ATLANTA – Michael Penix Jr. sat on the Atlanta Falcons sideline, towel draped over his head, as Tua Tagovailoa threw a game-clinching interception.
For the first time in 392 days, Penix had returned to the field where he tore his ACL. But as the Falcons tried to claw their way down the field with the fourth quarter ticking away, he found himself walking off it with yet another injury.
Penix, whose Falcons led the Ravens in prime time for nearly the entire game, took a big hit from Tavius Robinson. He left the field after the training staff tended to him, but returned for one play before the Falcons were forced to punt, sending the game into overtime.
Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed Penix suffered a rib injury, something the oft-injured quarterback struggled with in college, but he could not comment on its severity. The quarterback will get imaging to better assess the extent of his ailment on Monday, but Penix said it is too soon to know if there are any similarities between his issues in college and what he has now.
“It’s frustrating, but the biggest thing is I want to be out there, especially in a big moment in a game like that,” the quarterback said. “I felt like I needed to be out there.”
Penix said afterward he did not feel the injury would be a long-term issue for him and even believed there was a chance he could have returned in overtime. Had the Falcons started with the ball, he expected to lead the offense back onto the field.
Instead, he felt his body get “cold” during the Ravens’ 14-play touchdown drive that sucked 7:03 off the clock. He tried to fight through the pain, but he wasn’t where he needed to be health-wise to go back out onto the field.
“I did not feel like I was going to be able to give our team what we needed to be able to help us win that football game, because of the pain I was feeling,” Penix said. “As I was sitting there, what I was going through, it started getting worse and worse.”
Sunday was a frustrating development for a Falcons team that had felt it had turned a corner with Penix under center. For at least three quarters, it felt like they would keep rolling. Penix didn’t complete a pass until the Falcons’ fourth possession, but he took off after that point. He started 0-of-4, but completed 19 of his next 28 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown, with 13 of those 19 completions going for either a first down or a touchdown.
Penix was especially effective when the Falcons needed him most, finishing 9-of-15 for 163 yards and a touchdown on third down, the most completions and yards in a game in his career. He found wide receiver Drake London five times in those situations, and he connected with his favorite target for 86 of his 118 receiving yards on third down.
London was one of six Falcons to catch a pass, and with Penix as its conductor, the offense was humming. Atlanta held a lead for nearly the entire game and was building on their positive momentum from the two previous weeks.
By all appearances, Sunday was set to continue the Falcons' offensive success from their last two weeks, until it wasn’t, and that momentum came crashing down after a single hit to the ribs.
The Falcons had chances to put Baltimore away on Sunday night, and this loss goes beyond a fourth-quarter quarterback injury. The defense faltered late, allowing Derrick Henry and the Lamar Jackson-less Ravens to pile up 200 yards on the ground, while the offense missed far too many opportunities in key moments.
“There are plays that we can make; there are calls that we can give our guys to be better,” Stefanski said. “In a game like that, all those little plays add up to being a big play.”
But for Penix and this team, this is all the NFL world will be talking about. Just two games after returning from a torn ACL, the quarterback is back in the training room, with his immediate future in question.
“I just pray he's alright,” running back Bijan Robinson said. “I know the whole team does.”
Still, he remains confident that he will be out there for his team next Sunday when the Chicago Bears come to town.
“Knowing me, I’m going to be ready to go next week,” Penix said, “because I’ve sat out enough in my career.”
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