The Falcons have elected to bench Kirk Cousins for rookie Michael Penix Jr. while still alive in the postseason race with just three weeks left in the season.
While making a rookie QB1 this late in the year certainly could be thought of as a risky move, Atlanta offensive coordinator Zac Robinson isn’t thinking of it that way.
“Yeah, I don’t view it as a risk,” Robinson said in his Wednesday news conference. ”[O]bviously hasn’t got the game reps that are valuable, but he’s been able to get a feel for the offense, get a feel for what an NFL schedule is like Monday through Sunday. And so a lot of those things, there’s just so many unknowns as a young player, knowing what an NFL week feels like and know what it’s like to win a game, to lose a game, to go through some adversity as a team. And he’s been able to see, obviously, a lot of ups and downs throughout the season, so he’s been able to absorb all that stuff from his perspective.
“The game reps are valuable, obviously, but we feel great about where he’s at up to this point and everything he’s done to get to this point.”
To that end, Robinson said he’s expecting Penix to be poised as he takes the field against the Giants on Sunday.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to have to say anything for Mike to be calm. I mean, he is about as cool as they come,” Robinson said. “I’m sure there’s going to be great, good nervous energy that you get out, and once you start playing football, though, it’s going to feel just like he was at University of Washington, just like he was in high school. I’m sure even when you go against a scout team defense — there’s no harder job in the world than being the scout team quarterback with blitzes coming … it feels a lot faster sometimes than the game even.
“And so I’m sure once he gets into it, the game will slow down for him and expect him to play great.”
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