Mike Tirico will be on the call for the Commanders’ biggest game of the season, this Sunday night against Atlanta, as they look to lock up a playoff berth and their first season with 11 or more wins in three decades.
They won’t be doing it against Kirk Cousins, however, as the Falcons have benched Cousins in favor of first-round pick Michael Penix Jr., who made his NFL starting debut last week in a win over the Giants.
“It’s interesting, because as recently as Nov. 3, Kirk threw for three touchdowns and no picks, coming off a game where he threw four touchdowns and no picks, and two weeks before he threw four touchdowns with one pick – he was going really well, and then something happened,” Tirico told Craig Hoffman. “Now, you have a rookie quarterback coming in for his first road start, in a spot where they have their hand on the steering wheel; Atlanta controls its opportunity to get into the playoffs, and it's just a little bit different because it's not that veteran quarterback who can come in and he's been through this a hundred times.”
So the Cousins revenge game in Landover is…well, a battle of two Top 10 picks, and not necessarily an easier road to hoe for the Commanders?
“What they saw in Penix was on the field physical ability, and off the field maturity. He went to Indiana and then Washington, where he took the Huskies to the national championship game, and he had receivers like Ja’Lynn Polk and Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan, who's with Tampa – he was surrounded by good people and had two first or second-round on the offensive line. This guy can play,” Tirico said. “He's got an arm, he can make big throws, and from what everybody tells us, he's not afraid to make big throws and use that arm. Maybe we didn't see it all against the Giants, but maybe the Giants was a good toe in the water for him. I think the guy is gonna be a good quarterback, so just because they've gone to the No. 2 to me doesn't mean that this game gets any easier. I think it's still gonna be a challenge for the Commanders on Sunday night.”
That said, Penix got the ball out extremely fast against the Giants, but can his offensive line withstand the pressure the Commanders will bring, especially with a better secondary covering his receivers?
“It’ll be certainly more of a challenge. They have a good offensive line, and good quarterbacks know that par is about 2.5 seconds to throw - if you’re getting it out in under 2.5 seconds as a rookie, you know where the ball's going,” Tirico said. “Rare are the plays that you take that deep drop, load up, give the guy time to get downfield, but you do, and when you do that, you protect it a little bit more. We’ve seen traditionally Dan Quinn defenses get after the quarterback, with multiple guys, and no doubt there will be pressure on him, so he's gonna be all over getting it out early. The Commanders’ defensive line is better than the Giants’ so it’ll be a different challenge, but I don’t think that's where the money is going to be made for Washington; some pressure disguised, how does he handle that? That’s what worries you, because you haven't seen a full bucket of how he handles things, so it’s going to be a little bit of discovery as you go through the process on Sunday night calling the defenses for Joe Whitt.”
Take a listen to Tirico’s entire visit, as he also discusses what he’s seen from Jayden Daniels this year, how Daniels has helped Terry McLaurin blossom, and more!