Atlanta, GA
Michael Penix Jr. could be Atlanta’s next Black QB hope, or another Falcons blunder
It’s been almost two decades since Michael Vick was unceremoniously exiled from the Atlanta Falcons, ending a quarterback tenure in which a Black quarterback was the biggest star in America’s Blackest city. Since then, the Falcons have been without a Black franchise quarterback.
That may have changed on Day 1 of the 2024 NFL draft when the Falcons used their eighth pick on University of Washington phenom Michael Penix Jr. In a vacuum, this can be a major franchise pick for the team, but the circumstances surrounding the decision make it all the more dramatic … and unpredictable.
The Falcons entered the NFL offseason in desperate need of a franchise quarterback as the team has been foundering in that position since moving on from Matt Ryan in 2021. Things got dire for the team this past season as Desmond Ridder ended the year with 17 touchdowns and 24 turnovers, completing a full retreat from the promise of being a capable starter. The team ended up 7-10 for the third straight year, leading to the firing of its head coach Arthur Smith.
The team seemed to find its franchise quarterback in Kirk Cousins, a 35-year-old coming off of a torn Achilles tendon. His new contract: four years, $180 million – $100 million guaranteed. Cousins is supposed to be the end to the quarterback search, and the dynamic arm who would lift the offense full of weapons to a contender. His age and injury history meant that the Falcons were going to eventually need to find his replacement, but an eighth pick before Cousins has taken his first snap? That’s something else entirely.
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Now, the Falcons have a situation in which two quarterbacks who could right the ship are now embroiled in controversy and maybe even a brewing quarterback battle. Falcons coach Raheem Morris said Cousins doesn’t have to look over his shoulder, but one can’t help but be reminded of the movie Any Given Sunday where upstart Willie Beaman came in and challenged the aging white quarterback’s spot.
For the Falcons’ sake, maybe this is a real-life saving grace in the way that we saw quarterback Russell Wilson come in and take over the starting role for the Seattle Seahawks as a rookie in 2012 after the team had signed Matt Flynn to $26 million. But for now, the decision to draft Penix who, like Vick is an athletic southpaw with a cannon for an arm, but who has his own severe injury history, has only attracted criticism.
The Falcons have spent the last couple of years flirting with the prospect of bringing in a Black franchise quarterback to troubling and confounding results. In 2022, the team was desperate to sign Deshaun Watson, who was coming off of an offseason marred by dozens of sexual misconduct allegations. That didn’t seem to matter so much to team owner Arthur Blank, whose dogged pursuit of Watson was no secret. Regardless, Watson went to the Cleveland Browns in an eleventh-hour move.
The next offseason brought the Falcons to considering MVP Lamar Jackson as a free agent, but this time Blank quickly shut that down in a now-infamous comment in March 2023: “Looking at it objectively, I’d say there’s some concern over how long can he play his style of game. Hopefully a long time … but he’s missed five, six games each of the last two years. Each game counts a lot in our business.”
Going all-in on a player with personal issues like Watson and passing on Jackson was always a nonsensical move, but only highlighted by the fact Jackson has since won an MVP and Watson has since missed 22 games. And that’s led the Falcons to this point, with an aging quarterback who has been blindsided by the drafting of a young, hotshot quarterback.
Drafting Penix like this won’t do him any favors, either. Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot has indicated that he’s willing to let the rookie sit for years.
“If you believe in a quarterback, you have to take him,” he told reporters on draft night. “And if he sits for four or five years, that’s a great problem to have because we’re doing so well at that position. So, it’s as simple as, if you see a guy you believe in at that position, you have to take him.”
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Sitting someone four or five years and believing in him seem incongruous, especially if that person is drafted so high in the first round. Every game that Penix sits will represent missed opportunity for Falcons fans. He represents a lost chance at a top pick who could make a difference right now — like, say, Rome Odunze, a dynamic receiver who was drafted with the very next pick.
If Penix does somehow beat out Cousins and earn a starting spot, he’ll also represent a black eye for a franchise that broke the bank for a quarterback who couldn’t even beat out someone who was projected to land in the second round just a month ago.
Right now, all Atlanta and Penix have are hope. Hope that this somehow figures itself out. Hope that he proves the shocked prognosticators wrong by being that franchise quarterback the city desperately needs.
Culturally, he could signal a return of a generational Black quarterback to a city that has been primed for one since its last great Black hope was ripped from the league. Until then, Penix is going to represent potential and another reason for fans and pundits to question the franchise that drafted him.
ATLANTA – Atlanta police say a woman was arrested for shooting another woman on Wednesday night.
Officers responded to a person shot call in the 3000 block of Jonesboro Road near Hutchens Road SE around 11:10 p.m. May 15. Upon arrival, they learned that a woman had been transported to a hospital with gunshot wounds.
The officers went to the hospital to interview the victim. The victim told police that she was shot by another woman and gave police a description of the woman and the vehicle she was driving.
Units canvassed the area and located the vehicle near Cleveland Avenue. Police say the woman tried to escape but crashed her vehicle on Jonesboro Road.
The woman was arrested and a gun was found in her car.
The suspect has been identified as Briana Abner. She has been charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The incident is still under investigation. FOX 5 has reached out for a mug shot.
LONG BEACH — The new-look Sparks could not overcome an 11-0 run by the Atlanta Dream to start the fourth quarter and dropped their season opener, 92-81, in front of celebrities like Kim Kardashian and team owner Magic Johnson on Wednesday night at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid.
The score was tied at 66 through three quarters, but Atlanta seized control with its pivotal 11-0 run for a 77-66 lead with 6:29 left.
The Sparks cut Atlanta’s lead to 87-81 on rookie forward Cameron Brink’s 3-pointer with 1:34 remaining, but they missed their last four shots and had a critical turnover while Atlanta went 5 for 6 from the foul line to ice the win.
“I take it as my responsibility that a lot of the starters got tired at the end of the third quarter all at one time,” Sparks coach Curt Miller said. “I have to substitute more players at one time at the start of the fourth quarter. That 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter, ultimately, was a hard situation to dig out of but we never quit. We really battled and showed our scrappiness that we’re going to be defined by this year. It’s a great learning lesson for our young post players in Cam and Rickea to go against one of the best ever in Tina Charles.”
The Sparks made significant changes to their roster after missing the WNBA playoffs for the third consecutive season, saying goodbye to several veterans and bringing in some fresh faces in addition to their pair of first-round draft picks. Newly acquired guard Kia Nurse scored a team-high 23 points, going 5 for 11 from 3-point range in her Sparks debut after being acquired in a trade with the Seattle Storm.
“I do think for me personally it’s been a long road and a long journey coming back from the ACL (injury) and last year mentality I just didn’t feel like myself,” Nurse said. “This is a nice place to start. I think I said to my partner before the game I was like I just want to make all my family and everyone that was around me proud and he was like you need to make yourself proud. The loss is not as exciting, but it’s a proud moment to be able to play and feel more like myself out there.”
Sparks forward Dearica Hamby had a double-double (20 points, 14 rebounds), while guard Layshia Clarendon had her first career triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Both players said they are looking to make a major impact this season.
“I just came into camp very clear-minded and had very clear intentions on what I wanted this season to look like for me personally and what I wanted to help this team do,” Hamby said.
Clarendon said she sensed she was playing a strong all-around game but was unaware of her triple-double.
“I think it’s cool. Every game stats don’t always reflect how good you play or how hard you played, so I think it’s cool to actually see that come out,” Clarendon said. “I didn’t realize I had that many rebounds, never know assists because I don’t count them. I knew I was playing well, sometimes you make the right pass and people don’t make the shot. They told me afterward and I was a little surprised but I was like ‘oh yeah, I was ballin’ so it’s pretty cool to get that, not a lot of people do it.”
Brink, the No. 2 overall pick in last month’s WNBA draft, finished with 11 points (two 3-pointers), four assists, two rebounds, two blocked shots and five personal fouls in 20 minutes.
“Cam has to find a way to stay out of foul trouble because she’s so important to what we’re doing,” Miller explained. “She helps spread the floor offensively. She’s a really good distributor of the ball as a 6-5 person, so she can create opportunities for her teammates. Defensively, she’s great rim protection but when you play three minutes in the first stretch and have to sit down, that’s a big blow.”
Sparks rookie forward Rickea Jackson – the No. 4 overall pick last month – added seven points and three rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.
“(Jackson) can find her own offense, that’s what’s special about her. When plays break down and people take you out of your system, she can go make plays,” Miller said. “That’s not common with everybody in the league.”
The Sparks began the game with a 24-second shot clock violation on their first offensive possession.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a rookie playing in your first ever WNBA game like Cam and Rickea will be or you’re a seasoned veteran, everybody is going to have nerves tonight,” Miller said before the game.
However, the Sparks recovered and began the game on a 9-2 run, with five early points from Clarendon, which forced Atlanta coach Tanisha Wright to call timeout less than three minutes into the game.
The Sparks’ starting lineup was Clarendon, Lexie Brown, Nurse, Hamby and Brink, who had three points and one assist early but only played 3:21 in the first quarter before exiting the game with her second personal foul.
“That starting unit was terrific … that group has had a chemistry, really quickly and we’re going to bring that bench along,” Miller continued. “The bench is better than they played tonight and they know it, we know it. We have confidence in them but really proud of that starting unit, they’ve all been asked to take on a more prominent role with this team and they’re embracing it and I can’t wait to keep working with that starting unit.”
Atlanta (1-0) was led by All-Star guard Rhyne Howard (25 points) and shook off its slow start behind Allisha Gray’s outside shooting (two 3-pointers in the first quarter) and tied the score at 26 heading into the second quarter.
Atlanta veteran center Tina Charles took over and scored 11 points in the first six minutes of the second quarter, as the Dream opened a 41-32 advantage. Charles finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds, and Gray finished with 12 points.
The Sparks responded with a 14-5 run and tied the score at 46 on a pair of Nurse free throws with 36 seconds left before halftime. Jackson stole the ball at midcourt and made a buzzer-beating layup, which tied the score at 48-all at halftime.
The Sparks shot 17 for 32 from the field in the first half (53.1%), including 7 for 14 from behind the arc. Hamby had 13 points and six rebounds at halftime. The Sparks cooled off in the second half and finished the night at 39% from the field but they had 24 assists on their 28 field goals.
“A couple things bounce our way, a couple runs go our way a little bit differently early in that fourth probably, we win that game and with that energy and that effort and the chemistry we played with today, we’re going to win a lot games in this league,” Nurse said.
Atlanta point guard Haley Jones finished with 14 points and four assists in a start for Jordin Canada, who played the past two seasons with the Sparks but missed the game with a right hand injury.
The Sparks (0-1) next play at the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday at noon in a nationally televised game on ABC.
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – After months of waiting and speculating, the 2024 schedule has dropped.
You can view the Falcons schedule in its entity here, but to keep things fresh, below are a few themes for you to ponder as you work through the 2024 schedule.
RETURN TO THE BENZ: The Atlanta Falcons’ home opener is always a game to mark on the calendars. But this year? It probably means just a little bit more for a number of reasons. For starters, a new-look Pittsburgh Steelers are coming to town with a bunch of new faces – and a new quarterback (or two) in tow. Speaking of quarterbacks, it’ll be the first chance for anyone to see Kirk Cousins not just in full action but in a Falcons game-day uniform. That in itself is reason enough for excitement among the fan base. However, that’s not all: The Sept. 8 matchup will also see the return of former head coach Arthur Smith to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, this time as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator. Oh, and running back Cordarrelle Patterson… and wide receiver Scotty Miller… and tight end MyCole Pruitt. Basically, there will be a lot of name recognition on the field to start the 2024 season.
IN THE PRIME TIME, PEOPLE: For the first time since 2022, the Falcons will have a prime-time game. Well, technically, they’ll have four. Yes, four. The last time the Falcons were in a prime-time slot, it was a cold, rainy and simply put dreary evening in Charlotte, North Carolina. I won’t rehash that experience here. We’re looking ahead to new horizons. So, here’s the breakdown, which includes two Monday Night Football matchups, one Thursday night bout on Amazon Prime and, for the first time in a long time, a Sunday with the lights on:
- Monday, Sept. 16: Atlanta Falcons at Philadelphia Eagles, 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN
- Sunday, Sept. 22: Atlanta Falcons vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC
- Thursday, Oct. 3: Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 8:15 p.m. ET on Prime Video
- Monday, Dec. 16: Atlanta Falcons at Las Vegas Raiders, 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
The Falcons haven’t had a Monday Night Football game since losing to the Green Bay Packers in 2020.
Atlanta is the only winless team in prime-time games since 2021. Quarterback Kirk Cousins is 12-19 in career prime-time games.
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