Video of Tua Tagovailoa’s back injury sustained at Atlanta Falcons practice on Thursday does not look good for his chances of playing in Week 1 in Pittsburgh against the Steelers.
News first emerged simply that Tagovailoa’s back had acted up at practice.
The Athletic’s Josh Kendall first shared this update on X early Thursday afternoon:
“Falcons QB Tua Tagovailoa appeared to suffer discomfort during individual throwing drills Thursday and briefly went to the ground. Tagovailoa missed the first week of training camp due to lower back spasms.”
ESPN’s Marc Raimondi followed with this on X:
“During the open media portion of practice, #Falcons QB Tua Tagovailoa touched his back and sat down on the grass briefly during individual drills Thursday. It was unclear exactly what had happened. He didn’t seem to throw again after, but media only gets to watch a small portion of practice.”
None of that sounded good, but then video came out, and it looks even worse.
Tua Tagovailoa Back Injury Video
Local television reporter Reggie Chatman Jr. had his camera pointed in the right direction at the right time on Thursday afternoon.
He caught the moment Tagovailoa went down, and in the portion of practice open to media, Tagovailoa didn’t participate anymore.
Chatman shared the video on X, and you can watch it by clicking this link:
#WATCH: I happened to catch the moment #Falcons QB Tua Tagovailoa went down briefly during the open portion of #Falcons practice
He stood off to the side for the rest of the period we were able to watch. https://t.co/VyzfRrzond pic.twitter.com/sIO2CtmOkF
— Reggie Chatman Jr. (@ReggieChatman) September 10, 2026
While Tagovailoa does jog away mostly OK, the fall itself is kind of spooky. It certainly isn’t an ideal look a few days before opening the season.
Tagovailoa has dealt with multiple hip injuries in his career, and he also had back spasms early in training camp, so this wouldn’t be coming totally out of nowhere. The timing is far from ideal for the Falcons, though.
Cooper Rush Update
Cooper Rush entered this week as the Falcons’ backup QB with Michael Penix still recovering from his knee injury, and that meant Rush got to talk to media after practice on Thursday.
Rush revealed that he took all the first-team snaps during the practice:
Talking to Cooper Rush now
Says he took the rest of the first team reps at practice. Says even one day with that amount of reps is very helpful
Next man up pic.twitter.com/G1ameBDqWN
— Reggie Chatman Jr. (@ReggieChatman) September 10, 2026
Rush was the long-time Dallas Cowboys backup to Dak Prescott. He spent last season with the Baltimore Ravens and began the year as the backup, but he struggled when called into action to replace Lamar Jackson and was eventually leapfrogged on the depth chart by Tyler Huntley.
With Penix, Tagovailoa and undrafted rookie Jack Strand also around, the odds weren’t that high that Rush would start a game this season for Atlanta. But with just a few days until kickoff in Pittsburgh, the odds of that happening have risen considerably.
Video of Tua Tagovailoa’s Back Injury Looks Bad for Falcons