WR Darnell Mooney Reveals Challenges With Falcons QB Switch

One answer from Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney won't exactly give the fan base a lot of faith that quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will experience immediate NFL success.

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins put the Atlanta Falcons in a situation where the team really had no choice but to make a quarterback change. But there are risks to switching signal callers this late in the season.

Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney unintentionally seemed to reveal those risks while speaking to The AJC's D. Orlando Ledbetter on Friday.

"It's been different," Mooney told Ledbetter. "A lack of chemistry. I've never caught a ball from him until like this week.

"Just something that we have to adapt to and be a pro."

It's a little shocking that a starting NFL wide receiver hasn't caught a ball from a backup quarterback before the middle of December. But NFL teams typically spend as much time as possible developing chemistry between the starters that there isn't time for the backup quarterback to also throw to starting pass catchers.

Penix also barely played in the preseason. First-year Falcons head coach Raheem Morris found it more useful to rest players who were for certain going to make the team to preserve health rather than develop chemistry in August.

Falcons fans might second guess that decision if Penix looks like a raw product in his first start on December 22.

Another underrated factor about the quarterback switch is Penix is left handed. The ball is going to spin the opposite direction than what a right-hander such as Cousins delivers. It's a minute detail but an adjustment for Mooney and the other Falcons pass catchers nonetheless.

“It’s a different spin. It hits your hand a different way," Mooney told Ledbetter. "It looks different in the air. If he throws it right, it’s going to spin back to the middle of the field. You just have to think about those things and adapt to it.”

Left-handed quarterbacks are so rare these days that Mooney hasn't worked with one in a game since college.

Penix, who the Falcons drafted at No. 8 overall in the 2024 NFL draft, will make his first NFL regular season start on Sunday versus the New York Giants. The Falcons benched Cousins after he threw 1 touchdown versus 9 interceptions over the span of five games.