FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Before Michael Penix Jr. was a professional quarterback, he was a Little League running back in his early football-playing days in Dade City, Florida. He craved the contact. Relished it. Looked for it at every turn. At this point in his career, though, he isn't in a position to crave that contact any longer, because if he's on the ground? Something has gone wrong.
In Wednesday's second joint practice with the Tennessee Titans, Penix found himself taking on the full brunt of Tennessee's wrath in a scuffle between the first-team Atlanta offense and the first-team Tennessee defense after Penix connected on a deep ball to Ray-Ray McCloud for a touchdown in the first 11-on-11 period on the day.
Falcons quarterback — by his own admission — said he had some parting words to give to the Tennessee sideline after the play. What was said?
"I was somebody else," Penix said of his headspace in the moment, "so I don't even remember."
Whatever he did say set off a chain reaction that involved both teams coming together, pushing and shoving to the point Penix ended up on the ground with a sea of other blue and black jerseys. Drake London — one of the first to Penix's defense — had his helmet ripped off before he was separated from the bunch. It took coaches, player personnel staff and officials a few minutes to break the mess up. Emotions remained intense as the next play got off, with Chris Lindstrom and Kaleb McGary getting in some extra back-and-forth action with Titans outside linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo after the play was whistled dead. Somehow, McGary's helmet got ripped off (whether or not he did it himself or Oladejo is up for debate).
The coaches pulled the first teams off the field, subbing in the second team to let tensions cool. Kirk Cousins and Co. then proceeded to put together one of the most fruitful drives of the day thereafter, much to the first team's loud delight. Elijah Wilkinson and Teagan Quintoriano sprung Jashaun Corbin for a big breakaway run. What followed was Cousins going three-for-three down the field to end the period, connecting with David Sills V and Dylan Drummond twice.
After that, the teams came together once again during the following special teams period. Only after that did things calm down enough to continue practice on a regular schedule.
Asked about the moment, quarterbacks coach D.J. Williams said his own feelings were twofold. While he liked seeing the fire from his young quarterback and the entire Falcons offense coming to his aide, it maybe got a bit too heated for their liking in the moment.
"At the end of the day, I always tell him that he's the CEO of the offense," Williams said. "You have to run the show. And, obviously, emotions get high and that's football, right? We're playing a competitive sport. It's hot out here and a bunch of guys are fighting for their lives. But at the end of the day we always have to come back down and understand that we have to operate the offense because everybody relies on (the quarterback) to tell them the play, tell them what they are doing, come back down and do what we do."
As for Penix, he said that he has never experienced anything quite like the moment his own temper flared on the field. He's normally praised for his calm, clear and collected head.
"Yeah, I am," Penix said with a point. "That's me."
Something else, he said, came over him as Tennessee jawed at him. Perhaps he felt Tennessee didn't see him as a fiery guy, with something simmering underneath.
"They probably don't look at me like that," Penix said. "But I'm from Tampa. Dade City."
So, while everyone sees the mild-mannered, cool and collected Penix 99% of the time, there is a 1% that stems from his youth, passion and crave for competition. That 1% showed up against Tennessee Wednesday, showing that perhaps that side of Penix is bigger than anyone originally thought.
