Penix Jr. was 'lights out' but little else worked as Falcons drop opener
The Atlanta Falcons are 0-1. Their bread-and-butter running game hasn't yet arrived. Their place kicker's job is once again in jeopardy. And their best wide receiver, Drake London, didn't finish Sunday's game due to a shoulder injury.

But the Falcons still believe they've found the right quarterback. In his fourth career start, Michael Penix Jr. threw, ran and lunged his team to the doorstep of victory before a 44-yard field goal attempt by Younghoe Koo soared wide right to give the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a 23-20 win in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the season opener for both teams.

"I can't say enough positive things about the young man and what he was able to do right up until his last throw," coach Raheem Morris said of Penix. "He was lights out. We have to help that kid more."

Penix finished 27-of-42 passing for 298 yards and one touchdown but fell to 1-3 as Atlanta's starting quarterback since replacing Kirk Cousins in Week 16 last year. His 93.2 passer rating was the second-highest of his career.

"It's the NFL, man. It's tough to score, it's tough to win in this league," Penix said after the game. "Those guys make plays just like we make plays. Obviously, we want to make more and come out on top, but today they got the better of us."

Penix added six carries for 21 yards and posted the best yards-per-carry average (3.5) on the day for the Falcons. His longest run was 12 yards, but his most impressive one might have been a 3-yard, fourth-down scramble on which he dove to extend the ball past the first-down marker and give Atlanta a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter.

"He's just so calm and poised under pressure and just makes plays when his number is called," left tackle Jake Matthews said. "To have someone like that on your team is very special."

In the final nine minutes Sunday, Penix led an 18-play, 91-yard touchdown drive, giving the Falcons a 20-17 lead when he scrambled for a 4-yard touchdown with 2:17 remaining. Then, after the Buccaneers retook the lead on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield to rookie Emeka Egbuka, Penix led an eight-play, 60-yard drive in 57 seconds to set up Koo for what would have been the tying field goal.

"I just tell myself this is the same game I have been playing my whole life," Penix said. "I know when I go out there, I don't have to be perfect. I don't go out there with pressure on my shoulders like I have to do this or I have to do that. I just let the plays come to me and trust in God and trust in Z-Rob (offensive coordinator Zac Robinson) to put us in the right position."

Koo's position with the team is tenuous. The seven-year veteran had one of the worst seasons of his career in 2024. He missed nine kicks last year, including three in a crucial loss to New Orleans in Week 10. Sunday brought that memory back for many of the fans in attendance.

"Yeah, he missed it. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I can tell you about the technique and all that, but we have to make those kicks," Morris said. "Those are very makeable kicks. We have to make those kicks, and we didn't get it done."

Atlanta signed rookie kicker Lenny Krieg in the offseason and allowed him to compete with Koo during training camp, but Koo looked sharper in the workouts open to the media and held onto his job. Morris stopped short of saying the competition will reopen this week. "You have to have confidence in your guys, and you always will," the coach said. "It's always highly competitive every single week, but we don't make whiplash decisions."

Koo was not in the locker room during the time it was open to the media after the game. "No one is perfect," said tight end Kyle Pitts, who had seven catches for 59 yards, his highest yardage total since Week 8 last year. "Sometimes you miss them, but we still back him."

Penix made a point to speak to Koo after the missed kick, the quarterback said. "We have all the confidence in the world in Koo," Penix said. "We're not perfect, even though we strive to be. I know how much he cares about the game and how much he cares about his job. I just told him, ‘Just continue to know who you are and don't let this define you.' That game didn't only come down to that field goal. We had times earlier to make big-time plays. We still trust in him."

The run game in particular had its chances to help out Sunday and didn't. The Falcons' 69 yards on the ground were their fewest since Week 11 last year, and the longest run of the day was the 12-yard scramble by Penix.

"The run game is the heart of this offense," running back Bijan Robinson said. "They did a good job of stopping it, but it doesn't matter if they are good at it or not. We have to be on our P's and Q's and understand (our jobs)."

Robinson finished with 12 carries for 24 yards, the third-lowest total of his career. He did have a big day through the air, catching six passes for 100 yards, the second-highest total of his career. He scored a 50-yard touchdown on a screen pass that he called "an extended handoff," but it didn't make the Falcons feel any better about their run game.

"We have to do a better job of executing our plan against (run) pressure and being able to crease those things," Morris said. "We were not able to get that done. Luckily, our quarterback was able to get us going. We have to find a way to run the football better, especially with the two backs (Robinson and Tyler Allgeier) we have."

The Falcons tweaked their run game after losing right tackle Kaleb McGary to a knee injury two weeks before the season, but they didn't make any wholesale changes, Matthews said. "I think they gave us looks we had to adjust to, did some good things with it, but obviously it wasn't enough," he said. "Just one of those games where you had to find a way to win (by) throwing the ball. That's on us as an offensive line."

London finished with eight catches and 55 receiving yards on 15 targets but left the game in the fourth quarter due to a shoulder injury. Morris did not have an immediate update on his condition. London was in the locker room after the game but did not speak to reporters. "They had a good scheme today," Falcons tight end Charlie Woerner said. "They were bringing pressure and blitzes and moving guys all around and changing pressures all game."

Penix believed he had the Falcons in the right run calls against the alignments he was seeing. "I feel like all across the board, we all want to be better in that aspect, but it's football. It's not always going to be perfect, no matter how hard we strive to be," he said. "We have to be better in all aspects, not just rushing, me as well."

Atlanta, though, was happy with what it got from its quarterback to start the season. "That's what he has shown since he's been here," Morris said. "He's been poised in big moments."

The Falcons now face the Minnesota Vikings on the road next Sunday night. "It's a marathon. We aren't treating this game like it's the damn playoffs," Falcons edge rusher Leonard Floyd said. "We're going to watch the film, correct the things we made mistakes on and go from there."

Josh Kendall, The Athletic, published 8 September 2025