ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Week 1 of the NFL season is here and the Atlanta Falcons get what coach Raheem Morris is calling an “unbelievable test” in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If the 2024 season is any indication, fans can expect a shootout. The combined score was 61.5 points. That does not bother Morris or the Falcons because they say the confidence of the offense in year two under Zac Robinson has players moving differently.
“(I) feel really good and confident. These guys didn’t hear things for the first time this year this year. They’ll get a chance to go out there and execute at a very high level and they were close last year to being great,” Morris said.
Much will hinge on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. getting his first full season as the starter. Penix told media that he feels prepared for Week One.
“It’s just in me. That’s just the person I am. That’s what I pride myself into being each and every day,” Penix said.
The second year QB will have an array of weapons in an offense that was sixth in yards per game (369.8) and top half of the league in points (22.9 ppg), but he will have to depend on new starting tackle Elijah Wilkinson to guard his blindside after the season long injury to Kaleb McGary and an injury reserve stint for Storm Norton.
“You’re instilling that confidence (in Wilkinson), but it’s not something where it’s like I gotta feel like I gotta go up to him each and every day and tell him like, ‘aye, I believe in you.’ He know that,” Penix said.
Wilkinson has 45 starts to his credit since entering the league in 2017 and started eight games for the Falcons at guard in 2022. Returning for the Falcons was like returning home, he said.
“I think that made it a lot easier just having already played with the guys before and them not worrying about someone new who hasn’t been here with them. I think that made it a ton easier for them to not only trust me, but just be able to plug me back in there,” Wilkinson said.
The Falcons will take on their division rival in Mercedes-Benz Stadium Sunday at 1 p.m.
_Copyright 2025 WANF. All rights reserved._