Falcons' Kirk Cousins Benching Not Injury, 'Just a Football Decision'

Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris explained the decision to bench quarterback Kirk Cousins for Michael Penix Jr., the team's first-round draft pick.

The Atlanta Falcons' decision to bench quarterback Kirk Cousins was not injury related. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons' decision to bench embattled quarterback Kirk Cousins was strictly due to on-field performance, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said during his press conference Wednesday.

Morris confirmed Cousins isn't dealing with an injury -- moving from Cousins to first-round rookie Michael Penix Jr. was strictly about winning games.

"Just a football decision," Morris said.

Within that, Morris said turnovers were the downfall for the 36-year-old Cousins, who threw an NFL-high 16 interceptions, nine of which came in the last five games.

"Can't turn the ball over in the National Football League and expect to win," Morris said. "We got to stop those things, and that was a big part of it."

Morris acknowledged he was surprised by Cousins' recent struggles, which included a 151-attempt stretch without a touchdown pass before his first quarter connection with receiver Drake London in Monday night's 15-9 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Falcons don't know why Cousins hit the wall that he did. After a difficult first month of the season, Cousins starred from Weeks 5-9, completing 72.1% of his passes for 292.8 yards per game while throwing 13 touchdowns and three interceptions.

But over his past five outings, Cousins has completed only 62.7% of his attempts for 236 yards per game to go along with one touchdown and nine interceptions.

Morris said this spring that Cousins wouldn't need to look over his shoulder at Penix after one or two bad passes -- but after five weeks of subpar play, Morris decided it was the right time to move on.

"I brought Kirk here with full expectations that we can win a championship with Kirk, and we'd be able to compete with Kirk," Morris said. "And for whatever reasons, whatever happened the last couple of weeks, I just hadn't felt that way."

So, the Falcons moved from Cousins to Penix, who's played in two games this season and has gone 3-for-5 passing for 38 yards. Morris noted the decision was collaborative between he and general manager Terry Fontenot, and owner Arthur Blank supported them.

But ultimately, it's a move the Falcons didn't think they'd have to make so soon -- and Morris, to the very end, believed in Cousins.

"I had a lot of confidence that we would play better. I had a lot of confidence that we would do better at the position. Had a lot of confidence that he would get back to his form," Morris said. "And we just didn't for whatever reasons. And we have to figure those things out, we'll have a deep dive into those situations, obviously, when it's all said and done.

"But right now, really focused on winning versus the Giants."

The Falcons (7-7) and Giants (2-12) will kick off at 1 p.m. Sunday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with Penix starting and Cousins serving as his backup.