The Atlanta Falcons have scratched quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tagovailoa was limited in practice on Thursday after he suffered an oblique strain which led him to being considered ‘day-to-day.’
But now, according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, Tagovailoa will not be good to go for Atlanta’s season opener.
In his place, third-string quarterback Cooper Rush will get the start for Atlanta.
Rush will start due to injuries to not only Tagovailoa, but backup Michael Penix Jr as well.
Penix has been dealing with a nagging knee injury from last season which has impacted his preparation for this season.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been ruled out with an oblique injury
Tagovailoa was named the Week 1 starter due to an injury to backup Michael Penix Jr
With Tagovailoa and Penix injured, third-string quarterback Cooper Rush will get the start
Penix, a third-year quarterback out of Washington, had his season end due to that injury which he has yet to fully recover from.
It’s that injury that led new Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski to hand the Week 1 reins to Tagovailoa.
However, he told reporters earlier this week that he has no clarity on who the starter for the following week will be.
‘I’ve got the blinders on, so I see Week 1 in front of me and after this one, then we’ll start on the next one and those type of things,’ Stefanski said.
‘So, I don’t think it’s fair to really go past this week on anything related to our football team.’
With Tagovailoa and Penix out for the game, the only two healthy quarterbacks on the Falcons’ roster are Rush and Jack Strand – an undrafted rookie out of Division-II Minnesota State-Moorhead.
Tagovailoa was released this season by the Miami Dolphins, the team that picked him fifth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.
In order to let him go, the Dolphins took on a record $99.2million in dead cap.
The Dolphins took on over $99million in dead cap in order to cut Tagovailoa this offseason
While in Miami, Tagovailoa suffered multiple serious concussions that led to doctors and NFL analysts pleading with him to consider retirement.
This offseason, the Falcons signed Tagovailoa to a one-year, $1.3million contract.
Atlanta is projected with just a 27.6 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to The Athletic.
The Falcons have not made the playoffs since 2017, a drought of eight years that is tied for the second-longest absence from the postseason in franchise history.
