Raheem Morris Provides Update On Michael Penix Jr., Kirk Cousins

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga – The Atlanta Falcons are set to take on the New England Patriots in Week 9 of the NFL season, looking to put a pair of frustrating losses behind them. Who lines up under center for the Falcons will be of particular interest this Sunday, after Michael Penix Jr. was held out of their 34-10 Week 8 loss to Miami due to injury.

According to head coach Raheem Morris, the Falcons' starter is progressing nicely. He considers him to still be “day-to-day” at this point, but again signaled that he felt good about the second-year quarterback.

"Michael is in the building, obviously in meetings,” Morris said on Wednesday. “He'll go out there today and do the walk-through. We'll get a chance to get a feel for what he can do in practice, if he can do anything. But obviously, we'll get to that right after this and find out what he's doing, how he can do it, and how he feels and all that type of stuff. Obviously, he feels better than he did last week. Obviously, he feels better than he did every single day with it being a bone bruise, but that stuff gets better every day.”

Penix was seen practicing during the open-viewing period on Wednesday, but his full availability will be known when the injury report comes out later on.

“I feel like you’re going to get more Michael this week,” Morris said. “We got a lot of Kirk [Cousins] last week. He got a big portion of the reps last week.”

According to Morris, Penix was unable to go on Thursday, and that is when they started ramping up Cousins before the final decision was made on Saturday.

Zac Robinson said Wednesday that it will be up to the medical staff to determine how they split reps this week, but that Penix is feeling better heading into the week.

In the place of Penix on Sunday, the veteran backup quarterback suited up and played his first meaningful action since being benched after Week 15 of the 2024 season. The results were less than desirable for both Cousins and the Falcons' offense.

Cousins threw for just 173 yards, and the Falcons did not reach the end zone until the game was well out of reach in the fourth quarter.

“I’m sure he’d be the first to tell you he can play better,” Robinson said about Cousins. “We have to play better around him is the biggest thing.”

The performance of Cousins was not up to their standard, but Morris said the whole team must show improvement come Sunday.

“The whole team has to be ready to go,” the head coach said. “Getting the ability to go out there today and get a better feel for what Michael's going to be, especially with the situation that we have going on. I feel great about that.”

Who starts for the Falcons in Week 9 remains to be seen, but the injury report should shed some more light on the situation as the week goes on.