Falcons ‘not ruling anyone out’ among 4 QBs to start vs. Panthers

FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons are four days away from kicking off Week 2 against the Panthers, and coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters Wednesday the Falcons could start any of their four active quarterbacks.

“We’re working through it,” Stefanski said. “I’m not ruling anyone out.”

Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered an oblique injury in practice Sept. 10, won’t practice Wednesday. Cooper Rush, last week’s starter, will practice in full but is still receiving treatment after experiencing back spasms Sept. 12. Michael Penix Jr., who tore his ACL last November, is a full participant in practice but Stefanski declined to say whether Penix mentally feels ready to play.

That leaves Jack Strand, an undrafted rookie from Division II Minnesota State-Moorhead, as the lone healthy quarterback on the Falcons’ roster. But the team doesn’t appear eager to expedite his development, and he’s unlikely to draw the start.

“Jack is not being ruled out for this game,” Stefanski said. “With every player, I’m trying to make decisions that put them in the best position to succeed, and certainly the quarterback position, that should be obvious. Very, very pleased with where (Jack) is developmentally. I think he’s come a long way since he got here.

“He works very, very hard. Jack fits in great in the meeting room. But past that, I wouldn’t add much color.”

Rush went 12-for-22 passing for 143 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, including a pick-six, in the Falcons’ season-opening 20-13 loss to the Steelers.

Rush only threw five passes greater than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage. Stefanski said there were opportunities to push the ball downfield, but much of it was dictated by the Steelers’ pass rush and coverage.

Stefanski said he’s confident Rush can play better if he’s tasked with starting once more this week.

“Coop’s a veteran,” Stefanski said. “I think like any player, there are plays you want back, but also understand that with more reps, with more turns, comes experience, comes confidence.”

The Falcons are still evaluating Penix, who’s been medically cleared to practice. Stefanski said everybody — himself, Penix and the medical team — are all on the same page.

Stefanski declined to share the specifics of Penix’s practice activity and whether he’s taking snaps with the first-team offense. During the media viewing period, which often contains stretching and warmup routes on air, Penix threw to the practice-squad players last week.

“Not going to get into specifics, as you can imagine, with all of our rep plans,” Stefanski said. “But (it) continues to progress.”

Tagovailoa, whom the Falcons named their Week 1 starting quarterback on Sept. 7 before the oblique injury disrupted those plans, is “getting better,” Stefanski said. When he was asked directly if Tagovailoa will start once healthy, Stefanski said he’s “going day by day” and wants to get through Wednesday.

The primary reason for the Falcons’ delay in announcing a starter is practice time. Stefanski said the team wants to evaluate practices and see how its primary candidates — Tagovailoa and Penix — feel as the week progresses.

“I think with any decision on the roster for your team, you have to be flexible,” Stefanski said. “So, you make all these decisions based on the information available.”

That, however, creates an interesting dilemma for the Falcons’ game plan. Wednesday is their heaviest install day, particularly, Stefanski said previously, at quarterback.

The Falcons have different styles in their quarterbacks. Penix and Tagovailoa are lefties, Rush and Strand are righties. Penix has a strong arm and likes to push the ball downfield. Tagovailoa’s game is predicated on timing and anticipation. Rush emphasized quick, underneath releases in Week 1. Strand flashed aggression in the preseason but spent much of training camp working the short game.

Stefanski, once more, emphasized adaptability in terms of the Falcons’ game plan.

Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski, shown here speaking during a training camp practice in August, told reporters Wednesday the team could start any of their four active quarterbacks on Sunday. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

“There’s countless examples,” Stefanski said. “We’ve done it. Teams do it where you find out more information as the week goes on, guys are in and out of the lineup. Guys go into the lineup and then maybe out of the lineup after the first play, and I’ve been a part of that too at different positions.

“So, our job as coaches is to be flexible and to make sure we have a system or a scheme where we can lean into different things.”