The Falcons looked like a different outfit Monday night, and their own locker room said the quiet part out loud: Michael Penix Jr. changes everything.
After Atlanta’s 45-24 win over the New Orleans Saints, safety Jessie Bates III pointed directly to the quarterback’s presence as the reason the offense has taken off.
"We just want to show the world who we can be," safety Jessie Bates III said, according to ESPN's Marc Raimondi. "The first two weeks were not up to our standards.
Obviously, when you got (Penix) back there dealing, it's a whole different team. So, we're just excited to continue to go with this."
That’s not just talk backed by one good night. The Falcons have put up 80 points over the last two weeks since Penix returned from a torn ACL sustained in November 2025. In the first two games, with third-string quarterback Cooper Rush under center, Atlanta managed only 16 points.
Penix left the game with a grin and the kind of postgame line that matched the mood.
"Obviously, we got the results we wanted. It went real good," Penix said postgame with a smile.
Atlanta’s offense has now stacked two straight blowout wins, both by more than 20 points, for the first time since Weeks 14-15 in 2016. Penix has been at the center of it, going 33-for-45 for 479 yards with two touchdowns and one interception this season.
The praise kept coming from inside the building. Running back Brian Robinson Jr. didn’t overcomplicate it when asked about the quarterback’s play.
"He's been phenomenal, man," running back Brian Robinson Jr. said, according to Raimondi. "It ain't really much other words I can say about the way he's been playing.
I appreciate his attitude, how he come in and just take the field, and he's focused and he's ready. He's not letting nothing that he's been through in his past get in the way of his goals and what he wants in the future."
Atlanta drafted Penix eighth overall in 2024, and his first stretch of starting work last season was uneven. He went 3-6 in nine starts, finishing with a 60.1% completion percentage, 1,982 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns and three interceptions. But right now, the Falcons are riding the version of the offense that arrives when Penix is in control, and his teammates clearly believe they’ve found something worth building on.
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