- 16 hours ago
Zinno breaks down the numbers of Michael Penix‘s first 17 games in the NFL. Zinno find trends and stats that support that Penix can be the franchise quarterback. He also shows where the coaching staff needs to do its part in order to help make the Falcons quarterback successful.
Finally, Zinno questions those fans and media who appear to be hoping the Falcons will fail and why they need to caveat everything good about the Falcons with something that’s wrong.
Finally, Zinno questions those fans and media who appear to be hoping the Falcons will fail and why they need to caveat everything good about the Falcons with something that’s wrong.
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SportsTranscript
00:01Good morning. Welcome to A to Z here on Sports Radio 98 to 9 the Game where today I tell
00:05you what the numbers say about Michael Penick's first full season as quarterback in the NFL. Welcome in once again
00:12here to A to Z. Appreciate you guys tuning in. Please make sure you subscribe if you're watching on the
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00:26A to Z and what you guys like and what you don't like. I certainly appreciate you guys.
00:30being part of the show each and every week and engaging with me on social media. You can follow me
00:33right there as you see below in the bottom corner there at Mark Zinno, M-A-R-K-Z-I
00:38-N-N-O on X and on Instagram. Let me know your thoughts on everything that I have to say.
00:42Okay, let's get into it here because we now have 17 full games from Michael Penick's, right? A full season
00:51of Michael Penick's. We had three games in 2024. We had, what is that?
01:00Nine games in 2025. And now we have got five games in 2026. So we are officially, officially a full
01:11season into Michael Penick's career in the NFL. And, you know, I just, it's, it's so funny. I do this
01:20show on Tuesdays for a reason.
01:21Because I get to watch the game and then I get a day to hear everybody react to it. And
01:27some of the asinine things that are said are just, you know, way, it's, it just makes my head spin
01:33sometimes. Like, what are people watching and what did they take from the game? But, you know, it gives me
01:39a chance to process everything a full 24 hours after the reaction period is over.
01:45And so I think I'm going to take a different approach here. And I want to dive into the numbers
01:50because I do believe in numbers. As Ray Lewis once said, men and women lie, but numbers don't.
01:56And I do believe in the numbers and that they tell a story. It's not the whole story. It doesn't
02:00mean everything that we look at in the numbers is 100% unequivocally true.
02:04There are cases where that's the case. But I think it tells us a little bit about where Penick's is,
02:11what his strengths, what his weaknesses are, and most importantly, how the coaching staff can continue to keep him in
02:18positions to be successful because ultimately, that is their job. That is on them.
02:24We talked about it last week about the coaching and it matters and, and how everything else goes along.
02:28So that needs to be understood here. The role that the coaches play in the development of the quarterback. It's
02:34not just about talent. Every quarterback that comes out in the first round has talent.
02:38Jamarcus Russell had talent. Zach Wilson had talent. All these guys, Ryan Leaf had talent. All these guys who stunk,
02:44they had talent. It wasn't a talent issue. It was a fit and coaching issue as to why they flopped.
02:50It's not a talent thing.
02:51So everybody's got talent. Fit and coaching matter. I want to take you guys through the games that he's played.
03:00Okay. The three starts at 2024 through now and bring to light one thing. Okay. That I think leads to
03:09where his development is. And let me say this upfront.
03:13We do not know if he's a franchise quarterback yet. We do not have that complete answer. We still need
03:19another 10 games to figure that out. Right. It's, it's still just a little too early. Things trending in the
03:26right direction. Sure. Does it feel good? Does it start to look good? Absolutely. Do we have that answer? I
03:32don't believe we do yet. 100%, but I believe we're trending in the right direction.
03:36Okay. And I'm just going to give you some numbers here, dating back to his first ever start against the
03:41giants, right? He completed 66% of his passes, no touchdowns, one pick, uh, and at a quarterback rating of
03:5173, the next two games against Washington and Carolina. All right. He completed 54% of his passes, 55%
03:59of his passes. Okay. Had that same one touchdown, one pick against Washington, two touchdowns, one pick
04:05against Carolina. They lost both games in overtime. Okay. That was 2024, 2025. They started out the season against Tampa
04:14Bay completed 64% of his passes, one touchdown, no picks. They lose that game 23 to 20 and a
04:20quarterback rating of 93. All right. Against Minnesota completed 61%, 62% of his passes, no touchdowns, no picks quarterback
04:28rating of 80. Okay. Falcons win that game against Carolina. Remember that third or nothing game? We know it bad.
04:34That was only completed 50% of his passes.
04:35His passes, no touchdowns, no touchdowns, no touchdowns, two picks 40 quarterback rating lose Washington and Buffalo. The next two
04:41starts. Okay. They won them both. All right. 77% completion, 62% completion percentage, total three touchdowns, one pick
04:50quarterback rating, one 26 and 97 into two games. Everything's going easy peasy. They play at San Francisco after that
04:58big Buffalo win on Monday night. Remember that last year? All right. 55% of his passes, one touchdown, no
05:03picks, 83% or 83%.
05:05Rating against New England, 59% of his passes, three touchdowns, no picks, 103 quarterback rating and a one point
05:12loss. They had New England. Remember that? I think there was a missed extra point in that game. If I
05:15recall correctly, then they go to the Berlin game only completes 42% of his passes, one touchdown, no picks
05:2176 rating. They lose that game in overtime. And then the final game he started. Okay. Um, was where he
05:27got hurt in the first half.
05:29Um, was 13 of 16, no touchdowns, no picks. Um, and they ended up losing that game in overtime as
05:36well. Bring it fast forward here. First two starts of the year. We know how good he was. 72%
05:41completion, 75% completion, quarterback rating one-on-one, one 27. They beat Green Bay and New Orleans next game
05:47against the Ravens, 59%. One touchdown, no picks 93 rating. They lose that game in overtime.
05:52We know what happened against the Bears, 57%. We know what happened against the Bears, 57%. Three touchdowns, no picks.
05:56They were all in garbage time in the fourth quarter. Um, 108 rating. And then last week against the Niners,
06:0173% completion, three touchdowns, those picks, 118. Quarterback rating. They win that game. Number one, uh, he is Owen
06:09five in games that he started with. The Falcons go to overtime. Coincidence. That doesn't mean anything.
06:14But I'll bring this stat to light for you guys. That brings up the coaching. Michael Penix has started exactly
06:21one game where the Falcons lost and he completed better than 60% of his passes. That was week one
06:29against Tampa Bay last year when he went 27 to 42 for 64%. Uh, and one touchdown, no pick. And
06:37remember what happened in that game. Um, the Falcons are up 17, uh, 20 to 17.
06:43Uh, and Baker came back with that last minute touchdown. Um, and then, uh, they missed a field goal at
06:50the end of the game to tie it. Right. Remember that? Uh, that was back in the, who was the
06:55kicker back then? Why am I forgetting his name? Um, Oh God. Uh, uh, young way coup. I knew it
07:02wasn't Rodriguez. It was young way coup. Young way coup misses the field goal and they don't end up going
07:07to overtime in that game. All right. Every other loss that the Falcons have had.
07:12Michael Penix has completed less than 60% of his passes. Take out the game. He got hurt. We don't
07:16know how that game would have turned out. Had he finished it. They lose the game by three to Carolina.
07:20We don't, we can't, we'll scratch that one from the board, but it's telling it's very telling that the book
07:29to this point on Michael Penix is force him to get rid of the ball quickly, make him throw a
07:33lot of incompletions.
07:34And the Falcons can't win the game. When the numbers are that dramatic. And I'm not talking about barely just
07:41getting over 60 and wins. I look at this year, all three wins. He completed at least 72% of
07:48his passes. The two losses 59 and 57.
07:54Go back the year before the wins of a Washington Buffalo, 77%, 62 and a half percent over Minnesota, 61
08:01and a half percent. We're not talking to him like floating right there at the number.
08:05The losses, San Francisco, new England and Indianapolis 55, 59, 42.
08:12Like it is glaring to win over the Giants in his rookie year, 67%. The other two, 54, 55.
08:21Now you're all sitting here going, well, you know, duh, obviously, if you don't complete a lot of passes, you're
08:25going to lose the game. Yeah, I get that.
08:28But what it tells me is a couple of things is that one, if Michael Penix is struggling early, he
08:34has a hard time overcoming it late, right?
08:37Or adjustments aren't being made for him to overcome it late.
08:42You know, go back to the Green Bay game was, I think he started like, I think it was like
08:45one of five or one of six.
08:47And then he just went nuts. The rest of the game took him a little while to get, you know,
08:52get his feet under him.
08:54But I think when you, when you start to dissect what Penix is and what he isn't at this point
08:58in time, we do not have the full answer on any of this.
09:01We do not have the full answer on what he is and what he isn't. We just have some trends
09:04that support a lot of this stuff.
09:07I'll tell you that, that what he is, is a guy with a really high ceiling.
09:13And what he is, is a guy that when things are going right for him and the offense is set
09:17up right for him, he's going to be very successful.
09:21How often is it set up right for him?
09:23And remember, I mean, he's had a wide variety of coaching, a wide variety of offensive, you know, skill set,
09:30offensive systems that he's had to deal with over the course of two seasons.
09:34And so there's still a learning curve. Remember, I kept telling you guys the first two weeks, allow him to
09:38grow, allow him to change.
09:39We're going to do that. We're going to allow him to grow. I'm not, by no means am I saying
09:43that he shouldn't be allowed to grow.
09:44No, I'm actually advocating for that. Unlike everybody else who's like, oh, well, he stinks.
09:51There's just ridiculous, you know, comments from fans in the media about what the guy is after playing 17 games.
09:59But what it tells me more than anything is that Kevin Stefanski and Tommy Reese's job are to get completions
10:07under his belt early and often in the game.
10:11Continue to allow him to open things up slowly as the game goes along.
10:17The problem with that is, and this happened in the last two weeks, he got down early fast.
10:22Now they were able to overcome it last week against San Francisco, not so much against Chicago.
10:29Right.
10:29Right. And and the easiest way to do this is to feed Bajon the ball on the ground early.
10:38Force defenses to key on him and open things up in the passing game for Michael Penix.
10:43I know a lot of this is easier said than done.
10:45And Kevin Stefanski would roll his eyes if I asked the question.
10:48Well, he wouldn't roll his eyes, but he would give me a non-answer.
10:51But the point simply is, is that because I asked him this week about how you start faster.
10:57What do you do? It's the second week in a row you found yourself down by two scores before you
11:02could blink.
11:03And so, you know, it's not an advantageous to be.
11:07And when you're always having to dig out of a two score hole early in the game, it's just it's
11:10really tough because it makes it tough to continue to feed the ball on the ground.
11:15A lot of coaches don't show that patience.
11:18But. The Falcons have to be able to stay within their game plan and make life easy for Penix as
11:23we go along.
11:25I mean, the confidence will build and you can start to open things up.
11:29But at this point, it's fair to say keeping handcuffs on him is still the right thing to do.
11:37It's still the proper way to bring him along.
11:40Nobody here has the patience to wait for this.
11:42I understand that. I think you're all foolish for thinking that way.
11:46But again, I'm not emotionally invested the way you guys are.
11:49So it's easy for me to say it's tougher for you to do.
11:51And I recognize that.
11:53But. Allowing him to slowly develop is going to be better for him.
11:59You can't accelerate this thing faster than it needs to go.
12:04Because if you try to and it falls short, it's extremely hard to get back up on the horse again.
12:12Motorcycle riders understand this.
12:14The minute you try to gun it, if you dump it, if you dump that bike and slide again, woo,
12:19man.
12:20Think long and hard about doing that again.
12:23We're just going to gradually accelerate.
12:25We're just going to gun this thing.
12:28So, I mean, it's one of those things where you see the numbers tell us that Penix, when you lose,
12:36is having a hard time finding receivers.
12:38Or he's forced into obvious passing situations that don't help him.
12:42Where it's easy to blitz.
12:44It's easy to get pressure on him.
12:45And it's easy to force him into bad decisions.
12:49That's what the numbers are telling us through 17 games.
12:54I don't want to hear anything from people about, oh, processing information.
12:57He's got to learn to process more.
13:00You guys are just saying buzzwords that mean nothing.
13:04You don't even understand what it means.
13:06You don't understand why he's not processing.
13:08You're just, you know, just throwing stuff out there.
13:12See if it sticks because it sounds good and you'll get a reaction out of people.
13:16It's not a processing issue.
13:19It's part of the game plan, the coaching.
13:21That is part of it.
13:24Make the processing foolproof for him.
13:26Call the plays that make him successful.
13:29And I'm not talking about necessarily a bunch of dump screen passes and everything else.
13:32They don't all have to be that.
13:35But there are high leverage, high quality, high percentage passing plays that you can put him in.
13:43And situations you can put him in.
13:46And that's ultimately, to me, that's on the coaching staff.
13:48It will continue to be on the coaching staff.
13:50It's on them to make him better.
13:53Their livelihood depends on it.
13:56If Penix fails, that doesn't help Stefanski stick around long.
14:00Doesn't help his whole entire coaching staff stick around long.
14:04Nope.
14:05Doesn't.
14:06The other part of this problem, too, is you put a lot of pressure on your defense.
14:09They got to play perfectly at the outset.
14:12There's not a lot of wiggle room.
14:15You got to keep them off the scoreboard early to give him a drive or two to get under his
14:18belt.
14:19Put some points up.
14:23But I'll go back to putting this on the coaching staff.
14:26Let me rephrase that.
14:28I'll go back to putting a portion of this on the coaching staff and their ability to get the job
14:33done.
14:33Because ultimately, that's what they are charged with.
14:36They are charged with making him better.
14:38You want to put it all on Penix?
14:40Fine.
14:42But it's a naive way to look at things.
14:46Tom Brady was helped develop because Bill Belichick was the coach.
14:50Right?
14:51That's part of it.
14:54Look at Lamar Jackson, who's now unlike his fourth offensive coordinator in the last five years.
15:00Things are starting to go down.
15:01He's also not healthy.
15:03But coaching matters.
15:05Look at Joe Burrow.
15:07We found out Zach Taylor can't coach.
15:12This is what happens.
15:14Right?
15:15I mean, it's part of it.
15:17So I'll continue to put this stuff back on the coaching staff and ask them to do their job and
15:22help making him successful.
15:23And let's see how long this trend continues.
15:26Get his completion percentage up.
15:29Keep moving the sticks.
15:30Keep moving the chains.
15:31All this stuff goes together.
15:32Put your team in positions where you can score.
15:36They'll win more than they'll lose.
15:38And that's ultimately what this thing is all about.
15:42All right.
15:43We are going to finish one more note on the Falcons.
15:47But first, we've got to get to Shovel of Wisdom.
15:50Brace yourselves because it's time for the Shovel of Wisdom.
16:03And today, my Shovel goes to the WNBA.
16:07By the way, also, extra Shovel to myself.
16:10I forgot to play the intro.
16:11It happens.
16:12Oh, well.
16:13I'm sure you guys didn't miss it.
16:14But I put a lot of work into that.
16:16So I enjoy it.
16:17But anyway, oh, boy.
16:19Game six of the WNBA Finals has become quite the mess, hasn't it?
16:23And they finally got it resolved.
16:25And they're going to play game six of the WNBA Finals on Thursday at 1230 p.m.
16:29at State Farm.
16:31You got to continue to wonder how the WNBA continues just to mess this thing up over and over and
16:36over and over again.
16:36I mean, God, thank God new leadership is coming in.
16:40And I don't know who they're picking, but this was embarrassing for this league.
16:44It was beyond embarrassing.
16:46It's not the Hawks' fault.
16:48And it's not the Dream's fault.
16:50It's the league's fault.
16:52It's the league's fault for not recognizing this down the road and starting to look for viable solutions and everything
16:57else and trying to change their schedule and morph the final.
17:00And this, I mean, it's just bad.
17:03Bad all around.
17:04Now, this won't be a problem next year if the Dream are back in the finals because they become official
17:08residents at State Farm Arena, so things will be pre-scheduled.
17:12But for all those people sitting there, why don't the Hawks just move?
17:14Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
17:15That's not how it works.
17:17The big boys, the big dollars, the big money, they get precedence.
17:22You don't change things like that.
17:25And that's not a knock on the Dream.
17:27That's just business.
17:29And if you don't like the fact that the men in the NBA create more revenue than the WNBA, well,
17:34then you can just go cry somewhere else about it.
17:37That's just the reality.
17:38And it's been the reality since the day the WNBA was created.
17:41The NBA makes more money.
17:43They get top billing, and they always will.
17:45So you can't get mad at that.
17:48It just is what it is.
17:50But are you telling me that you're going to have the Valkyries who are going to go try and clinch
17:55the thing win it at 1230 like their fans on the West Coast are getting up at 930 a.m.?
18:04I mean, you know, bad.
18:06All around bad.
18:08Like, you can't have this stuff happen over and over again, and it continually does.
18:12And shame on the WNBA.
18:15It's almost like they hate their fans.
18:17It's almost like they don't want people to watch their league.
18:22How many Atlanta Dream people are taking fans or leaving work at 1230 and pulling their kids out of school
18:29to go watch that game?
18:32What's the point of even having it at State Farm if you're only going to pack 5,000 people in
18:37there at a 1230 on a Thursday game anyway?
18:41Makes no sense.
18:42None.
18:44But, again, the people in charge of the WNBA don't like WNBA fans, so there is that.
18:50All right.
18:50I'll end on one final note here.
18:52And, you know, you guys at this point know I love to react to the reaction because I think it's
18:58interesting.
19:00There is a certain contingent of fans and media out there when it comes to the Falcons that just absolutely
19:07love to wrap a compliment in an insult.
19:15Right?
19:16Oh, it's a great win over the Niners.
19:20But they kind of got gifted to win.
19:23They got four turnovers.
19:26Really good win over the Niners.
19:27But that doesn't mean they're a good team yet.
19:30Like, this isn't a good team yet.
19:33Oh, Pennix played well, but, you know, oh, the 49ers didn't pressure them at all.
19:41I mean, why can't this fan base, and this is the funny part, and I was having this conversation with
19:49another media member yesterday.
19:52This fan base eats their own, man, more than any other fan base I've ever seen.
19:58I've been doing this a long time.
19:59I've been in a lot of cities and a lot of markets.
20:01I've covered a lot of different teams.
20:03I've never seen a fan base eat their own like the Falcons do.
20:08It's crazy.
20:10And some of you people who are native Atlantans, native Georgians, will tell you that's because there's so many people
20:16not from around here that are here.
20:17And that probably is true.
20:19And it probably is true that people like me who have an objective view of things and don't get emotionally
20:24invested,
20:25when I throw things out there or when I make a statement, which is based on fact, you know, give
20:32you my opinion,
20:33you get two sides of people agreeing or disagreeing, and they don't necessarily come at me.
20:39They go back and forth at each other as fans.
20:44The dynamic is very crazy to watch.
20:47I do blame somewhat of the media and the fans who can't just sit there and enjoy this thing and
20:56let it just happen and unfold, you know.
20:59And I get the cannibalization of the fan base comes from not being in the playoffs for nine straight years.
21:04But, you know, it's one of those things where you don't have to, at this point, given what we're watching
21:14with a new head coach and a new team
21:16and a young quarterback and everything else, not everything has to be decided right now, as I said earlier.
21:23And it doesn't, you don't have to wrap the compliment in an insult.
21:27It doesn't, there doesn't have to be a but at the end.
21:30It was a good win, period.
21:31End the sentence.
21:32It's, but they're not a good team, but they got four turnovers, but the 49ers beat themselves.
21:43Like, just take the win.
21:45Be happy you're not two and five, because three and four and two and five are worlds apart in the
21:50NFL.
21:50It feels worlds apart.
21:54Hey, you know, you're still in position to put yourself in position to be in a playoff hunt.
22:00Those things matter.
22:05And ultimately, when you look at this team and you look at Michael Penix, progress is there.
22:15Progress is happening and you just have to let it happen.
22:20But it doesn't have to be one of these things where, yeah, I'm going to look for a reason to
22:28be negative about the team.
22:29I'm going to look for a reason to put them down because all those people, all they want to do
22:32is be right in the end.
22:34When it fails and they expect that it will, they want to be the ones to say, I told you
22:38so.
22:38Not because they actually had a point, but they just want to be right.
22:45Which, again, is crazy because you're hoping the team that you cover and the team that you love and the
22:50team that you like and cheer for and root for does poorly.
22:54It's a weird spot to be in.
22:56It's a really weird spot to be in.
22:59All right.
23:00Make sure you guys are subscribed if you're watching on the YouTube page.
23:02Make sure you guys hit that thumbs up, like, drop a comment down below.
23:05Let me know your thoughts on this episode of A to Z.
23:07We'll be back later in the week to preview the Falcons matchup coming up against the Tampa Bay Bucs.
23:12Make sure you keep it locked right here tonight.
23:14It's on the game dot com.
23:15You guys have a great day.
23:16Don't take any crap from anybody.
23:17See ya.