The Falcons might be the NFL’s biggest contradiction.
Some drives they look like a team ready to make noise in January. Others they look like they’re still figuring out who they are. And sometimes, that contrast shows up within the same game—or quarter.
At the center of it all is Michael Penix Jr., whose second NFL season has turned into a weekly test of what this team really is (and what it could become).
One week, he looks like the future of the franchise. The next, like a reminder that growing pains don’t vanish overnight.
That’s what makes this version of the Falcons so compelling, and, let’s be honest, so annoying.
That win over Washington before the bye week (313 yards, two touchdowns, and a unit that finally looked connected) was the best glimpse yet of what this team can be.
It's been a case of multiple personalities with Michael Penix Jr.
That was the confident, in-control Penix the Falcons have been waiting for. But the other version is still lurking…
The one who struggles when pressure comes early, who forces throws instead of living for the next down. The one who sometimes plays as if every drive has to end in a highlight moment.
That version showed up in Carolina, where the Falcons were smothered 30-0 and Penix looked overwhelmed.
Everything about this roster suggests that the Falcons should matter in the NFC: a physical offensive line, a defense that’s quietly climbing toward the top 10, and a skill group with heaps of talent.
But the Falcons don’t just play like the 25-year-old, they “feel” like him. Exciting. Unfinished. Capable of greatness, but one bad series away from chaos.
That’s not an insult; it’s the cost of potential. The Falcons drafted Penix No. 8 overall to build something sustainable, not to hit a one-year ceiling. What they’re finding out now is that development and contention aren’t mutually exclusive, they’re just uncomfortable to live in at the same time.
When the Falcons face Josh Allen and the Bills on Monday Night Football, it will be a test of composure, of whether Atlanta’s second-year quarterback can replicate his highs without falling back into his lows—while battling the reigning MVP on a national stage.
Because if Penix strings together performances like he did against Washington, the Falcons have the roster to become a serious NFC threat. If he doesn’t, the cracks that briefly disappeared in Week 4 will start showing again.
The Falcons are close. Close enough to taste what this can be, but still one spark away from it all clicking… or collapsing.