Welcome to the NFL, Michael Penix Jr.

The rookie quarterback was thrust into the Atlanta Falcons’ starting role earlier this week as Kirk Cousins’ struggles became too much for the team to bear. Penix got his first start against the New York Giants and picked up a win even as he battled through some rookie troubles.

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Penix was 18-of-27 with 207 passing yards and one interception, but he wasn’t sacked. 

Atlanta defeated New York, 34-7.

The Falcons got on the board with a field goal following an eight-play, 36-yard drive in the second quarter. Falcons safety Jessie Bates III returned a Drew Lock interception for a touchdown to take the lead. Atlanta didn’t look back from there.

Penix’s 19-yard pass to Darnell Mooney helped setup Bijan Robinson for the first of his two rushing touchdowns. The Falcons took a 17-7 lead into the locker room.

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Robinson scored again in the third quarter. He finished with 94 rushing yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns. Mooney led the way with five catches for 82 yards.

It was the Falcons’ second straight win. They defeated the Las Vegas Raiders last week following a four-game losing streak. The Falcons are now 8-7 on the season.

For the Giants, the lowly season continued. 

Lock was 22-of-39 with 210 passing yards, a touchdown pass and two interceptions. But the lethargic offense was only able to have one drive out of 11 turn into points.

The defense didn’t help matters either. The Falcons had nine drives and 22 first downs. New York only had 14 first downs on 11 drives.

It was a good win to get for the rookie quarterback who will need to establish confidence fast if the Falcons are to win the NFC South and make the playoffs this season.

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When Kirk Cousins signed his four-year, $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons in March, no one expected that he would be benched before the end of his first season.

With Cousins being benched for poor play and rookie Michael Penix Jr. taking his place, the Falcons are now expected to release the quarterback after the season, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Cousins is owed a $10 million roster bonus on March 17, and according to the report, executives across the NFL expect Cousins to be released before then. 

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If the Falcons do cut Cousins before March 17 and save $10 million, they are still on the hook for most of Cousins’ contract.

Of Cousins' $180 million contract, $100 million of it is guaranteed. If the Falcons do cut Cousins prior to next season, they are going to eat a $65 million dead cap hit, per Spotrac.

Cousins’ cap hit for next season would have been $40 million if he were still on the roster, but cutting him adds another $25 million to Cousins' cap charge towards the Falcons' salary cap for next season. 

With rookie Penix Jr. set to start in place of Cousins when the Falcons take on the New York Giants on Sunday, Cousins will have been the most expensive bridge quarterback in NFL history. 

Cousins also has a no-trade clause, and according to the report, he is not expected to waive it. 

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The 36-year-old quarterback was reportedly frustrated that the Falcons had taken a quarterback with the eighth overall pick in the draft last season, picking Cousins’ eventual replacement instead of a player who could help them win now. 

Cousins’ frustrations with how things were handled have executives believing that the quarterback is not going to do the team any favors and waive his no-trade clause, according to the report. 

Cousins will be in a similar situation this offseason as Russell Wilson was last offseason, if he is in fact released.

Wilson was released by the Denver Broncos last offseason, yet the team is still paying him $53 million this season per Spotrac. 

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Wilson signed a one-year, league veteran minimum contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers with the quarterback still being paid by the Broncos. 

Cousins will be in position to sign a league veteran contract with another team, like Wilson, while still being paid by the Falcons not to play for them. 

Through nine games, things were going swimmingly for Cousins and the Falcons. The team was 6-3 and atop the NFC South.

Now the team is 7-7 after a four-game losing streak and out of playoff position. The Falcons beat the lowly Las Vegas Raiders 15-9 on Monday, snapping the skid, but Cousins played poorly in the win, prompting head coach Raheem Morris to make the change. 

Cousins has completed 66.9% of his passes, throwing for 3,508 yards and 18 touchdowns this season while also throwing a league-high 16 interceptions.

In addition to throwing 16 interceptions, Cousins has 12 fumbles, which is tied for the most in the NFL with Baker Mayfield. 

Across his last five games, Cousins has thrown just one touchdown with nine interceptions. 

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The Atlanta Falcons have made a change at quarterback.

Due to Kirk Cousins' recent struggles, the team will be going with rookie Michael Penix Jr.

The writing had been on the wall recently.

In his last five games, Cousins, in the first year of a four-year, $180 million deal, has just one touchdown pass and nine interceptions. 

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When the Falcons took Penix with the eighth pick, it sent shockwaves around the league, considering it was just weeks after they had signed Cousins to his deal. However, the Falcons need a boost, and apparently they think this is it.

"After review, we have made the decision Michael Penix will be the Atlanta Falcons' starting quarterback moving forward," head coach Raheem Morris said in a statement. "This was a football decision, and we are fully focused on preparing the team for Sunday's game against the New York Giants."

Penix threw for 4,903 yards with 36 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his final season with Washington, whose lone loss that season was in the national championship to Michigan.

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Cousins, who turned 36 during training camp, ruptured his Achilles last year, his final season in Minnesota.

In his 13th NFL season, Cousins started off slow, throwing for 864 yards, four touchdowns and four picks in his first four games. In his next five, he had 13 touchdowns and three picks while averaging 292.8 passing yards per contest. But his last five have been forgettable.

In that span, he's completed 62.7% of his passes, and his lone touchdown came Monday in a 15-9 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Atlanta lost each of its previous four to lose its division lead.

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In October, the Atlanta Falcons looked like they were going to run away with the NFC South. But after opening November with a 27-21 win over the Dallas Cowboys, a four-game losing streak ensued. 

The two-win Las Vegas Raiders hosted the Falcons Monday night, and Atlanta snapped its losing streak — albeit in ugly fashion. The Falcons scored just one offensive touchdown in the 15-9 win, and quarterback Kirk Cousins finished the night with just 112 passing yards. 

The veteran signal-caller also added to his NFL-leading interception total when he turned the ball over in the third quarter. Falcons head coach Raheem Morris continues to face questions about whether he will bench Cousins in favor of rookie Michael Penix Jr. given Cousins' ongoing streak of poor performances.

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After the narrow win over Las Vegas, Morris strayed slightly from his normal steadfast public defense of Cousins. The head coach admitted the team needed more production from the quarterback.

"He's got to play better. We have to find a way to get him to play better. We have to play better at the quarterback position," the first-year Falcons coach told reporters.

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The Falcons ended Monday's game with just 261 yards of total offense, much of which came from star running back Bijan Robinson, who rushed for 125 yards. Cousins has thrown an eye-popping nine interceptions and just one touchdown over the past five games.

Atlanta signed Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract in the offseason. An estimated $100 million is fully guaranteed, according to previous reports. Morris and the Falcons' brass have likely weighed the financial implications of sitting Cousins and potentially moving on from him at the end of the season.

The Falcons used the eighth overall pick on Penix Jr. in April, several weeks after signing Cousins. The former Washington Huskies quarterback's 4,903 passing yards led the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision in 2023.

The decision to draft Penix Jr. was met with questions, but many of those concerns faded when Cousins showed his ability to still perform at a high level. 

The 36-year-old threw for 509 yards in an overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in early October.

The win over the Raiders did allow the Falcons to remain in playoff contention. The Bucs, on a four-game winning streak, enter Week 16 in first place in the NFC South.

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The Atlanta Falcons' losing streak has finally come to an end, as Kirk Cousins & Co. picked up a much-needed win over the Las Vegas Raiders, 15-9, on Monday night. 

Atlanta moves to 7-7 on the year, which is massive considering the tight NFC South race at the moment. Meanwhile, the Raiders continue to fall at 2-12. 

It wasn't the prettiest of wins, but at this point in the season, with three games remaining after this one, a victory is a victory. 

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The Falcons’ offense didn’t see the breakout performance it might have wanted, but at least Cousins threw his first touchdown for the first time in five games. 

It was Drake London hauling in a 30-yard pass to get Atlanta on the board first, snapping a streak where Cousins had eight interceptions to zero touchdowns thrown. 

But it was the only time the Falcons were able to find the end zone, as many drives stalled in Raiders territory leading to field goal attempts from Younghoe Koo. 

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Koo was 2-of-3 on his attempts, but that would only make 13 points on offense. 

On defense, the Falcons were having their way with Raiders quarterback Desmond Ridder, who was making the start against his former team in place of the injured Aidan O’Connell. 

As the Falcons stopped the run game – they allowed 65 total yards all game with Sincere McCormick ruled out with an injury early on – Ridders was forced to throw and he tossed an interception while being sacked three times. 

Atlanta was also able to make Alexander Mattison fumble, as they continued to make plays to flip the field.

But this game, though a slog, ultimately came down to the final play off Ridder’s hands as Las Vegas had the ball down six needing a touchdown and extra point to win it. 

Ridder threw two Hail Mary’s to the end zone, but the first one went incomplete and Falcons star safety Jessie Bates III was the recipient of the final one to secure the victory. 

So, on the stat sheet, Cousins was only 11-for-17 with 112 yards. He also threw another interception to go along with his touchdown. 

For the Falcons, the ground game was superior, with Bijan Robinson carrying it 22 times for 125 yards and Tyler Allgeier adding 43 yards on 12 carries. 

As for the Raiders, Jakobi Meyers was the leader in receiving yards with 59 to account for a big chunk of Ridder's 208 yards on 23-of-38 passing. Ameer Abdullah, the lone touchdown scorer for the Raiders, also had seven catches for 58 yards.

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The Atlanta Falcons fell out of first place in the NFC South division on Sunday following a loss to the Minnesota Vikings and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins has come under fire for his play in recent weeks. He has not thrown a touchdown pass since Week 9 and has eight interceptions. In that span, the Falcons have been on a four-game losing streak.

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The pressure has only increased since then and the calls for Atlanta to start rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. have only increased.

"You have to find a way to shake up things," Super Bowl champion Bryant McFadden said on "CBS Sports HQ" after Atlanta’s loss. "Six games into the season, you were 6-3, sitting atop the division.... Can't put all the blame on Kirk Cousins. But in terms of turnovers, there lies the issue.... His four-game losing streak, (he's had) zero touchdowns, eight interceptions. That's not winning football... I think now is the time to roll the dice and bring the young kid out into the lineup."

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McFadden added that the Falcons’ schedule contained winnable games in the final few weeks. But if Atlanta wanted to  "shake things up," now would be the time to do so with the Raiders coming up on the schedule.

Cousins started the season hot. The win over Dallas put Atlanta at 6-3 on the season. He also threw four touchdown passes in a single game twice this season.

The Falcons have the edge over the Buccaneers as they’ve beaten them in both matchups this year.

The veteran quarterback has 3,396 passing yards and 17 touchdown passes this season. But, he leads the NFL in interceptions with 15.

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Kirk Cousins may have been back at U.S. Bank Stadium, the place he called home with the Minnesota Vikings for six seasons, but his Atlanta Falcons were no match for his replacement at quarterback. 

Sam Darnold threw five touchdown passes and over 300 yards to thrash the Falcons, 42-21, to move the Vikings to 11-2 on the season. 

Darnold was 22-of-28 for 347 yards with his five scores, while Cousins, though he threw for 344 yards, had no touchdowns and two interceptions. 

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Cousins has been struggling with turnovers in recent weeks, as he had four interceptions last week in the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and had one in each of the previous two games. 

But this game began with a master class from the Falcons, going 11 plays and 70 yards to see Tyler Allgeier score the game’s first touchdown. 

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However, a turnover-on-downs on the second Falcons drive ultimately flipped the momentum as Darnold’s first touchdown pass was a broken play to Jordan Addison, who scored three of those five touchdowns, as he caught a 49-yard bomb and walked into the end zone to tie the game after the extra point. 

A few drives later, Darnold zipped a pass to Justin Jefferson for a 12-yard score – his first since Week 7, which seems crazy to think about considering he’s the team’s top receiver. 

But Darnold wouldn’t just find Jefferson once. Yet another broken play came, this time in the second half, where he walked in as well from 52 yards out. 

Addison led the game with 133 receiving yards on eight receptions, but Jefferson was right behind with 132 yards on seven catches.

The Vikings put the game away in the fourth quarter, as they outscored the Falcons 21-0, which included an Aaron Jones touchdown. Jones had 73 yards on 13 carries on the day. 

For the Falcons, Bijan Robinson was able to find the end zone as well as leading the game with 92 rushing yards on 22 carries. 

Darnell Mooney was Cousins’ top target with 142 yards on just six catches, while Ray-Ray McCloud had 98 yards on eight receptions. 

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Warrick Dunn has been eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for over a decade, yet he's still waiting for a gold jacket.

The 49-year-old spent his 11 NFL seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons.

Dunn's 10,967 rushing yards are the 23rd most in NFL history, and that seems to be the cutoff. 

Only two players whose careers began after 1970 and have fewer rushing yards than Dunn have a bust in Canton — Earl Campbell and Terrell Davis.

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Dunn said the odds were against him early on, and he proved he belongs.

"The era I played in, when I first got drafted, they thought I was just going to be a third-down back," Dunn told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "I didn’t have the amount of carries that a lot of other guys had because I was always sharing carries with Mike Alstott in Tampa. When I came to Atlanta, it was T.J. Duckett. 

"I had to prove myself being a 5-foot-8, 185-pound running back. You can say a lot of guys can do what I did. No, I had that chip on my shoulder that I was going to prove that I could do it. I believed that I could be one of the best if you give me the opportunity to do that. I think over the years, with what I’ve done, the impact that I brought to teams and those things. And I watch highlights, and I’m like, 'Oh my God, I didn’t know I could do that.’

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"Do I think I’m deserving? I think I belong with one of the best. … Do I want to be in the Hall to say I was one of the best to ever play? Yeah, of course. We all play for that. We all play to be the best we can be."

Dunn said being inducted would send a message to undersized players trying to make a name for themselves.

"I want to be an example for kids who may not be as big as me that you can still do some things even when the odds are against you. I was always going against the grain. My mentality is still like that," he said.

Dunn had over 15,000 all-purpose yards, more than several Hall of Famers, like Jerome Bettis, Franco Harris and O.J. Simpson. He had just 105 fewer than Eric Dickerson. 

Among eligible players, it's the third-most all-purpose yards by a full-time running back not in the Hall, behind Herschel Walker and Tiki Barber.

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The Atlanta Falcons have lost three in a row after kicking the season off with a 6-3 record.

Perhaps their most felting loss of this recent skid, despite being blown out in Denver, was their 17-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, as Kirk Cousins threw four interceptions, one of which was returned fo a touchdown.

That loss also came after a bye week, so it is fair to judge what is going on in Georgia.

Well, Warrick Dunn, who played six seasons for the team, has an idea.

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"If we don’t play as one on the field, we’re not moving forward. We need to play in sync and hold each other accountable; everybody needs to do their part to be successful. We can still win the division and make the playoffs – we have to come together and play as one to take those steps together and not as individuals," Dunn told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. 

"I just think a little bit of it over the last couple weeks. We’ve been out of sync a little bit. They show signs, a series or two they look good, and then something happens, you take three or four steps back. I want to see us in sync. We’re gonna make mistakes, but we gotta have each other’s back. That’s the team mentality."

Dunn recently partnered with Tide, and he even joked that he would have a talk with the cleaning brand to "clean up the Falcons to get them back on track." However, as part of the partnership, he was able to enjoy a tailgate with the fans before Sunday's game.

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"Tide has given me the opportunity to engage with fans, and to have that opportunity and let them know I’m here, but I’m also here with Tide that tackles stains, and utilize the Tide product that I grew up on, and all of these fans saying that want to meet me, telling me about my playing days, and talk about the community work," Dunn added. "It was good to create an opportunity for me to give back and get close to people and say thank you. It was good, a good partnership and to engage in the community to really stay connected, and that’s important."

If the Falcons want to turn their season around, it will have to begin against Cousins' former Vikings in Minnesota.

"He’s been there and done that before. He's had to go back to where he was previously," Dunn said. "I just think mentally, he’s gonna go out and prove – I wanted to go out, you let me go, I’m gonna show you why you shouldn’t have done that. He has to do his part, but the guys around him need to show up… They gotta do their part to help Kirk look like, ‘oh, we should have never let Kirk go.’"

The Falcons do currently lead the division, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who Dunn also played for, are right on their tail.

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The Atlanta Falcons used their first-round pick back in April on a quarterback, but they are not ready to hand the keys over to him despite their veteran quarterback’s current struggles. 

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris showed his confidence in Kirk Cousins, who had a four-interception game in the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday that moved the Falcons to 6-6 on the season. 

It’s the team’s third consecutive loss, but luckily, the NFC South is still one of the weaker in the NFL as the Falcons are tied for first place with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

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So, with a playoff spot in mind and only five games remaining in the regular season, there has been debate about whether the Falcons should make a quarterback change. 

Morris put out that fire before it could get too wild. 

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"I don’t think that’s going to be the issue around here," Morris said in response to a question about Cousins getting benched, via the New York Post. "That guy’s carried us. That guy’s got us to the point where we’re 6–6, first place in the division. Still got everything in front of us, despite what happened today. It’s up to us to bounce back and find a way to win football games, and there’s no better man than 18 to do that for us."

So, Michael Penix Jr., the Falcons’ first-round pick that shocked the football world months ago, will continue sitting behind Cousins as his backup. 

But Cousins knows that he’s not playing up to his standards of late, throwing an interception in each of the previous two games before this clunker of a performance on Sunday. Cousins has also not thrown a touchdown in each of the last three games.

"We won’t make any excuses for them that happened today," Morris said. "That guy has carried us all season, he’s done such a marvelous job. It’s hard to throw that guy under the bus."

The Falcons’ pick of Penix at No. 8 overall, who starred for the Washington Huskies, shocked many due to Cousins signing a four-year, $180 million deal with $100 million guaranteed. 

He has seen some time on the regular-season field in blowout losses, completing three of his five passes for 38 yards. 

But Penix will continue learning from Cousins, who will look to right the ship this upcoming week in the dubbed "revenge game" against his Minnesota Vikings, as he makes his return to the team he spent the last six seasons with.

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Atlanta Falcons punter Bradley Pinion is making a difference both on and off the football field this season. 

The veteran NFL player is locked in as the Falcons look to maintain first place in the NFC South and win the team’s first division title in nearly a decade as the season winds down to the final few weeks of the regular season. 

But Pinion is hoping that his football talents can help achieve another important goal. 

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Pinion, 30, and his wife Kaeleigh created the "Punts for Purpose" initiative last season aimed at making a difference in the lives of mothers and babies living in extreme poverty in the developing world. 

They’ve partnered with Compassion International on a project called "The Fight for First," with the goal of launching 500 survival centers and raising $7.5 million by the end of the year. For his part, Pinion and his wife will donate $1,000 for every punt that lands within the 20-yard line this season. 

"The partnership with Compassion is one that is really near and dear to me and my wife's heart," he told Fox News Digital in an interview this week. "It's a partnership that started probably two or three years ago. And what we loved about compassion, one is that in their slogan right there it says 'In Jesus Name.' And me and my wife are big believers, and we live our life through faith. And in finding an organization that also lives their life and their mission through faith was really important to us." 

Pinion launched the program last season, admitting that he hadn’t expected much of a response from other punters in the league because it was "last minute." To his surprise, nearly half the punters in the league participated and they collectively raised around $150,000. 

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"It was kind of last minute, and we had 14 guys, basically almost half the NFL punters, do it for at least one week of their season, and it was super, super rewarding and super humbling to see guys going alongside of a cause so near and dear to us." 

Pinion was recognized by his team for his work and was nominated as the Falcons 2023 Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee. Humbled by the recognition, Pinion told Fox News Digital that he believes his talents as a football player were a gift to him that afforded him the opportunity to make a difference. 

"It's just something that happens to be a byproduct of what I'm honestly, truly passionate about. I love football, and football pays the bills and pays very well and gives me a blessed life. But the platform that football has given my family, you can't really compare that to anything else. I feel like my purpose is to use that platform to serve Christ and to serve Jesus and to serve a people that are in need -- people in poverty, whether that be animals, whether that be people, whether that be children, whatever it might be. I definitely believe that that's why I was given these talents that I've been given and the platform that I've been given is to do that."

"The Fight for First" campaign has already raised over $6.8 million and funded 455 centers. These centers provide prenatal care, nutritious food and clean water, assistance during childbirth, medical treatment, access to medicine and more. 

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Kirk Cousins was among the quarterbacks featured in Netflix's "Quarterback" docuseries last year, which offered an unprecedented look into the life of an NFL quarterback during the season. 

Cousins, 36, was asked if there was a change in how people viewed him after the docuseries was released during a recent appearance on Barstool Sports’ "Pardon My Take."

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"My wife was kind of the star of the show besides Patrick Mahomes, and she definitely gets recognized a lot more, which is fun. And I think people getting to know me is what’s really fun about it, because you don’t get a chance for your fans to get to know you just playing for the team," Cousins said. 

"They know you as a football player, but they don’t know you as a person and I felt like that show in one way or another just kind of helped people who have followed me or followed the teams that I’ve played on to get to know me a little better, which was a huge win."

The docuseries gave a look into Cousins’ recovery process from injury, his off-day activities, what he does with his family after a game, along with many other things previously unknown to fans about the then-Vikings quarterback. 

For Cousins, though, the docuseries is more to him than just fans getting to know him better. 

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"For posterity’s sake, like, my boys are pretty young, so in 10 years, to be able to pull up that show and say ‘Hey boys, you kinda want to go down memory lane and kinda see some of what dad did in the 2022 football season,’ I think that will be valuable content to have. So that’s kind of fun too and a win coming out of it."

The Vikings went 13-4 in the regular season and lost to the New York Giants in the NFC wild-card round during the 2022 season.

Following the 2023 season, Cousins signed with the Atlanta Falcons in free agency. He helped lead them to a 6-5 record and they are currently atop the NFC South standings. 

The Vikings drafted Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the first round, and signed Sam Darnold in free agency to replace Cousins. 

Darnold has led the Vikings to a 9-2 record and they are second in the NFC North behind the Detroit Lions. 

Cousins will play his former team when he travels to Minnesota to take on the Vikings on Dec. 8.

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