From Michael Penix Jr. To Raheem Morris, Little Is Shocking About The Imploding Atlanta Falcons

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – NOVEMBER 16: Michael Penix Jr. #9 of the Atlanta Falcons is look at by medical staff during the third quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

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The Falcons, the Falcons.

So whatever became of Atlanta’s historically shaky NFL folks who nevertheless were expected by the naive this season to battle for the NFC South title?

They’ve lost five straight games.

Their starting quarterback (Michael Penix Jr., who was injury prone during most of his college career) is gone for the season after he spent last week’s home game against Carolina damaging his left knee.

Their 37-year-old backup (Kirk Cousins, in the second season of the four-year contract for $180 million he got from the Falcons despite recovering from a torn right Achilles tendon as an NFL senior citizen) was the previous starter.

In case you’re wondering, Cousins led the league in interceptions last year while tying for the most fumbles.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, Cousins has looked underwhelming during the three times he has left the bench this season.

Not only that, but the Falcons’ defense is joining its forefathers of the last decade or so by vanishing for long stretches, especially during the clutch part of games and nearly always against the run.

As for specials teams, they’ve been ghastly.

Among other issues, Falcons officials have whacked two placekickers this season, and while the previous one (Parker Romo) played for six different NFL teams, the current one (Zane Gonzalez) has played for seven. Which means the kicking circus will continue for the Falcons.

Then again, they’ve been familar with clowns.

All you need to know is, the Falcons are in their 60th season, but they didn’t have back-to-back winning marks until 43 years into their existence.

As for the coaching staff, don’t ask. It has struggled with time management when it isn’t often clueless in offensive playcalling.

Oh, and the future is brutal for the Falcons, now 3-7, while rumbling, bumbling and stumbling toward an eighth consecutive losing season.

With Penix and his knee expected to remain out of the lineup past the Falcons’ 2026 regular season opener, and with Cousins getting more ancient by the moment and possibly on somebody else’s roster next season if he isn’t retired, the Falcons will need a starting and a backup quarterback during the offseason.

More than likely, they’ll also need a new general manager and a new head coach, and this won’t help yet another rebuilding job for the Falcons: With projected Heisman Trophy finalists Ty Simpson of Alabama and Fernando Mendoza of Indiana among the handful of premier quarterbacks slated for next spring’s NFL draft, Falcons decision makers needn’t waste their brain cells.

They foolishly shipped away their first-round pick (projected at No 10) during last year’s draft to the Los Angeles Rams for the rights to pass rusher James Pierce, and let’s go back to Drafting 101. You don’t trade away a first-round pick for defense unless you’re sure you’re getting Ronnie Lott, Lawrence Taylor or Jalen Carter.

Pierce is no Lott, Taylor or Carter.

Yeah, after the Falcons finished next-to-last in the NFL in sacks last season with 31, they are second now with 34, and Pierce has spurred the pass rush with his ability to scoot around blockers in a flash. But overall, their defense still reeks, and that wouldn’t happen if Pierce was Lott, Taylor or Carter.

There also are just four NFL rosters with an older average age than the Falcons at 27.2, and unlike the Buffalo Bills (with an average age of 27.4), the Falcons aren’t a perennial playoff team.

Even if Falcons officials wish to become one by turning younger and more vibrant, replacements won’t come easily. Their salary-cap situation is the fourth worst in the league at $3,284,834.

The Falcons do have some brightness in this darkness, though.

According to ESPN.com, they are ninth in the 32-team NFL this season in average home attendance per game at 71,450.

Wait.

What?

According to those with eyes during those same home games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (with a capacity of 71,000 for football), something is wrong with those ESPN.com numbers. For instance: those with eyes will tell you the announced crowd of 70,739 last Sunday for the Falcons home game against the Carolina Panthers was nothing more than the announced crowd.

“At the very minimum, there were 20,000 no shows at the Carolina game, and that number has gotten worse all season, because my wife and I talk about it, along with those around us in the stadium,” said Ethan Davis, an Atlanta native, who has attended Falcons games every season since he was in the third grade.

This procurement manager at Georgia Tech after he completed two combat tours for the Navy added, “I’m 37, and I’ve never seen anything like what’s been happening in the stands during the last few seasons. People used to stay until the game ended, no matter what, but now they’re rushing toward the exits. I guess it’s because they’re frustrated with the whole Falcons’ organization.

“I know I am.”

Remember, too, that before the 2024 season, the Falcons did something they hadn’t done in two decades. They had a record renewel rate for season tickets of more tban 95%, and they sold all of their season tickets. It happened after they fired previous head coach Arthur Smith and brought Raheem Morris back to the franchise, where he once served as an interim head coach and assistant coach under Dan Quinn.

In other words, since the Falcons’ fan base was giddy over those moves, owner Arthur Blank, designated franchise guru Rich McKay and general manager Terry Fontenot couldn’t care less that Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells spoke for eternity by saying, “You are what your record says you are.”

After three full seasons as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach through 2011, followed by 11 games in that interim role with the Falcons in 2020, Morris’s winning percetange was 38. He finished 8-9 with the Falcons last season, and when you combine that with this year’s start, his overall winning percentage as an NFL head coach is currently as medicore (OK, as bad) as it was before.

Actually, it’s worse at 37%.

It didn’t take the reincarnation of Vince Lombardi to see football nirvana remained a figment of Falcons fans’ imaginations.

Long before the arrival of Morris’s bad winning percentage, there was McKay combining with Fontenot for weird decisions. They ranged from giving Cousins all that money despite everything to ignoring those defensive studs during draft after draft after draft from nearby University of Georgia (Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Nolan Smith, Kelee Ringo, Nakobe Dean) as they became the Philly Dawgs for the Philadelphia Eagles along the way to a Super Bowl title.

McKay, Fontenot or both also butchered the 2026 draft for the Falcons by punting away that first-round draft pick.

Then there was Penix who spent four straight years at Indiana University suffering season-ending injuries.

McKay, Fontenot or both drafted Penix anyway with the No. 8 pick overall in the 2024 draft. And then they refused to unload Cousins after his dismal 2024 season and suggested he would become George Blanda, Earl Morrall, Nick Foles or one of those other NFL backup QBs of lore.

Uh, no.

Cousins isn’t them.

When you throw in a defense this season built more on hope than reality with four rookies projected to play significantly, you have a franchise ranked 19th in Forbes team evaluations at $6.35 billion keeping its fingers crossed that none of its last three home games feature more empty seats than actual bodies.

The Falcons don’t have to worry about that this week.

They’re on the road in New Orleans.