Falcons are leaning on rookie QB Penix as they try to protect fading playoff hopes against Panthers

Carolina (4-12) at Atlanta (8-8)

Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS

BetMGM NFL Odds: Falcons by 8 1/2

Series record: Falcons lead 37-22

Against the spread: Panthers 7-9, Falcons 7-9

Last meeting: Falcons beat Panthers 38-20 at Carolina on Oct. 13.

Last week: Panthers lost at Buccaneers 48-14; Falcons lost at Commanders 30-24 in overtime.

Panthers offense: overall (31), rush (20), pass (31), scoring (25)

Panthers defense: overall (32), rush (32), pass (16), scoring (32)

Falcons offense: overall (10), rush (12), pass (8), scoring (16)

Falcons defense: overall (19), rush (14), pass (19), scoring (20)

Turnover differential: Panthers minus-6, Falcons minus-5

WR Adam Thielen is coming off a big game against the Bucs, catching five passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns and he remains Bryce Young’s favorite option. Thielen has three TDs in the past two games and when the Panthers need a play in the passing game it’s likely going to Thielen.

QB Michael Penix Jr. has played better than his statistics show in his first two starts. His lack of practice time with Atlanta's starting wide receivers showed in his inability to develop a connection on deep routes, but his ability to move in the pocket and his clutch fourth down completions late in last week's loss at Washington are reasons for encouragement as the Falcons cling to their fading playoff hopes. The Falcons need Penix to lead a win over Carolina and have Tampa Bay lose to New Orleans in order to win the NFC South and make the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

Penix vs. Panthers pass defense. Penix will face a struggling Carolina secondary. Playing without cornerback Jaycee Horn, the Panthers allowed Baker Mayfield to complete 27 of 32 passes for 359 yards and five touchdowns last week. The Bucs had wide receivers running open all game as the Panthers secondary looked in disarray.

Panthers: Horn (hip) has been ruled out along with LB Josey Jewell (concussion), OLB Amare Barno (shoulder), DB Lonnie Johnson (shoulder/neck) and OLB DJ Johnson (personal). DT A’Shawn Robinson (neck), OG Robert Hunt (knee), OT Taylor Morton (knee), WR Xavier Legette (hip, wrist) and RB Miles Sanders (ankle) were listed as questionable.

Falcons: CB Kevin King (concussion) is unlikely to return. WR Darnell Mooney (shoulder), LB JD Bertrand (eye) and DL Brandon Dorlus (abdomen) are listed as questionable.

The Falcons have won the past three meetings in Atlanta and four of the past six overall.

The Panthers are 1-6 on the road under first-year head coach Dave Canales. ... QB Bryce Young is 5-22 as an NFL starter. Since returning as the team’s starter in Week 8 against the Broncos, Young has completed 172 of 285 passes (60.4%) for 1,853 yards with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. His 13 completions of 25 or more yards are his most in a eight-game stretch in his career. He has also rushed 38 times for 225 yards and four touchdowns since Denver. Young’s 16 total touchdowns are a career high. ... Sanders, who has not played for the Panthers since Nov. 10, was a full participant on Friday and could get the start against the Falcons. ... OLB Jadeveon Clowney needs three tackles for loss to reach 110. He ranks 12th among active players in tackles for loss. ... The Panthers have allowed an NFL-high 496 points this season. ... The Falcons are playing for their first winning record and playoff berth since 2017. ... Atlanta's defense has had three or more sacks in five consecutive games for the first time since 1997. The defense had five sacks last week against Washington. ... Bijan Robinson has rushed for two touchdowns in two straight games. The most recent Falcons player to post back-to-back games with multiple rushing touchdowns as Devonta Freeman in 2016. ... The Falcons' 198 rushing yards in their first meeting with the Panthers is their high mark of the season. ... LB Kaden Elliss needs 10 tackles to reach 150 for the season.

Drake London leads Atlanta's receivers with 90 catches for 1,084 yards and seven touchdowns. Darnell Mooney could join London in the 1,000-yard club this week. Mooney has 64 catches for 992 yards and five touchdowns. London, Mooney and No. 3 target Ray-Ray McCloud deserve fantasy consideration against the Panthers pass defense.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young passes against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young passes under pressure from Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Logan Hall during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) passes during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Landover. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) passes during the second half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year while inside the militant group's war operations room, according to new details Sunday disclosed by a senior Hezbollah official.

A series of Israeli airstrikes flattened several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27, 2024, killing Nasrallah. The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people died. According to news reports, Nasrallah and other senior officials were meeting underground.

The assassination of Nasrallah, who had led Hezbollah for 32 years, turned months of low-level strikes between Israel and the militants into all-out war that battered much of southern and eastern Lebanon for two months until a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect Nov. 27.

“His Eminence (Hassan Nasrallah) used to lead the battle and war from this location,” top Hezbollah security official Wafiq Safa told a news conference Sunday near near the site where Nasrallah was killed. He said Nasrallah died in the war operations room. He did not offer other details.

Lebanese media had reported that Safa was a target of Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut before the ceasefire but appeared unscathed.

During the first phase of the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to move its fighters, weapons and infrastructure away from southern Lebanon north of the Litani River, while Israeli troops that invaded southern Lebanon need to withdraw all within 60 days. Lebanese army soldiers are to deploy in large numbers and alongside United Nations peacekeepers be the sole armed presence in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon and Hezbollah have been critical of ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights across the country and for only withdrawing from two of dozens of Lebanese villages it controls. Israel says that the Lebanese military has not done its share in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.

Hezbollah’s current leader Naim Kassem in a televised address Saturday warned that its fighters could strike Israel if its troops don’t leave the south by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz echoed similar sentiments should Hezbollah's militants not head north of the Litani River and their infrastructure remain intact.

“If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and Israel will be forced to act on its own to ensure the safe return of the residents of (Israel’s) north to their homes,” he said.

Safa said that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who negotiated the ceasefire deal with Washington, told Hezbollah that the government will meet with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein soon. “And in light of what happens, then there will be a position,” said Safa.

Hochstein had led the shuttle diplomacy efforts to reach the fragile truce.

A woman holds up a poster of the slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during a ceremony marking death anniversary of the late commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020, at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)