Know Your Foe: Week 2, Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons’ current quarterback situation is anybody’s guess. Truly, take your best guess. The club would love to have Michael Penix back after tearing his ACL in Week 11 last season. There’s always a possibility he’d be ready and available for this week’s game, but after only returning to practice in mid-August and not playing any preseason games, he wasn’t quite ready for Week 1; his status for Week 2 remains unclear.

The QB did practice as a full participant all of last week.

Penix’s backup, Tua Tagovailoa, was ruled out for Week 1 with an oblique injury. The third quarterback up was Cooper Rush. He had back spasms on Saturday but pushed through and played Sunday. He finished with 143 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions on 12-of-22 passing.

With all three passers dealing with various injuries, the next man up, should it come to that, would be UDFA rookie Jack Strand.

Coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters on Monday he didn’t have an update on the status of any of the quarterbacks, but would hope to know more in the next day or two. The Falcons’ first injury report will be available Wednesday afternoon.

Whoever is taking snaps on Sunday against the Panthers could potentially be without a huge piece of their protection. All-Pro guard Chris Lindstrom left Sunday’s game and is now in the concussion protocol. His status will become clearer on Wednesday’s injury report as well.