On Sunday morning, the Atlanta Falcons took their second straight loss with a blowout defeat in Madrid against the Cincinnati Bengals. It was the second straight tough game for quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who threw for just 162 yards and one touchdown, against one interception.
Now, a new stat has been unearthed showing just how much Penix Jr. struggles when opposing defenses turn up the heat.
“Per ESPN Research: Michael Penix Jr. went 1-of-9 for -3 yards and an interception when pressured Sunday. Penix has completed a league-low 18% of his passes when pressured on the season. That would be the lowest mark by a qualified passer since ESPN began tracking pressures in 2009,” reported NFL insider Marc Raimondi of ESPN on X, formerly Twitter.
Last week, Penix Jr. had the worst game of his career in a rainstorm against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, tossing four interceptions in a blowout road loss.
Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski kept it honest on Penix Jr.'s performance after the loss in Madrid.
“Can he play better and are there things we can get corrected? Yes. But we expected him to play well,” he said.
“We know that's not who we want to be this season. We have to put that on display if we want to win football games,” said Penix Jr.
Overall, Penix Jr. has been quite up and down so far this season, at times showing the tools to be a very solid starter at the NFL level, and at others struggling to make basic reads and completions on seemingly easier throws.
The Falcons now sit at 3-6 on the season, and although they are still alive in the playoff race thanks to their division, it's hard to imagine the team making a big turnaround at this point.