Now that the infrastructure around him is the best its ever been, the Atlanta Falcons finally have Michael Penix Jr. looking like a franchise quarterback. And although his emergence came a bit later than they'd like, I'm sure Kevin Stefanski and company would take his emergence over having to start from scratch at the position.
In four starts with Penix this season, the Falcons are averaging over 30 points per game and he's earning his reputation as one of the better deep ball passers in the sport. He's excelled in play-action and the run game makes his life easy, but this isn't to say everything is hunky-dory, because there are still things that need to improve or be fixed entering the toughest stretch of the schedule.
However, Atlanta has to be promised with what they're seeing. The next step when you find said franchise QB, especially when they have the injury history of Penix, is to ensure they're adequately protected, but unfortunately, that hasn't exactly been the case this season, especially as of recent.
The former top-10 pick has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL with a clean pocket, but unfortunately, that hasn't been that often, and unfortunately, he's struggled in the face of pressure. And unfortunately, teams have started to figure out that blitzing is the way to overwhelm this offense.
In the 31-23 loss to the Bears in Week 6, that's precisely what happened. Penix was pressured a season-high 22 times on a career-high 46% of his dropbacks was dropped five times, which was largely because the offensive line struggled to hold up after Dennis Allen blitzed 51% of the time.
The Atlanta Falcons' offensive line is making life harder on this offense
It's true for most quarterbacks that they struggle when thrown off balance so it's unfair to dock the 26-year-old for this, but the offensive line is more to blame. When Penix is one of the signal-callers getting pressured the quickest (as a pocket passer mind you), it's easy to connect the dots.
The Dirty Birds let OL coach Dwayne Ledford go to hire the legendary Bill Callahan, and so far, that hasn't gone according to plan. The more physical mantra at the line of scrimmage is nice, but it doesn't matter when this offensive line full of mammoths can't handle blocking a few extra bodies.
And the unfortunate part is that the OL held up well against the blitz at the start of the year, but teams weren't dialing it up as frequently. The Ravens (with former Falcons OL coach Dwayne Ledford) changed that, and they also stacked the box, which cracked the code for this offense's success.
Frankly, the only elite starter on the line is Chris Lindstrom, and while both Ryan Neuzil and Matthew Bergeron are solid, it's the two tackle spots who have been real liabilities. Jake Matthews' twilight years are well behind him, and Jawaan Taylor isn't reliable enough to trust on an every-week basis.
They have no long-term answer at left or right tackle, and it's become clear the Falcons need to draft a tackle at some point early on in the 2027 Draft, and they definitely need to find more stability protecting No. 9's blindside after Taylor surrendered six pressures and two sacks on Sunday.
Michael Penix Jr. is finally starting to look like a franchise quarterback now that he's slinging it with confidence, and if the Falcons aren't careful, their issues on the offensive line will continue to have a negative effect on him--so Bill Callahan better get it together, and fast before he gets injured again.
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