ESPN shares devastating stat about Falcons through 2 games

When Michael Penix Jr. starts on Thursday night for the Atlanta Falcons, their offense is going to get better, if only by default. That’s because it’s practically impossible for them to get any worse than they’ve been with Cooper Rush starting the first two games of the season.

A slew of ugly turnovers is the worst of Rush’s performance, but more than that – the drives where Rush hasn’t turned the ball over haven’t gone anywhere, either. Just check out this devastating stat from ESPN’s power rankings, indicating the Falcons have been uniquely inept on offense to begin the season going back nearly 50 years.

“There are a handful of statistics that exemplify the historic futility of the Falcons’ offense under third-string quarterback Cooper Rush. But none are better than this: Atlanta is the fourth team since NFL play-by-play was first tracked in 1978 without a red zone drive through two games — and the first in 18 seasons. With three straight primetime games, the Falcons badly need Penix to be back to old self quickly. Thursday against the Packers will mark his first start since tearing his ACL last November.”

“There are a handful of statistics that exemplify the historic futility of the Falcons’ offense under third-string quarterback Cooper Rush. But none are better than this: Atlanta is the fourth team since NFL play-by-play was first tracked in 1978 without a red zone drive through two games — and the first in 18 seasons. With three straight primetime games, the Falcons badly need Penix to be back to old self quickly. Thursday against the Packers will mark his first start since tearing his ACL last November.”

Penix still has much to prove, having started just 12 career games. He’s also a radical upgrade over Rush, who ranks dead last in the league among starters in passer rating, QBR, passing yards per game, EPA/play, success rate, CPOE and air yards.

The challenge for Penix will be to take better care of the ball than Rush while also challenging the defense downfield, something Rush refused to even try in Week 1 and utterly failed at in Week 2.

First up will be a Green Bay Packers defense that ranks ninth against the pass but only 24th in scoring defense.

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This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: ESPN shares devastating stat about Falcons through 2 games