Falcons rule out Tua Tagovailoa; Cooper Rush to start Sunday at Pittsburgh
The Falcons have settled their quarterback question the hard way. Atlanta ruled out Tua Tagovailoa for Sunday's opener at Pittsburgh, making Cooper Rush the starting quarterback, per Adam Schefter. An oblique injury is what kep…
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The Falcons have settled their quarterback question the hard way. Atlanta ruled out Tua Tagovailoa for Sunday's opener at Pittsburgh, making Cooper Rush the starting quarterback, per Adam Schefter.
Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter): With Tua Tagovailoa sidelined due to an oblique injury, Falcons QB Cooper Rush will start Sunday's opener at Pittsburgh.
An oblique injury is what kept Tagovailoa off the field, and it caps a turbulent week in which he was limited in practice and Rush took every first-team rep. Rush has been on the roster since signing with Atlanta on July 29, and his first start comes against a Steelers defense that will test him immediately.
The development ends a competition that had centered on Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. all summer. Instead of either of them, Atlanta opens with its veteran backup, a scenario the club surely did not script when it acquired Tagovailoa. For the Steelers, the scouting report for Week 1 now shifts from a mobile left-hander to Rush's more conventional pocket style, a change that ripples through Pittsburgh's game plan as much as Atlanta's.