FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – The Atlanta Falcons (7-7) are making a change at the quarterback position, replacing Kirk Cousins ​​with Michael Penix Jr. as the starting quarterback in Week 16, a statement from the team said Tuesday night.

“After review, we have made the decision that Michael Penix will be the starting quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons moving forward,” head coach Raheem Morris said in the statement. “This was a football decision and we are fully focused on preparing the team for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.”

This news comes after Morris was asked about the quarterback situation in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon. He reiterated at the time that the Falcons needed more from the quarterback position.

Although the Falcons defeated the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday Night Football, the offensive performance and lack of production overshadowed the 15-9 victory that snapped a four-game losing streak for the organization.

Atlanta never made it into the red zone, despite good field position early on some drives. On offense, the Falcons have struggled to score points over the last month, and discussion of Cousins’ role in that inefficiency has only increased since late October, when he led the league in passing yards.

Since then, however, Cousins ​​— along with the entire team — has seen a clear lead in the NFC South slip away.

At the end of Week 15, Cousins ​​led the league with 16 interceptions. For comparison, nine of these interceptions came in the last five games. During that same period, Cousins ​​has thrown just one touchdown pass and the Falcons have won just one game.

“We didn’t play particularly well at the quarterback position,” Morris said Tuesday afternoon. “We didn’t play well at that point (Monday). I like to be open and honest about things like this. There will always be these question marks. There will always be those question marks when it comes to the head coach, when. “It depends on the quarterback. And you have to be really transparent. We have to play better and that’s what we have to do. This addressed something has to happen for us to find ways to win against our next opponent, the New York Giants.

The Falcons will now look to their No. 8 draft pick in Penix to take over the offense.

That wasn’t the original plan for the organization, which signed Cousins ​​to a four-year, $180 million contract in March.

The plan was to have Cousins ​​as the starter now and Penix as the starter going forward.

After the issues the organization faced at the quarterback position when it traded Matt Ryan to the Indianapolis Colts in 2022, the Falcons were unwilling to return to the quarterback carousel of subsequent years. They wanted and needed stability in the position. So they brought in Cousins ​​in free agency and drafted Penix two months later in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

“If you believe in a quarterback, you have to take him,” general manager Terry Fontenot said after the Falcons drafted Penix. “And if he sits for four or five years, that’s a big problem because we do so well in that position. So it’s as simple as this: When you see a guy in that position that you believe in, you have to take him.”

That was the original plan, as Morris and Fontenot explained back in May. However, that plan has changed.

The Falcons will now look to Penix, who led the NCAA in passing yards in 2023 when he was with Washington. Penix will inherit an offense that, despite its recent struggles scoring goals, features individual playmakers who are years into their careers.

Running back Bijan Robinson passed the 1,000-yard mark on Monday night. He is 24 scrimmage yards away from 3,000 career scrimmage yards. Wide receiver Drake London holds the longest active streak of touchdown receptions in consecutive primetime games. He is also the only player in franchise history to receive at least 65 balls in each of his first three seasons. Darnell Mooney has been a welcome addition to the unit since signing with the team in March. He’s averaging more than 15 yards per completion and is on pace to match the receiving performance of his best season (2021).

Meanwhile, the Falcons’ defense is picking up steam after starting the season with a plethora of pass-rush questions. Over the past three weeks, the Falcons have been the only team in the NFL with an active streak of at least four sacks in three straight games.

Despite all of this, the Falcons are 1-4 in their last five games. They are one game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South standings. With three games left in the regular season (against the Giants, Commanders and Panthers), the Falcons will be relying on Penix to help them get the wins they need to keep pace with the Buccaneers. The Falcons are tied over Tampa Bay in the tiebreaker, so they can realistically punch their ticket to the postseason if they have the same record as Tampa Bay at the end of the season.