The Win Column: Worried about the Week 1 starter

G’day mates!

In a little over eight hours, the NFL season gets underway in … Seattle, where Centennial High grad/head coach Mike Macdonald and the defending champion Seahawks host the Patriots. Should be fun (as will 49ers-Rams in Australia on Thursday night).

Now about those Falcons …

THE THING ABOUT TUA

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, before the Falcons’ Aug. 28 preseason game in Miami. (Lynne Sladky/AP)

Michael Penix Jr. isn’t ready, and that’s fine.

As our friend and columnist Ken Sugiura writes, there’s no reason to rush the third-year quarterback into a game. The goal of this season is (or should be) learning as much as possible about Penix; you don’t do that while throwing him out there in a new offense, uncomfortable and underprepared.

“I want to be out there giving 100%,” Penix said Monday. “If I don’t feel like I can do that, that’s not fair for this team.”

Sure.

But chat … can I admit something?

Watching Tua Tagovailoa play makes me physically ill.

That’s not a comment on his ability or playing style or whatever. The short, timing-based passes he’s relegated to either work (see last year against these same Falcons) or … don’t.

C’est la vie.

When I say watching Tagovailoa makes me ill, I mean it in a “I don’t want that man’s brain becoming mush and, if it does, I’d rather not witness it” kind of way.

Anxiety. Empathy. Call it what you want.

But for all the talk about Penix’s knee(s), the new coaching staff and the best way to handle a less-than-ideal quarterback situation, Tagovailoa’s history of concussions hasn’t been particularly top of mind.

Some of us seem to have memory holed the fact that — exactly two years and one day prior to Sunday’s season opener in Pittsburgh — Tagovailoa was lying on a field in Miami, involuntarily grasping at the air with his right arm before curling into something akin to the fetal position.

An unfortunate scene. But not an unfamiliar one.

The incident that day against the Bills (and defender Damar Hamlin, of all people) marked Tagovailoa’s third official NFL concussion. He suffered at least one during his college years at Alabama, too.

• Falcons depth chart: 2 rookies slated to start
• Game-by-game Falcons predictions
• Key Falcons games we’re eager to see

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to concussions, of course, but the long-term risks aren’t for the faint of heart. We all know about CTE. And one study from the University of Oxford found that people with three or more concussions had “significantly worse cognitive function, which got successively worse with each subsequent concussion after that.”

Back in 2024, lots of folks — even the “Today” show — publicly wondered if Tagovailoa should hang it up. Count me among those who assumed he would.

He didn’t, and now he’s the Falcons’ starting quarterback for at least one week.

I hope he does well.

I hope he emerges unscathed.

I’m not looking forward to watching.

📬 In the same boat? Think I’m a big old baby? Shoot me an email — then sign up for the Dirty Birds Dispatch, which relaunches Thursday with weekly Falcons goodness from beat writer Daniel Flick.

POLL: WHO ELSE SHOULD WE KICK OUT OF THE SEC?

Moving on to college football: This bit was a lot funnier when I originally wrote it about 12 hours ago, before LSU caved under the SEC’s threat of expulsion over NFL training campers.

Let’s do it anyway!

Here’s the question: Who, besides LSU, should we kick out of the SEC?

• Do we punt Arkansas over to the Monster Energy Big 12?
• Vanquish those Vandy nerds?
• Send Auburn and its accursed stadium packing?
• Banish Bama?
• Say see ya later … Sooners?
• Heck, we could even give Texas the hook (and a better chance at winning a conference title).

Options aplenty. Head on over to the fancy form and give someone the ax.

MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL STUFF

Georgia Tech coach Brent Key remains unpleased by the Jackets’ performance against Colorado. (Mike Stewart/AP)

💡 Georgia Tech coach Brent Key and his “poorly prepared, poorly coached, poor disciplined, soft football team” has a lot of growing to do before No. 18 Tennessee comes calling Saturday. Columnist Ken Sugiura figures we’ll learn a lot about the Jackets, one way or another.

🔼 Georgia jumped up to No. 2 in the AP Top 25 after Saturday’s 63-3 romp over Tennessee State. (Yeah, they actually covered. My bad.)

😬 After getting boat-raced by LSU, Clemson hosts Georgia Southern on Saturday — and will pay $1.5 million for the privilege. Pseudoserious question: Can they handle the 1-0 Eagles and journeyman quarterback Max Johnson?

• “Probably not,” Melissa Hall, an AJC managing editor and sad Clemson fan, said when I asked. (The subsequent “laughing” emoji suggests she’s reached the acceptance stage of grief.)

👀 Kennesaw State and Georgia State meet for just the second time on Saturday (7 p.m. in Kennesaw and on ESPN+). The Owls are favored, but the Panthers put an all-time high of 59 points on North Carolina A&T in Week 1.

🆒 Why does the NCAA even exist, Part 9,347: Western Michigan wants its clock-fiasco loss to Michigan overturned, but the “governing body” said Tuesday it couldn’t do that even if it wanted.

AS THE BRAVES ROTATION TURNS

Braves pitcher Reynaldo López thanks the baseball gods during a July start in Baltimore. (Daniel Kucin Jr./AP)

AJ Smith-Shawver lasted just 3⅓ innings and gave up four runs in the Braves’ 7-1 loss to the Rays on Tuesday.

With 16 earned runs now surrendered over 16⅔ innings since he rejoined the big league club, he may be the odd man out of Atlanta’s suddenly crowded rotation.

“Yeah, we’ll see,” manager Walt Weiss told reporters after the game. “We don’t know what we’re doing after the Phillies series (this weekend). Those are always ongoing conversations.”

As for the other guys ...

• Surprise! Bryce Elder got surgery to remove bone fragments in his right knee and will sit for at least three or four weeks, putting his postseason presence in doubt.
• Reynaldo López returns to the mound Wednesday night, about five weeks after hitting the injured list with his own knee issue.

López and Martín Pérez figure to get plenty of run down the stretch. But with Chris Sale, Tyler Mahle and Grant Holmes all cruising, they’re the (current) favorites to line up for a postseason series.

I think.

Maybe.

Regardless, they should pitch during this weekend’s rematch with Philly.

🔗 Bonus linkage: Olson struggling but no day off; a new Braves trivia quiz

OTHER GOOD THINGS TO KNOW

🫶 New Atlanta United striker Breel Embolo scored a goal in the team’s weekend draw with Miami. He also wears No. 36, which is odd for his position, but he’s got a perfectly lovely explanation.

• Orlando City visits Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. on Apple TV).

👉 AJC.com loves this high school football story and you will, too: This overlooked position might be the most accessible path to college football.