Penix says he's 'close' but noncommittal on Week 2

Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has not ruled out playing Sunday against the Panthers, but said he wants to hit some physical benchmarks first before deciding. "I'm close," Penix said Wednesday. "I know I've been saying that, but it's just a couple technical things that I want to hit, some goals that I have that I want to achieve before I do step foot out on that field."

Penix has not played since tearing his left ACL last November. He was only cleared for full practices on Aug. 24, at the start of the final week of training camp, and said at the beginning of Week 1 that he was not ready for live game action. Cooper Rush started in his place, with Tua Tagovailoa also out with an oblique injury, in a 20-13 loss to the Steelers last Sunday.

On Wednesday, Penix split first-team reps in practice with Rush, who is also dealing with back spasms. Last week, Penix only got scout-team reps while Rush worked with the first team.

Penix explained that his recovery is taking longer because this is his third ACL surgery, following two on his right knee in college, and because his surgeries were different than most others. Doctors had to use a quad graft for this surgery because his patella tendons were already used for grafts in his previous two surgeries, and he also had another procedure done on his left knee for added stability.

Penix said he was not facing mental hurdles, just physical ones. "Mentally, I want to go play, but I'm not going to go out there if I don't feel where I need to be physically," he said. "Today I felt good in practice. I want to keep making strides, keep feeling better each and every day. And once my knee feel where I need it to be, I'm going to be ready to play."