The official injury report hasn’t been released as I write this, but the team confirmed to onsite media after practice that both Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. will be inactive against the Steelers in Week 1.
This, of course, comes on the heels of Tagovailoa being named the starter just this past Monday. The oblique injury Tua suffered in Tuesday’s practice will officially keep him sidelined.
Cooper Rush will be the Falcons’ starter against the Steelers, with rookie UDFA and fan favorite Jack
Strand serving as his backup.
Billy Bowman and Cam Williams will also be inactive Sunday. Za’Darius Smith is questionable.
It’s certainly not the ideal scenario to start the season. But it is an extremely Falcons situation to be stuck in for Week 1.
After practice, Stefanski praised Cooper Rush’s preparation, saying the veteran “stays ready so he doesn’t have to get ready.”
Stefanski also seemed unphased by the situation — maybe because of his nightmare QB rotation with the Browns last year.
“Ideal world, you’d love for one guy to get 17 games plus, but that’s not realistic,” he said.
On getting Rush fully up to speed after he’s taken so few first-team snaps to this point, Stefanski said adjusting the game plan isn’t unfamiliar either.
“Every game plan known to man has tweaks throughout the work week,” he said. Previously, Stefanski has said they tailor the offensive game plan to maximize a QB’s strength, so I would assume there’s been plenty of tweaking going on since Tua went down in practice on Thursday.
As far as Penix, he was going to be inactive whether Tagovailoa was healthy to start or not. Stefanski told us Monday after Tua was announced as the Week 1 starter that Penix would be inactive because he isn’t ready to play. That will not change.
God forbid the team needs an emergency QB on Sunday, but if they do, it won’t be either Tua or Penix. Per league rules, to designate a player as an emergency third quarterback, the player has to be a “bona fide” quarterback, and they have to be inactive. So there is no emergency QB for this week. We’ve just gotta hope for the best, I guess.
Stefanski wouldn’t guess at a timetable for Tua’s recovery, or for Penix to be ready. He’s going to stay focused on being ready for Pittsburgh.
So now we wait to see what Cooper Rush has to offer against the Steelers, and how quickly Tua and or MPJ can get healthy and available.
