Michael Penix Jr. is heading into the kind of game he’s waited a long time to play.
The Falcons quarterback will be back in his home state on Sunday when Atlanta travels to Raymond James Stadium to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a Week 8 NFC South matchup. For Penix, it’s about 40 miles north of Dade City, where he grew up after his family moved there from Cookeville, Tennessee.
“It’s exciting,” Penix told reporters Wednesday. “I imagine I should have a lot of people coming to the game.
My mom usually knows that headcount. But it’s going to be exciting to be able to get out there.”
Penix was born in Cookeville, where his father, Michael Sr., played running back and his mother, Takisha, competed in track and field at Tennessee Tech. The family later settled in Dade City and then Riverview. In a 2019 interview with Indiana Hoosiers on SI, Penix Sr. said his son’s connection to football showed up almost immediately.
“His very first steps as a baby - they were actually in the end zone,’’ Penix, Sr. told Tom Brew. “His first steps were right out there on the football field, right there in the end zone with me. How’s that for a start?’’
That football path ran through Pasco High School and then Tampa Bay Technical High School, where Penix finished his final two prep seasons. He also had a chance to be around Raymond James Stadium before as a college player. His Indiana team played in the 2021 Outback Bowl there, and Penix watched from the sideline while dealing with a torn ACL, the second of three ACL injuries in his football career.
Even last season, when Atlanta visited Tampa, he still couldn’t suit up. Penix had already torn his ACL and was ruled out for the year less than a month earlier.
Now he finally gets his shot in front of family and familiar faces.
“It’s happening,” Penix said of the chance to play near his Central Florida home. “Can’t wait to be out there. We want to come out with a win.”
He also comes in playing some of his best football. Penix has thrown three touchdown passes in each of the Falcons’ last two games, and he’s coming off what may have been the top performance of his career.
Atlanta beat the previously unbeaten San Francisco 49ers 29-20 last Sunday, Oct. 25, and Penix finished 25-for-34 for 213 yards and three touchdowns. The NFL rewarded that outing by naming him NFC Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday.
That game also came with a major assist from Atlanta’s offensive line, which kept Penix clean all day. He wasn’t sacked or hurried and rarely had to absorb any contact from San Francisco’s defense.
The challenge changes this week. Tampa Bay is bringing a blitz rate of 38%, which ranks fourth in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus.
“You practice it, you look over all the looks that they’ve brought, you go years back, and just be ready for everything,” Penix detailed the preparation. “We try to make sure we don’t miss any pressure looks that we possibly can see.
And every week, a team comes in with a new pressure. And once we figure that out, we make adjustments on the sideline or at halftime.
We’ll be ready.”
Penix has already seen the Buccaneers once this season. Atlanta hosted Tampa Bay in the opener and dropped a 23-20 decision. In that game, Penix went 27-for-42 for 298 passing yards and threw a touchdown.
He was two years old when Tampa Bay won its first Super Bowl in January 2003, but Penix said he was never a fan of the team growing up.
Falcons-Bucs is set for 1 p.m. at Raymond James Stadium, with FOX carrying the broadcast.
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