Third-year NFL quarterback Michael Penix Jr. now has a season’s worth of starts at 17.

But there’s one thing the Atlanta Falcons signal-caller hasn’t done yet.

Play in his backyard.

This Sunday, Penix will be about 40 miles north of his hometown, Dade City, when Atlanta (3-4) heads to Raymond James Stadium for a Week 8 NFC South road clash against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-5). 

“It’s exciting,” Penix told reporters Wednesday. “I imagine I should have a lot of people coming to the game. My mom usually knows that headcount. But it’s going to be exciting to be able to get out there.”

Penix was originally born in Cookeville, Tennessee, where his father, Michael Sr., starred as a running back and his mother, Takisha, was a track and field athlete at Tennessee Tech. The family then relocated to Dade City and later to Riverview.

In a 2019 interview with Indiana Hoosiers on SI, Penix Sr. shared that his baby, Penix Jr., took his first steps in the end zone of a local football field.

“His very first steps as a baby – they were actually in the end zone,’’ Penix, Sr. told Tom Brew. “His first steps were right out there on the football field, right there in the end zone with me. How’s that for a start?’’

Penix played prep football at Pasco High School and then finished his final two years at Tampa Bay Technical High School.

He hasn’t played a game at home since.

Before transferring to finish his college career at the University of Washington, Penix’s Hoosiers team played in the 2021 Outback Bowl, hosted by Raymond James Stadium. The quarterback watched from the sidelines with a torn ACL, the second of three in his football career.

As a rookie, Penix was backing up Kirk Cousins before taking over as the starter for the final three games of the 2024 season in what was planned to be a redshirt year. Last year, when the Falcons made the trip to Tampa, Penix had already torn his ACL and was ruled out for the season less than a month earlier.

“It’s happening,” Penix said of finally playing near his Central Florida home. “Can’t wait to be out there. We want to come out with a win.”

Penix has faced the Bucs before, though, in the 2025 season opener. Atlanta hosted, but dropped the game 23-20. The quarterback went 27-for-42 for 298 passing yards and threw a touchdown.

Now 26, Penix was two years old when the Bucs won their first Super Bowl in January 2003 to cap off the 2002-2003 season. But he added he was never a fan of the team growing up.

Penix enters his homecoming on a heater, turning in two consecutive three-touchdown games for Atlanta. 

He’s fresh off what’s arguably his best performance of his career as the Falcons knocked off the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers 29-20 last Sunday, Oct. 25. Penix went 25-for-34 for 213 passing yards and tossed three touchdowns in the comeback win. On Wednesday, the NFL named him the NFC Offensive Player of the Week for the outing.

A large credit for Penix’s standout game was clean pockets from flawless offensive line protection. He wasn’t sacked or hurried, and barely took any contact at all from the Niners’ defense.

The Falcons will now face a Tampa Bay team with a 38% blitz rate, the fourth-highest in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.

“You practice it, you look over all the looks that they’ve brought, you go years back, and just be ready for everything,” Penix detailed the preparation. “We try to make sure we don’t miss any pressure looks that we possibly can see. And every week, a team comes in with a new pressure. And once we figure that out, we make adjustments on the sideline or at halftime. We’ll be ready.”

Falcons-Bucs kicks off at 1 p.m. from Raymond James Stadium. FOX will televise the game.