Cooper Rush is taking the Atlanta Falcons’ first-team snaps this week and is expected to start Sunday’s home opener against Carolina, according to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, as Michael Penix Jr. continues to work back from knee surgery.
“Falcons QB Cooper Rush is taking the first-team reps now and is expected to start Week 2, sources say. No surprise, with Michael Penix Jr not quite ready,” Rapoport wrote Friday.
The report landed four days after Atlanta opened the season with a 20-13 loss at Pittsburgh, a game that exposed how unsettled the quarterback position remains under first-year coach Kevin Stefanski.
Rush completed 12 of 22 passes for 143 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in that loss. One of those picks was returned 35 yards for a touchdown by Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt. Rush was sacked four times and finished with a 51.9 passer rating.
Atlanta did not plan to lean on the 32-year-old veteran in Week 1. Stefanski named Tua Tagovailoa the starter earlier in the week, only to rule him out after Tagovailoa suffered an oblique injury in Thursday practice. Penix, still recovering from a torn ACL suffered against Carolina last November, was already inactive.
Rush, signed July 29 after injuries thinned the quarterback room at the start of camp, started despite back spasms of his own. Undrafted rookie Jack Strand dressed as the backup and did not play.
Penix has practiced fully this week and split some first-team work earlier in the week, but people around the team say he is not yet comfortable enough for live game action. The left-hander is returning from his third ACL reconstruction, a history that has made Atlanta cautious even as he logs more team drills.
“Mentally, I want to go play, but I am not going to go out there if I’m not where I need to be physically,” Penix said this week.
Stefanski has declined to name a starter publicly.
“We are working through it,” he said Wednesday. Tagovailoa did not practice Wednesday or Thursday, leaving Rush and Penix as the primary options and Strand as a remote possibility.
Sunday’s opponent offers Atlanta a chance to stabilize. Carolina allowed 59 points and 552 yards in a 59-37 home loss to Chicago, the most points the Panthers have ever surrendered. The Bears and Panthers combined for 96 points, the highest-scoring Week 1 game in NFL history.
Rush is 9-8 as a career starter over 17 games with Dallas, Baltimore and now Atlanta. He has completed 60.8 percent of his passes for 3,909 yards, 21 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in 43 career games. Those numbers make him a known quantity, if not the long-term answer Atlanta hoped to settle on after overhauling the coaching staff and front office.
The Falcons cannot afford a long debate. After hosting the Panthers at 1 p.m. Sunday on FOX, they play Thursday night at Green Bay, leaving little practice time if the starter changes again.
Atlanta’s quarterback carousel is now stretching into a second week of the regular season. Tagovailoa’s oblique has lingered. Penix is close, by his own description, but not ready.
That leaves Rush, whose Week 1 tape was shaky, as the expected starter when the Falcons try to even their record at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Whether that assignment lasts beyond Sunday will depend on how Penix’s knee responds and how quickly Atlanta decides it can trust its 2024 first-round pick in a live game. For now, the first-team reps belong to Rush.
