Loser: Raheem Morris
What is the excuse for Raheem Morris finishing the season 2-6 dooming Atlanta's playoff hopes? It seems the defense of the head coach involves throwing Jimmy Lake and Kirk Cousins under the bus. Perhaps this is an acceptable defense if it weren't the head coach with the power to move on from either. It was Morris who hired Jimmy Lake and has been more involved since the team's bye week. The results against the Panthers and Commanders with the season on the line speak for themselves.
On the Kirk Cousins front, loyalty is admirable and often rewarded in nearly every other part of life. However, this is an unforgiving league that creates rules of its own. A piece of that is you must be willing to make the difficult calls. Here that means Morris benched the veteran far too late when the season was already over.
If Morris is able to fix the defense or benches Kirk Cousins a week or two sooner perhaps the Falcons aren't sitting on their couch next weekend. Losing the final two games in OT while never touching the football perfectly illustrates the incredible frustration with the poor coaching and lack of answers in the season's defining moments.
Winner: Michael Penix Jr.
What the quarterback accomplished in back-to-back weeks isn't a normal level of production for a rookie quarterback. Ignore the numbers and consider the situational play of a rookie quarterback with the playoffs on the line. Penix was on the road against Washington and converted two impossible situations to keep hope alive and force overtime.
The quarterback cannot be blamed for either loss scoring each time he touched the ball in the game's final moments to give Atlanta a tie. Against far more experienced quarterbacks it was all one could reasonably expect of Penix.
Penix is making throws at every level with a high level of difficulty and making the plays look easy. The numbers are deceiving with drops and interceptions being created out of thin air. Yes, there are misses and moments that Penix looks the part of a rookie quarterback. However, they are far outweighed by the poise he has already shown.
If Atlanta had a defense anything close to capable they are in the playoffs and we are having a very interesting discussion about what Penix's ceiling might be. Two overtime losses flipped what was an extremely impressive three game debut for the future of the franchise.