FLOWERY BRANCH, GA – Of all people, Michael Penix Jr. found himself at the bottom of the pile during one of the featured scuffles that broke out on Wednesday when the Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans hooked up for a second consecutive day of joint practices.
Whoa. The starting quarterback?
We knew Penix isn’t going to get any live action during the entire preseason, as Falcons coach Raheem Morris has pledged that he doesn’t want to subject the second-year pro to any unnecessary hits that could be inflicted in an exhibition. But Penix wound up getting blasted before Week 1, anyway, with no bubble wrap for the quarterback when he was put on the ground by at least one Titans defender who apparently took offense to a touchdown celebration and perhaps the trash talk that came with it.
“I was down there, somewhere,” Penix said of the moment.
Teammates rushed to Penix’s defense. Nobody seemed to pay attention to the whistles blown frantically. An intense kerfuffle ensued, with so much pushing and shoving, cursing and yelling. Somebody lost a helmet in the melee. And a Falcons player wrapped his arms around Penix and escorted him from the scene.
A heated Penix, though, circled back and attempted to charge back for extra action – or at least more choice words – but was stopped by a teammate.
“That was somebody else out there,” he explained, as if he possesses an alter-ego.
No doubt, Penix was out of character with a different side on full display for a few minutes. When someone described his typical demeanor as cool, calm and collected, he smiled, nodded and replied, “That’s me. I don’t know what that was.”
He knows the Titans defense – sliced up by Penix’s sizzling darts on both days of the practices – was not prone to roll over as he celebrated a deep touchdown pass to Ray-Ray McCloud III. Penix’s celebration, he insists, was fueled by trash talk from the Titans.
Regardless, it was a toxic situation.
“Football is a competition,” Penix said. “I like to compete at a high level. I don’t really do too much talking until somebody says something to me.
“I threw a touchdown, and (remarked), ‘What y’all talking about now?’ I guess not everybody takes that the right way. I think that’s all it was. They probably looked at me as just a quarterback; I wasn’t that type of person. But … I’m from Tampa.”
Where he grew up, Penix explained, getting disrespected by an opponent crosses the line. Yet Penix needs to let his rocket arm handle his business, while steering clear of circumstances that can blow up and become bigger problems.
“He’s competitive,” Falcons quarterbacks coach D.J. Williams told reporters. “He’s a football player first, but he also has to understand that he’s the CEO.”
Yeah, but didn’t the Titans get the memo? Don’t hit, shove, touch or even breathe hard on the quarterback, i.e. the guy in the red jersey.
Uh, maybe not.
It’s ironic that Penix found himself in the middle of a scrap not long after Morris explained why – a year after the then-rookie played just two series in the preseason opener, then was iced for the rest of the exhibition slate – he has no stomach for playing his quarterback during the preseason.
Never mind that Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Kyler Murray were among the starting quarterbacks to get limited snaps during their preseason openers last weekend, undoubtedly to aid in timing and rhythm.
“My philosophy with the quarterbacks is definitely to mitigate the amount of hits they may take that are unnecessary,” Morris said during a pre-practice media session. “I just think preseason hits on a quarterback are unnecessary.
“Mike knows how to take a tackle. Mike knows how to get hit. I don’t need to see it until it’s absolutely money on the line.”
Penix, who replaced Kirk Cousins and became the starter in late December, maintains that having zero preseason snaps won’t detract from his preparation for the regular season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 7.
Last year, Morris didn’t play Cousins during the preseason – despite the lobbying from the veteran quarterback who found value in the live game reps. When Atlanta opened the 2024 season with a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, there was significant rust – and not only with Cousins as the Falcons hurt themselves with pre-snap penalties and timing issues.
“I’m always going to be ready,” promised Penix, who was chosen eighth overall from the University of Washington in 2024 in a stunning draft-day move. “That’s my job.
“In college, you don’t have a preseason. You’ve got your spring game, and then you go into Week 1. Same thing. I’m going to be ready for Week 1. When it counts, I’m going to be there. I’m going to show up.”
As it turns out, Penix will show up having already taken a hit – courtesy of the Titans.
Morris can breathe a sigh of relief that the scuffling didn’t leave Penix heading to the medical tent. And Penix, who certainly calmed down after the skirmish, was relieved that despite the extracurricular activity, they had a full day’s work.
“I’m glad we didn’t cancel practice,” Penix said. “We could finish that work. I know stuff was happening out on the field after that, but for everything to still continue … that was good to get the reps in.”
Including reps from the scuffles that they could have done without.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on social media:
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