quarterback. He showed it so many times this season. Everybody’s not going to be perfect. That’s just what it is. I haven’t played perfect all my life.”

If the time comes, though, Penix said he’ll be ready if Morris and company call his name.

“I have to be, because you never know when the opportunity [comes],” Penix said. “So, I always stay ready, but at the end of the day, like I said, it’s not up to me. I just got to continue to be ready, continue to stay ready for that moment whenever that is.”

Cousins and Penix have developed a relationship over the past few months. The two live on the same street in suburban Atlanta and sometimes carpool together to team flights for road games.

“He takes accountability for everything in meetings, he’ll always take accountability,” Penix said of Cousins. “He never points a finger. He’s just a first-class guy in everything that he does, and that’s what I appreciate a lot about him. … You don’t see him act out of character over something. He’s been in so many different positions, like I said, throughout his career in football that at the end of the day he knows that wasn’t him and he knows that he can be better and he’s going to be better. And that’s what this whole team believes in.”