will meet for the first time in the NFL<\/a>. Let\u2019s dive into both players ahead of a big primetime matchup.<\/p>\nBefore we get into how Penix looked in his first start of 2025 against Tampa Bay, let\u2019s go back and examine some of his strengths and weaknesses coming out of Washington.<\/p>\n
Penix\u2019s best attribute in school was his deep ball. Both his accuracy and aggression on vertical routes was as good as, or better than, any of his peers in the talented 2024 QB class. He had little trouble properly identifying fronts and coverages, which allowed him to get rid of the ball quicker than most.<\/p>\n
As much as anything, though, Penix was known as a gamer. He took chances and made his share of mistakes, but he also generally remained calm in crunch time and played every game through the final whistle, no matter what.<\/p>\n
The biggest concerns with Penix\u2019s game were about his injury history, inconsistent ball placement due to a slightly stiff lower body and a noted hesitancy to attack the middle of the field with confidence.<\/p>\n
In limited action last season, Penix\u2019s downfield aggression definitely showed up \u2014 he ranked second among all NFL starting quarterbacks with 54.3 percent of his targets having a depth at or beyond the first-down marker (10.2 air yards per attempt), and he continued to get rid of the ball quickly (average time to throw: 2.58 seconds).<\/p>\n
But Penix also continued to show hesitancy over the middle of the field \u2014 just 36.7 percent of his attempts came between the numbers (only Justin Fields had a lower number). Penix was also one of the NFL\u2019s least accurate starters last season, finishing with an off-target rate of 13.3 percent (40th among 46 qualifiers).<\/p>\n
That was then, however. Penix entered training camp as Atlanta\u2019s unquestioned starter and was able to prep with the full support of the organization. And though his 2025 debut against the Bucs was hardly perfect, it\u2019s obvious Penix\u2019s confidence and comfort with everything around him are much improved.<\/p>\n
Perhaps not surprisingly, the first thing that jumped out with Penix last week was how quickly he got rid of the football. At times, it was almost too quickly, as he was still guilty of throwing without really looking. However, he seemed to have a strong grasp of what OC Zac Robinson and pass game coordinator T.J. Yates were trying to accomplish. Only five starters got rid of the ball faster than Penix last week (2.46 seconds), and his accuracy number (7.1 percent off-target) on 42 attempts was improved.<\/p>\n
Here is a great example of Penix playing fast while under pressure:<\/p>\n
He does a good job of identifying man coverage before the snap and wastes zero time taking the inside corner route. Despite having pressure right in his face as he throws, Penix still has the arm strength to get the ball out on time \u2014 and even gives his receiver a chance to turn upfield for extra yards.<\/p>\n
Penix was also able to fit a few quick slants into some very tight windows and generally did a good job all game of taking free yards based off pre-snap coverage looks. He threw on the first read a lot. Plenty of that was called, but Penix did begin to fall in love with the quick game a bit much, which left some yards on the field as a result.<\/p>\n
On the play above, Atlanta is working a bunch concept to the field side with a go route to the boundary, just outside the red zone. Penix\u2019s first read here is to check the inside linebacker and the quick-stop route. Before the snap, this looks like a potential six-man pressure with a two-high shell \u2014 and when that linebacker drops and floats away from the stop route, that\u2019s where Penix moves his eyes.<\/p>\n
Only this isn\u2019t a two-high coverage. When the safety drives on the stop route, Penix freezes and stalls his processing. He never gets through the progression and can\u2019t get his eyes to the backside go route that\u2019s open for a touchdown. The pocket breaks down quickly, and Penix does a good job just getting out of there, but we\u2019ve seen him rip the ball against that type of pressure.<\/p>\n
Had he gotten his eyes where they needed to be, this would have been a big play \u2014 or at least given Atlanta a chance at one.<\/p>\n
Penix only flirted with real trouble twice in this game. Both instances were the result of him throwing the ball too quickly. One came just outside the red zone and could\u2019ve been the result of a miscommunication, as Penix attempted to throw what looked like an out route to Drake London \u2014 who instead ran a stop route \u2014 and the ball was nearly picked.<\/p>\n
The Falcons have to love that Penix is confident in what he\u2019s seeing before the snap, but the young QB also has to remember how much coverage can morph at this level and slow down just a hair. The other gripe from Week 1 is that, again, most of Penix\u2019s work happened outside the numbers. Some of that appeared by design, but that\u2019s going to catch up with the offense over time.<\/p>\n
In general, though, Penix played winning football against Tampa Bay. He didn\u2019t turn the ball over plus delivered a gutsy fourth-down scramble to set up his own go-ahead touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. His chemistry with London should improve, and his understanding of the offense \u2014 even if it results in checkdowns to elite talent such as Bijan Robinson \u2014 is on the right track.<\/p>\n
McCarthy ranked higher than Penix on many final draft boards in 2024. However, the way this worked out might\u2019ve been ideal for all parties \u2014 especially the Vikings, because the fit between McCarthy and Kevin O\u2019Connell was right there with the Jayden Daniels-Kliff Kingsbury pairing as the best QB\/team top-10 match since Joe Burrow and Zac Taylor.<\/p>\n
McCarthy can be a roller coaster. He\u2019s not afraid to take chances over the middle or step into throws against pressure. He does not like to take sacks and will force difficult throws because he feels like it. Purely as a player, McCarthy, in 100 different ways, is a more athletic version of Jim Harbaugh.<\/p>\n
And when your quarterback\u2019s tendency to buck like a bronco can be the very thing that helps create big plays, your head coach needs to understand when to keep the saddle on and when to take it off.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connell might be the best in the NFL at this. His ability to put himself in his quarterback\u2019s shoes and find ways to build game plans around the areas in which that player excels is top-notch. We saw this on display plenty in Week 1. McCarthy was so much better at Michigan throwing on the run to his right than his left. So when Minnesota used that action Monday, most of it was to its QB\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
McCarthy wasn\u2019t overloaded. The plan was manageable without being stale.<\/p>\n
That said, McCarthy did show some hesitancy to rip the ball on a few opportunities early. Chicago did a nice job of forcing him to sit and read coverage, which seemed to cause him a few hiccups.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s an early third down that resulted in Minnesota being bailed out by pass interference flag. But this might have been a big play without the penalty had McCarthy been willing to throw the ball over the middle to Justin Jefferson. That route is hardly wide open when Jefferson crosses the 40 \u2014 but it\u2019s Jefferson. Give him a chance to make you look great, and he usually does.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pick six McCarthy threw was a pretty simple example of a young quarterback staring down a receiver on a basic two-man route concept. The corner read it the whole way, undercut an underthrown ball and walked in for a score. At that point, McCarthy\u2019s first regular-season game looked like a mess. Then, in the fourth quarter, he went 6-for-8 passing for 87 yards and two touchdowns plus a third TD on the ground.<\/p>\n
One of McCarthy\u2019s biggest pre-draft positives was his attitude. In general, McCarthy was very good after mistakes in college, mentally getting rid of bad throws as quickly as a great baseball closer moves on from a blown save. And if a defense gives him enough chances to make up for one, he usually does.<\/p>\n
This is a big-time courage throw. The Vikings get the coverage they want here, Jefferson breaks open and McCarthy sees it. He doesn\u2019t short stride this ball or duck and spin out. He looks right down the barrel of 6-foot-7, 289-pound Tanoh Kpassagnon and drives the ball about the same way he would if no one was near him.<\/p>\n
This is also part of why teammates loved playing with McCarthy in college \u2014 his toughness when called upon almost never came up short. When your QB stands in there, takes a hit and makes a big play, it ups the ante for the rest of the huddle.<\/p>\n
And when he steps into one like this near the red zone, that same huddle starts to believe.<\/p>\n
Remember the earlier clip of McCarthy not hanging in to take a chance on a tight-window throw to Jefferson? Later in the same game, when it really mattered, McCarthy did exactly what the moment called for.<\/p>\n
We could say the same thing about his other touchdown pass, the wheel route to Aaron Jones, when he had two open receivers and decided to go for the deeper one.<\/p>\n
McCarthy \u2014 like Penix \u2014 rarely passes up those opportunities.<\/p>\n
To some degree, Penix and McCarthy each is still a bit of a mystery. Combined, they\u2019ve made five NFL starts \u2014 and have a long way to go.<\/p>\n
This could be a nervous ride at times for their teams, at least for the first half of the season. They\u2019re going to make mistakes. Penix needs to be more confident over the middle; McCarthy must continue to adjust to the speed of NFL defenders; both need to be more consistent with processing.<\/p>\n
However, with the benefit of hindsight, Minnesota and Atlanta appear to have made wise decisions when it comes to football IQ and competitive toughness. Both of these quarterbacks are fighters.<\/p>\n
It shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise if Sunday night\u2019s game is the first of many head-to-head exciting battles between these two over the next decade or so.<\/p>\n
(Photos: Kevin C. Cox, Michael Reaves \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many young quarterbacks get a buffer zone. A year zero, a mulligan \u2014 call it what you want,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1766,49,48,1726,514,82],"class_list":["post-140661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}