Tua Tagovailoa’s shaky Falcons debut leaves Atlanta’s QB competition wide open

ATLANTA — Tua Tagovailoa managed one first down in two series. Kevin Stefanski is still not ready to name a starter for Week 1. And I’m here to tell you we’re all focusing on the wrong thing anyway.

The Atlanta Falcons opened the Stefanski era Friday night against the Denver Broncos in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the preseason opener for both teams. There have been better debuts. The Broncos won 27-7 as Atlanta posted nearly as many punts (eight) and penalties (nine) as first downs (11).

“Our standard for our football team remains the same whether it’s the first quarter or fourth quarter or a preseason game,” Stefanski said. “Not good enough across the board. That’s why we’ll get back to work.”

Tagovailoa, too, made his debut with the Falcons. After six years with the Dolphins, he joined Atlanta on a one-year, $1.2 million deal this offseason in hopes of finding a second act for his career. He finished 3-for-5 passing for 22 yards in two series and was upset with himself afterward for dropping the second snap of the game, leading to a 4-yard loss.

“What we put out there is not a reflection of the hard work we have put in the first two weeks of training camp,” he said. “It starts with me. I have to be better. This being preseason is no excuse to put a performance like that on tape. Not happy at all.”

Even after Friday’s shaky start, Tagovailoa could walk into the starting job in the season opener with little competition. Michael Penix Jr. still has not been cleared for 11-on-11 work in practice, much less a game. The Falcons have joint practices against the Colts in Indianapolis next week, and Stefanski is talking as if he doesn’t expect Penix to be cleared for those, either.

If Penix is limited throughout next week, then he’d have a maximum of three weeks to compete with Tagovailoa before the Sept. 13 season opener. That doesn’t feel like enough time, even if quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt thinks he’s been able to get a good look at Penix already.

“He looks really good, throwing it really well right now,” Van Pelt said. “I love his footwork, really proud of the way he has progressed, can’t wait for him to get back.”

Despite Penix’s limitations, he has been active in practices, participating in most individual drills and taking more seven-on-seven reps than Tagovailoa as the coaching staff attempts to even out the overall number of practice snaps.

“I think we do (have enough reps to evaluate him),” Van Pelt said. “He’s done everything he can possibly do to put himself in position to compete. It’ll be a matter of time when that comes. Then we’ll reset and take a look.”

To the naked eye, Penix looks as if he could go now. He dressed out for Friday night’s game and went through the full warmup program. On the practice field, he looks healthy. And he is, he said.

“I have an amazing ACL,” Penix said. “When I went to my doctor, he’s like, ‘This is an amazing ACL. You should never have any knee problems for the rest of your career.’ That’s word for word what he told me. So I was like, ‘OK, I hear that, but it’s like, all right, now do I trust that?’”

Penix must cross a mental hurdle before he’s ready for a full return, he conceded. He’s run this race before. He knows where all the pitfalls are. Penix is recovering from his fifth season-ending injury since the beginning of his collegiate career. He’s been through ACL reconstruction three times. He suffered this injury, the first to his right knee, in Week 11 last year.

“Mentally, I don’t know how to put it,” he said. “If something bad happened to you, right, and you remember every step of what happened getting you up to that point, the next time you do it, you are going to think about it again. Even if you feel like the results are going to be better.”

Good for Penix for being vulnerable enough to admit that. Shame on you if you think that’s a knock on his ability to start for an NFL team.

“I feel like I can do just about anything except take a hit, and that’s what we’re trying to stay away from,” he said.

Penix knows better than anyone else how critical this season is for him. He is halfway through the rookie contract he signed after being the surprise eighth pick of the 2024 draft. Now is when teams generally start deciding whether to pick up the fifth-year option, but the Falcons don’t have enough information to make that decision.

Penix has started 12 NFL games (and won only four of them), and he’s never played under this coaching staff or personnel department. President of football Matt Ryan, general manager Ian Cunningham and Stefanski have to know by the end of this season whether Penix is the Falcons’ quarterback of the future.

That means Penix needs to play this year. Even if Tagovailoa gets the Week 1 start, there’s nothing in his recent play to suggest he’ll play well enough to close the competition. There was certainly nothing in the Falcons’ team performance Friday night to suggest they are going to get off to the type of fast start that would make a quarterback change ill advised.

These Falcons have not been to the playoffs in eight years, and the fanbase is desperate to return. That, though, falls under the category of “wants.” What this team “needs” is to sort out its quarterback situation for the 2026 season. To figure that out, Penix has to start at some point.

It can’t be any worse than what we watched Friday night.