Michael Penix Replaces Kirk Cousins as Falcons Starter

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00:00Let's settle into this one. Michael Penix now replaces Kirk Cousins as the Falcons starting

00:04quarterback. Yesterday, Ian Rappaport, Dubsy, with this tweet, the Falcons are making a major change

00:09as Michael Penix Jr. is expected to take over quarterback with Kirk Cousins going to the bench.

00:14Atlanta is still in the thick of a playoff hunt and Cousins has struggled mightily. Now,

00:17Penix takes over. Let's start here, Dubsy, because we'll get into the contract ramifications.

00:22And sometimes with me, and I'll be honest, like I work in studio right up to one o'clock. The

00:27Falcons aren't a great team, so I don't get to watch their full games by the time I get home

00:31midway through the third quarter, the one o'clock games. But finalists said, you know what,

00:34looking at the statistics over the past four weeks before coming into that Raiders game,

00:38hadn't thrown a touchdown pass, did throw for some yards, tons of interceptions,

00:42or maybe he's just going through some things. Watching that full game on set on Monday Night

00:46Football, he looked like he was unathletic, was barely taking the snaps correctly,

00:51afraid of what he was seeing, and also, Dubs, let's keep in mind, the Las Vegas Raiders,

00:56the worst secondary in football. If there's one game you should light a team up, it's Monday

01:00Night. They won the football game, and I tweeted out midway through it, this should be the last

01:05game that we see Kirk Cousins as a starting quarterback for Atlanta. I love this move.

01:10Let's start here, just with the change at the quarterback position for the Falcons.

01:15It's been a facade all season long, Donnie. We saw through the first couple of games,

01:19Kirk Cousins, you know, wasn't fully back up to 100% on the health side of things.

01:25There was a bit of rust, and suddenly, he put together a couple of decent games of passing,

01:30but here we are again. I mean, you know, father time catches up with every athlete,

01:35and I think it certainly has come full circle for Kirk Cousins. You look at the numbers,

01:39by no means even close to good enough for a team that's, you know, in the playoff mix.

01:44They're trying to make a push towards playing playoff football, and they've got a really good

01:48shot of doing so. I mean, they've got the Giants on deck, and they should pick up another victory,

01:53but as you highlighted, the offense can just, they just can't get a downfield. I mean,

01:58they really look like they're stuck in slow motion. So, coming off a game where he put up,

02:02what, 112 passing yards, it wasn't good enough, and you look at the four weeks prior to what we

02:07saw against the Raiders, there's just been nothing. So, something had to change, and

02:12I like this move. I respect the Falcons for doing so. Obviously, there's a lot of pressure

02:17on them. There's a lot of pressure on trying to make this, you know, weird situation of

02:21drafting Michael Pennix with that eighth pick in this year's draft, and then paying Kirk Cousins,

02:26you know, $180 million coming into this year for his contract, vice versa, you know, coming back

02:32here for the Falcons. So, I respect the move, and eventually, you've got to see what you've got with

02:38Michael Pennix Jr., and hopefully, he's, you know, he's been a student of the game and learning from

02:43one of the great quarterbacks that we've seen from the last five, ten years. So, I think this is the

02:47right pathway to bring a young quarterback into the league in terms of, you know, that price tag.

02:53Obviously, there's a couple of ways they can try and get around that, and it actually wouldn't

02:56look too bad for the Falcons if they can find a potential suitor for Kirk going into next year,

03:02but I think, you know, their season right now is on the line. It's a must-win game coming up

03:07against the Giants, and they just have to get something going with that offense, and for Kirk

03:11Cousins, it's no secret. He cannot get out of the pocket, Donnie. I mean, you and me could run

03:16a quicker 40 than Kirk Cousins. I think Pennix could suddenly

03:20open up that side of the game, and it may take a bit of pressure off with the passing attack.

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