Buccaneers
- Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles said he expects OLB Markees Watts to stay on injured reserve for the rest of the season given his window closed to activate him on Wednesday, via Greg Auman.
Falcons
- Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. was recently named Atlanta’s starting quarterback going forward. The rookie quarterback said he’s ready to go: “Obviously, everybody wants to be on the field, but I knew coming into here what my role would be. … I’m ready. I have to be because you never know when that opportunity will come, but at the end of the day, it’s not up to me.” (Josh Kendall)
- Falcons HC Raheem Morris said he was hoping QB Kirk Cousins could re-discover his previous form, but the veteran quarterback never did and he’s unsure why there was such a big dip in his production, via Tori McElhaney.
- Morris said Penix Jr. has shown a lot of maturity and deserves his chance to start: “He has a maturity that goes beyond his years. He deserves it. We’re going to go out and see how this thing goes.” (McElhaney)
- Morris mentioned how Penix Jr. doesn’t have much experience with their first-team offense and this week will be important for the rookie, via McElhaney.
- Cousins wouldn’t comment on his future in Atlanta: “It’s one day at a time right now. The offseason is when those conversations happen.” (McElhaney)
- Cousins remains confident in his ability as a quarterback: “I didn’t forget how to play quarterback. … I didn’t forget how to play.” (McElhaney)
- Cousins admits he was not playing up to standard: “It’s pro football and there’s a standard that I have for myself and the organization has for me, and I wasn’t playing up to that standard.” (McElhaney)
Panthers
Panthers rookie WR Jalen Coker has overcome injuries to go from an afterthought as an undrafted free agent to being an integral part of the offense.
“Even coming into OTAs and rookie minicamp and stuff, I still had lingering things, and I just never really had that time to kind of chill out, especially coming off of a hamstring, and then I ended up doing the other hamstring and then the quad, so I kind of was just getting bombarded with injuries after having no injuries in college,” Coker said, via the team’s website. “So it was kind of a tough, tough couple of months to balance all that stuff and get right and try to maintain focus. But you know, I just control what you can control, so I mean that’s what my mom always tells me you just got to control what you can control, and just having that unwavering confidence of when I’m back, I’m going to be able to prove to everyone why I belong.”
Panthers WR coach Rob Moore alluded to Coker coming from a smaller school and dealing with injuries is what caused him to go undrafted, but they’re glad they have him and believe he’s a great talent.
“I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that he wasn’t healthy going into the draft, so he couldn’t be a true version of himself,” Moore said. “So I think that had a lot to do with it, maybe a little bit the smaller school thing may have had something to do with it. But you know we got him. When you turn on the tape, you can see the talent.”
Moore added that Coker proved himself against some of the premier talent coming out of last year’s draft and kept on proving that he was capable of success in the NFL.
“We saw him in one-on-ones, going up against some of the upper-echelon guys; he was able to hold his own,” Moore said. “He was able to create separation, and the thing that jumps out to you is his ability to catch the football with his hands. He’s got really good hands. He’s strong to the ball, good body control, all those things that you’ve got to have to be able to make contested catches in this league.”
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