The Atlanta Falcons have showed in the first two weeks of the 2026 NFL season that having a competent quarterback is quite important.
It’s not a shocking revelation, of course, but it’s been quite ugly for the Falcons so far as they’ve struggled with Cooper Rush and Jack Strand at the most important position in sports.
The Falcons lost 20-13 in Week 1 as Rush had a rough day, but that was just an appetizer for a nightmare of a 34-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday as Rush struggled so mightily that he was pulled for the undrafted D-II rookie Strand, who didn’t fare much better.
Atlanta is hoping that things are going to naturally get better soon. At least one, if not both, of Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa should be on the verge of an injury return.
It’s gotta happen fast, though, because the Falcons are about to play on Thursday Night Football to open up Week 3 at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers.
In the meantime, one former NFL quarterback has weighed in.
RG3 on Falcons
Robert Griffin III was once the No. 2 overall pick into the NFL behind just Andrew Luck, and he looked like an early star in Washington.
Injuries derailed his career, though, and now he talks about sports for a living.
This is what he wrote on X on Sunday:
“When Cooper Rush and Jack Strand are stinking it up in Atlanta it makes zero sense that QBs like Cam Newton, Jimmy Garoppolo, Ryan Tannehill and myself aren’t the veteran presence in the room to stabilize teams when their QB goes down. These guys were playing for Carolina today.”
Griffin does have a pretty fair point, to an extent. It does feel like there are some quality veteran QBs out there who simply haven’t been given another chance.
Is his list perfect? Maybe not.
It’s been a long time since Griffin played, and while Newton has also talked about suiting up for the Falcons in this chaos, he also has been out of the league for about five years.
Tannehill is a little more interesting, but it’s not clear he’d be seeking a return anyway.
Garoppolo is the most fascinating. He’s played well in the NFL pretty recently and was just backing up Matthew Stafford with the Rams before not latching onto a team for this season. Whether or not Jimmy G is trying to keep playing is something that isn’t particularly known by the public.
The reality is that Rush was probably supposed to simply be a veteran presence himself as a QB3 but then got pressed into action. It’s been such an unusual situation in Atlanta that it’s not necessarily worth comparing it to your average setup.
Falcons Good News
The good news for Atlanta is that reports on Sunday indicated that both Penix and Tagovailoa should be back soon.
Ideally for the Falcons, one would be back to play on Thursday in Green Bay.
If they aren’t ready then, it’ll be a long gap until Week 4, when the Falcons play on Monday Night Football — which should allow for enough time to surely return one of the left-handed QBs to the starting role that one of them was supposed to have all along.
RG3 Offers QB Solution For Falcons