Throughout the NFL season, there is occasional news which breaks that doesn't just get one particular fan base talking, but the entire league. On Tuesday, that's exactly the kind of news Atlanta Falcons fans were hit with.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris made the difficult decision to bench starting quarterback Kirk Cousins. Instead, the team is going to allow rookie first-round pick Michael Penix Jr. to take the job under center.
Over Cousins' last five games, he's thrown just one touchdown compared to nine interceptions and the team has gone 1-4. That, of course, included a 4-game losing streak before a recent 6-point win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
With the playoffs still a possibility and the Falcons holding a record of 7-7, it's going to be up to Penix to get the job done.
Or is it?
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Is this going to be a permanent decision for the Falcons? What happens if Penix struggles right away? He's a rookie, after all, so wouldn't the team allow a bit of room for error?
That's the delicate part about all of this, because the team is playing for their postseason lives. They don't really have time to wait around and allow for too much error, here. And, that seems to be what Morris alluded to when speaking to the media on Wednesday.
Raheem Morris did not call Michael Penix Jr. the team's permanent starting quarterback
"I don't think anything is ever permanent in the National Football League, but right now Michael Penix is our quarterback," Morris said on Wednesday.
The key words, there, are "right now."
Let's say Penix goes out and has a horrible debut against the New York Giants this weekend -- and that's a very winnable game. If Penix were to look flat-out awful, then Morris would probably think twice. He very well could go back and put Cousins out there the following week.
Why would Morris bank on a rookie to get his team to the postseason if his first showing goes poorly? This is an extremely difficult spot for a head coach to be in, and it's one that could be fluid. I don't think there's any indication that Penix is definitively going to be the team's starting quarterback for the remaining three games, especially if he struggles right away.
If this were to be a different scenario where, say, the Falcons were 4-10, then sure, Penix would be the guy for the rest of the way. Playoffs would be out of the question. However, the postseason is very much still in play.
This is no ordinary first start for a rookie quarterback. This one comes with some serious weight, and it sure sounds like Cousins is more than "in play" to earn his job back. We'll have to see how short a leash Penix is put on to begin with.