When it was announced that Michael Penix Jr. would be the Atlanta Falcons' starting quarterback in Week 3, one question rushed to the forefront of the mind of Falcons fans everywhere: if Penix is able to start on Thursday, why wasn't be able to start four days earlier against the Panthers on Sunday?
The Falcons are headed to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers on primetime, which is a considerably tougher matchup for Penix to make his first start than the home opener against a division rival. But there's always a method to the madness, and now we know exactly what's going on.
Michael Penix Jr. himself didn't think he was ready to play on Sunday, hence Cooper Rush getting the start, but Thursday was another story, despite the short week.
While addressing the media during Tuesday's scheduled media session for the starting quarterback, the third-year QB revealed that it wasn't until after the loss to the Panthers that he deemed himself truly ready to return to the field, which resulted in the announcement we saw on Monday afternoon.
"I made the decision actually, on Monday, Monday morning," Penix said. "I talked to Coach (Kevin Stefanski) Sunday after the game, just let him know how the back-end of last week went and that I was feeling pretty good. Monday morning came around and I felt very confident with this week, I felt very confident in my knee, and how it's been feeling towards the back-end of the week last week, so that's how it happened."
Michael Penix Jr. made the timeline of his first start of 2026 make more sense
Despite originally saying he didn't decide until Monday morning, Penix later clarified that he decided he could start on Sunday afternoon after the Week 2 loss--in large part due to some reasons he later explained. And considering the Dirty Birds' offense has been lifeless through two games, there's no reason to complain about the journey when the destination is what we intended.
"The decision was made Sunday.... I talked to Coach Sunday and I talked to him Monday, just to solidify that."
Kevin Stefanski has been saying the Falcons had a plan in regards to the former top-10 pick. It was never about the short week or a possible target date. It was all about when he felt most comfortable getting back out there, and evidently, that came in Week 3--and those four days made a difference.
Not only did he say that he started to feel much better by the tail end of last week, the 26-year-old revealed that he had a "big workout" on Saturday helped him make the decision Sunday night that confirmed he felt comfortable playing--but obviously that wasn't going to happen the next day. So that meant that tomorrow's matchup was the next option.
Penix was also asked about what the final hurdle he had to clear was in order to be good to play. He said that during the opening week of the season, he wanted to focus more on lateral movements, and the soreness affected before Week 1 against the Steelers and persisted into early last week before subsiding at the end of the week--and he's been feeling "good consistently" since Thursday or Friday.
The former Washington standout made it clear that once his knee was healthy, he was gonna be out there--regardless of any short weeks, longer recovery times, or external noise. So it might seem odd, but short-term pain is long-term gain as long as he starts to establish himself as a franchise QB.
It would've been really easy for the Falcons to start Cooper Rush for a third straight game, but with Michael Penix Jr. feeling better, they know his return will help unlock this offense now that he's healthy and hopefully prevent an 0-3 start.
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