The Atlanta Falcons may have questions about their Week 1 quarterback after Tua Tagovailoa suffered a forced injury during Thursday’s practice.
In the first session of practice open to the media, Tagovailo participated in individual drills with the other quarterbacks, but after a series of passes, he held his side and sat briefly on the floor. He was not seen throwing another pass in the practice session open to the media, and the Falcons were officially limited by the injury.
Veteran backup Cooper Rush, who was signed on the first day of training camp, said he took all the first-string snaps Thursday.
There’s more to the Falcons’ decision to start Tua Tagovailoa Week 1.
Josh Kendall
If Rush Tagovailoa, 32, who spent his first seven years in the league with the Dallas Cowboys, is unable to play, he will be in line to start the season opener Sunday at Pittsburgh. Rush started 14 games for the Cowboys and two for the Baltimore Ravens last year. He is 9-7 overall as a starter.
“It was fun to jump in and learn the offense,” Rush said this week. “It’s a well-coached system that’s easy to pick up.”
Tagovailoa, 28, missed the first week of training camp practices with lower back tightness that he said was his first of the season. He was named the Falcons’ starter Monday and spoke this week of gratitude for another chance in the NFL after a tumultuous end to his six-year career with the Miami Dolphins, with whom he made one Pro Bowl but was released after two subpar seasons.
“When something is taken from you, you start thinking about all the things that could change,” he said. “Looking back at my time in Miami, there are things I could have done better. There’s a lot of things I think I could have done better — rebounding, playing better, decision-making. … It just wasn’t good.”
Tagovailoa competed against Michael Penix Jr., who is in his third year in Atlanta, in training camp but is coming off a season-ending ACL tear he suffered in Week 11 last year. Penix wasn’t cleared for a full practice session until Aug. 24, and he said Monday that he didn’t feel physically ready to compete in a game right now, but was “very close.”
Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski, who said Monday that Penix was inactive for the Pittsburgh game, did not speak to reporters after Thursday’s practice.
