Falcons announce Michael Penix Jr. will make 2026 debut as starting QB against Packers

ATLANTA (AP) — A struggling Atlanta Falcons offense in desperate need of improved production at quarterback will have Michael Penix Jr. make his first start in Thursday night's game at Green Bay.

The Falcons announced the quarterback change on Monday.

The Falcons (0-2) suffered a 34-3 loss to NFC South rival Carolina in Sunday's home opener. In Cooper Rush's two games as the fill-in starter, the Falcons have been held to one touchdown and 16 points.

Penix’s arm strength made him the No. 8 overall pick in the 2024 draft. He has been cautious in his recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that ended his 2025 season. He said Wednesday there are “just a couple technical things that I want to hit, some goals that I have, that I want to achieve” before playing in a game.

The Falcons were only 3-6 in Penix’s nine starts in 2025. He completed 60.1% of his passes for 1,982 yards with nine touchdowns and three interceptions. By comparison, Rush and rookie Jack Strand have combined for five interceptions and one touchdown in two games.

Coach Kevin Stefanski said Monday “I have a decent idea of where we’re going” at quarterback this week. In a possible indication a change was coming, Stefanski said he wanted to tell the team before announcing his plan later Monday.

Stefanski has been supportive of Penix's recovery schedule. “I talk to Mike every day and and like I’ve told you guys up I’m very confident in our discussions with Mike, with medical, throughout this entire process,” Stefanski said.

Stefanski announced on Sept. 9 Tua Tagovailoa would open the season as the starter, but Tagovailoa was ruled out for the opener at Pittsburgh after he suffered an oblique injury in practice. Tagovailoa was held out of practice last week and was inactive against Carolina.

Stefanski said Monday that Tagovailoa is “Getting better. We’ll work through what that means for this week, but definitely getting better.”

Rush has completed 22 of 39 passes for 229 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions. The Falcons signed Rush on July 29 after Tagovailoa opened training camp with tightness in his lower back.

Very little has gone well for an offense that has scored a combined 16 points in two losses, but the running game remains the biggest reason to believe a recovery is possible. Bijan Robinson ran for 72 yards and Brian Robinson added 51 yards against Carolina. The Falcons averaged 4.9 yards per carry while rushing for 157 yards.

Entering Monday, Rush is tied with New England's Drake Maye for the NFL lead with four interceptions. Rush didn't show the necessary arm strength or accuracy to lead the offense or keep the starting job.

Late in the first half, Jahan Dotson was open behind the Panthers' secondary but had to wait as Rush's incompletion was underthrown. On another second-quarter possession, Rush threw high and wide on an attempt to Olamide Zaccheaus and threw wide on another incompletion to an open Drake London.

Rush lost a fumble on a 9-yard run to open the game. The first of five turnovers for the Falcons set up a Carolina touchdown and Atlanta never recovered.

Strand completed only 8 of 15 passes for 59 yards and had his first pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Devin Lloyd. Even so, Strand's athleticism and arm strength make him an interesting prospect.

“I’m very excited about Jack’s development and the work that he’s putting in,” Stefanski said. "To see where he’s come from day one until now, I am really proud of him and he’ll continue to work and he will be better for the reps he got yesterday."

Tight end Kyle Pitts has only one reception for 15 yards through two games. He had only three targets against the Panthers and has only four for the season. Pitts had 88 catches for 928 yards and five touchdowns in 2025.

Stefanski said Pitts' limited role does not reflect the team's plan for the tight end.

“Kyle’s a big part of what we do,” Stefanski said. “I know the production hasn’t been there for him or our offense in the first two games, but that’s not indicative of what we have planned with Kyle because he’s a good football player."

Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell, who had been questionable with a shoulder injury, left in the first quarter with a groin injury. Linebacker Samson Ebukam (hamstring) left late in the first half. RT Jawaan Taylor (ribs) was listed as questionable in the fourth quarter.

31 — The 34-3 loss was the Falcons' largest margin of defeat at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened in 2017. The Falcons also took a 34-3 home loss to the Panthers in 2014 at the Georgia Dome.

The Falcons will visit Green Bay on Thursday night. The Packers improved to 1-1 with a 20-17 overtime win at the New York Jets.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Atlanta Falcons fans hold up a sign "We Want Strand" for Atlanta Falcons quarterback Jack Strand (18) during an NFL football game in Atlanta, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Jack Strand (18) walks the field during an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Atlanta, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Cooper Rush (13) warms up before an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Atlanta, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik Lesser)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Jack Strand (18) walks off the filed after an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Atlanta, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was in custody Monday at an ICE detention center in Texas after he was released from a hospital with a bullet still lodged in his back, the man's attorney said.

Speaking by phone during a news conference, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez said doctors didn’t remove the bullet because it’s near his spine. He said ICE pressed for him to be released quickly from the hospital so it could move him to a detention center. He said he had received no pain medication or treatment there, and had slept on the floor, before eventually being given a “pill” by a nurse on Monday.

Perez, 28, was making a DoorDash delivery in Austin on Sunday when his car was “sideswiped” twice by ICE officers in an unmarked truck, immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told reporters Monday. He was taken to a hospital, she said, but was released later Sunday into ICE custody with the bullet still inside him.

Perez said ICE officers didn’t ask him to stop or turn on any flashing lights until after they had sideswiped him. He said he did a U-turn and was trying to park when the officers rammed his car and shot him in the back of the neck.

“I am not doing well due to the gunshot wound, and I have not received the medical attention that I require,” Perez said, speaking in Spanish over the phone as a member of his attorney's staff translated during the news conference.

Perez was being detained at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) southwest of Austin, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said Perez told her in a prior phone call that he was being interrogated.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has released little information and has not said what prompted the shooting. In a statement early Monday, the department said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally who “had a final order of removal.”

Homeland Security did not immediately respond to email messages seeking further comment on the shooting.

Perez entered the U.S. legally in 2024 after using CBP One, a program begun under President Joe Biden that set up appointments with U.S. authorities to be considered for asylum, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. President Donald Trump ended the program on his first day in office.

Perez's attorneys said he was an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said a judge issued a deportation order for Perez after he missed a hearing in immigration court because the hearing notice was sent to a former address.

“Not that being out of status would justify any of this at all,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said of the shooting in a social media post.

The shooting occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement across the U.S. during Trump's second term. During the summer, it reported more than 50,000 monthly arrests in July and August — a first for the agency.

Immigration officers have come under intense scrutiny amid a series of shootings during the crackdown. At least four people have been fatally shot by federal officers during immigration enforcement operations this year.

Local advocates, leaders of the civil rights group the League of United Latin American Citizens and two Democratic congressmen who represent parts of Austin called during the news conference for the creation of an independent body to review use-of-force incidents by ICE and refer suspected crimes to prosecutors.

They also urged Congress to ban ICE officers from making traffic stops, saying the officers are undertrained and too quick to resort to violence.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, has said he wants local police to have a role in investigating the shooting. Watson said it wouldn’t be appropriate for ICE to investigate on its own.

The area beneath an overpass where a large crowd of protesters had gathered Sunday near the shooting scene was quiet Monday. Trash-filled plastic bags were left below concrete pylons marked with anti-ICE graffiti.

Amid discarded police tape, people left candles, flowers and a sign that read “Justice for Wilber.”

Associated Press journalist Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

People speak during a demonstration where a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)

Authorities deploy non-lethal weapons near a demonstration where a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)

A man photographs a spray-painted surface that reads "death to immigration enforcement" near the site where a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer the day before in Austin, Texas, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Flowers and candles are seen near the site where a Venezuelan man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer in Austin, Texas, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Flowers and candles are placed, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, near the site where an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan man during a traffic stop the day before, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jesse Bedayn)

People protest where local authorities say a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer (ICE) shot and wounded a man in Austin, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)

Flowers and candles are placed, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, near the site where an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan man during a traffic stop the day before, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jesse Bedayn)