Michael Penix: I'm dying to be out there, some goals I still have to achieve

The Falcons haven’t named a starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Panthers and Michael Penix didn’t do much to suggest that he’ll be the choice during his Wednesday press conference.

Penix has been practicing for some time and said that he “felt good out there” during practice earlier in the day, but he was inactive last week and said he’s “still working toward” feeling ready for game action. Penix is recovering from his third torn ACL and said that there are still some physical milestones he wants to reach before declaring himself all the way back.

“I’m close. I know I’ve been saying that, but there are there’s a couple of technical things I want to hit, some goals that I have that I want to achieve before I do step foot out on that field. . . . Dying to be out there, but, at the same time, I gotta think about how I feel and think about things I need to work on and make sure I hit before I go out there,” Penix said.

Penix stressed that the remaining steps are physical rather than mental and “whenever my knee feels good, I’m gonna be out there.” He didn’t rule out the possibility that could be this weekend, but he and the Falcons have taken the long view thus far and it seems hard to believe they’d speed things up at the very end.