{"id":282648,"date":"2026-09-10T02:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/282648\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T02:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T02:30:21","slug":"tagovailoas-first-start-with-falcons-comes-at-pittsburgh-where-he-made-final-start-with-dolphins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/282648\/","title":{"rendered":"Tagovailoa’s first start with Falcons comes at Pittsburgh, where he made final start with Dolphins"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Tua Tagovailoa’s<\/a> first chance at a fresh start with the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> will come Sunday at Pittsburgh, where he made the last start of his rocky final season with the Miami Dolphins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski announced on Monday that Tagovailoa will open the season as the starter and Michael Penix Jr.<\/a> will be inactive. Cooper Rush<\/a> will be the backup.<\/p>\n

Penix was listed as a full participant in Wednesday’s practice but did not play in a preseason game as he continues his recovery from a torn ACL in his left knee that ended his 2025 season. <\/p>\n

There already is speculation about how long Tagovailoa will keep the starting job after he was benched and eventually released by the Dolphins last season. Tagovailoa said Wednesday that Stefanski \u201cdidn\u2019t say any of that\u201d when he disclosed his plan for the quarterbacks this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow I\u2019m taking it is I\u2019ve got to go with this day to day,\u201d Tagovailoa said Wednesday. \u201cThat\u2019s out of my control. What I can control is how I prepare, how I go out there, how I perform. That\u2019s all I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanski would not say on Monday if a healthy Penix would be a backup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to really stay in Week 1 right now and Pittsburgh and not speculate past that,\u201d Stefanski said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to anyone at this point. But I feel good about where everybody is.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if he believes he has something to prove this season, Tagovailoa said: \u201cI don\u2019t think for myself and what I believe I don\u2019t have anything to prove to anyone outside. It\u2019s to prove to my own self that I can continue to play at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa set a career high with 15 interceptions before he was benched for the final three games last season.<\/p>\n

He had mixed results this preseason with Atlanta. He had two fumbled snaps in exhibition games, including one from the shotgun formation. He said ball security will be a key to returning to his 2023 form when he led the NFL<\/a> with 4,624 passing yards, and 2024, when he led the league by completing 72.9% of his passes.<\/p>\n

The quarterback said proper preparation is the key to avoiding turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all it is at the end of the day,\u201d Tagovailoa said. \u201cPrepare for certain looks and if we don\u2019t get certain looks, what are your check-downs, what are your outlets? Just be able to keep our offense on the field, keep the ball moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanski said his goal is to have a plan against the Steelers’ defense that takes advantage of Tagovailoa’s strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re only worth your salt if you\u2019re doing what your players do best and if you\u2019re leaning into what your players do best,\u201d Stefanski said. \u201cI can tell you with working with all the quarterbacks over my career, whether they started or not, the guys are comfortable with certain things and they\u2019re not comfortable with everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tagovailoa said he appreciated the opportunity to start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say it\u2019s a blessing,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce again it\u2019s not something I take for granted. When something gets taken away from you, you start to process everything and think of all the things you could have changed. Just me sort of … looking back at Miami at things I think I could have done better.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA (AP) \u2014 Tua Tagovailoa’s first chance at a fresh start with the Atlanta Falcons will come Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11861,81376,117588,4849,73,75,74,30492],"class_list":["post-282648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-cooper-rush","tag-michael-penix-jr","tag-national-football-league","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-tua-tagovailoa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}