Game Preview: Giants face Falcons in Week 16

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Whether separate or together, Micah McFadden and Michael Penix, Jr. have been connected for most of their parallel football lives. Tampa natives who were four-year teammates at Indiana University, they will be opponents for the first time tomorrow, when the Giants visit the Atlanta Falcons, for whom Penix will make his first NFL start.

“He’s a really talented quarterback,” McFadden said this week. “Really good player. He can make all the throws, smart guy, tough dude, mentally tough. And he’s one of the most accurate deep passers you’ll see.

“There’s never been any doubt about his talent. The question about him was the injuries.”

Those injuries are a significant part of Penix’s story. McFadden and Penix were Hoosiers together for four seasons and in each one, Penix’s season ended prematurely. In 2018 and 2020, the culprit was a torn ACL. His sophomore season was cut short by a dislocated SC joint in his (right) non-throwing shoulder and two years later it was a dislocated joint in his left shoulder.

The two Floridians parted in 2022, when McFadden was the Giants’ fifth-round draft choice and Penix transferred to the University of Washington. In two seasons in Seattle, he threw for 9,544 yards and 67 touchdowns, led the Huskies to the 2023 CFP championship game, was a Heisman Trophy finalist, and the eighth overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft.

After playing just 20 snaps and throwing five passes in the Falcons’ first 14 games, Penix will become the first quarterback to make his NFL starting debut vs. the Giants since Dallas’ Dak Prescott on Sept. 11, 2016.

“If he has a guy one on one, he’s looking to throw that shot,” McFadden said. “Obviously, he’s been injured in his career, but he’s very willing to run when the opportunity presents itself and pick up extra yards with his legs.”

Two Giants rookies – defensive lineman Casey Rogers and linebacker Darius Muasau – faced Penix in college. Rogers’ Oregon Ducks lost three three-point games to Penix’s Huskies, including a 34-31 decision in last year’s Pac-12 championship game. Muasau had nine tackles in UCLA’s 40-32 victory against Washington in 2022.

“Accurate thrower (who) always puts it on the dot,” Muasau said. “He has good escapability once he gets out of the pocket to extend plays. He’s still an amazing player. He was drafted eighth overall, so he’s a weapon we have to take seriously.”

“Great quarterback; tremendous, tremendous athlete,” Rogers said. “He was really rocking last year when we played him. He was in command of that offense. As somebody who had to chase him, he’s a fast guy, elusive guy. He wants to stand in the pocket and pass the ball, but if he has to get out and run, he will and he can.”

McFadden and Penix were born four months and five days apart in 2000. They grew up and became prep stars in Tampa, McFadden at Plant High School and Penix at Tampa Bay Technical. Penix originally committed to play at the University of Tennessee but changed his mind and enrolled at Indiana, where he and McFadden became friends and teammates as members of the Hoosiers’ 2018 recruiting class.

“We talked every day,” McFadden said.

In the next four years, McFadden played in 45 games and had 216 tackles (149 solo), 14.0 sacks, 37 stops for loss (169 yards), and four interceptions.

Injuries limited Penix to 20 games during that span, including six in both 2019 and 2020 – Indiana’s only winning seasons in a 16-year period.

Tomorrow they will reunite on the field, this time as opponents.

“I never got to play against him in high school,” McFadden said. “I’m excited to play against him now.”