Atlanta's quarterback carousel hits a new low: Cooper Rush starting Week 1 for the Falcons
Tua Tagovailoa was ruled out Friday with an oblique injury before throwing a single regular-season pass for Atlanta, forcing the Falcons to open 2026 with their seventh different Week 1 starter in six years. It is exactly as bad as it sounds.
In brief
Atlanta's quarterback carousel hits a new low: Cooper Rush starting Week 1 for the Falcons
Thursday morning in Flowery Branch, Georgia, Tua Tagovailoa grabbed his right side during an open practice period, bent over in obvious discomfort after a throw, and sat down briefly on the field. By Friday afternoon, the Atlanta Falcons had their answer. Tagovailoa has been officially ruled out for the Falcons' season opener Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Cooper Rush will get the start in his place.
So it goes in Atlanta. Again.
The Falcons have now named a sixth different Week 1 starting quarterback in six years. That sentence has no good spin. Matt Ryan started Week 1 of the 2021 season, his final year with the team. Marcus Mariota got the nod in 2022, Desmond Ridder in 2023. Kirk Cousins won the starting job in 2024 and Michael Penix Jr. opened the 2025 season. Now Rush, a 32-year-old journeyman who was not even on the roster six weeks ago, will line up behind center Sunday at Acrisure Stadium.
Tagovailoa appeared to tweak his back during Thursday's practice in a portion of the workout open to media, then appeared on the team's injury report before being ruled out Friday afternoon. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said Tagovailoa's injury is unrelated to the tight back he arrived at training camp with, which cost him about a week of practices, according to ESPN.
That is a lot of injury qualifiers for a man who has not yet played a regular-season snap for his new team.
Tagovailoa was released in the offseason following six seasons with the Miami Dolphins, who took him fifth overall in 2020. After his Miami parting, Tagovailoa was quickly signed by the Falcons and essentially won the starting job by default with Penix unavailable. He joined fellow left-handed thrower Penix in what had been expected to be a quarterback competition heading into the 2026 season, per ESPN.
Entering his seventh NFL season, Tagovailoa has now guaranteed he'll be unable to play a full 17-game season for the sixth time in his seven years. He played at least 16 games in a season only once, in 2023, when he was a Pro Bowler for the first time and led Miami to an 11-6 record and a postseason berth. Last season with the Dolphins, he had 2,660 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 14 games.
Penix is 'really close', but not close enough
The deeper problem for Atlanta is that the fallback option, Penix, is not available either. Penix tore his ACL against the Panthers in Week 11 of 2025. While he showed some upside in his nine games before that, the injury was a devastating blow for the former No. 8 pick. He has since been medically cleared to return, though he told reporters he wants to feel closer to full strength before taking the field in 2026. "I had that conversation and I just told [coach Stefanski], 'I'm not where I want to be right now,'" Penix said. "I want to be able to be 100 percent so I can help this team win football games. And I'm really close."
Stefanski confirmed there was no scenario where Penix suits up Sunday. Jack Strand, an undrafted free agent, will act as Rush's backup. The Falcons' entire quarterback depth chart heading into Week 1 of a season they hoped would be a reset consists of a veteran signed out of necessity and a player who was not drafted by any team in the league.
Rush is a 32-year-old NFL veteran with 42 games of experience, including 16 starts. He is officially the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart behind Tagovailoa and the injured Penix, and Sunday will be his 17th career start and first for the Falcons. Atlanta signed Rush after Tagovailoa's apparent back issue surfaced earlier in training camp. He was never meant to see a regular-season snap in 2026. Now he is opening the year.
"Cooper has been a backup in this league," head coach Kevin Stefanski said Friday. "He knows how to prepare." Rush took the news in stride publicly. "It's huge," Rush said of getting first-team reps Thursday. "All those reps matter."
New coach, same old mess
The Falcons fired Raheem Morris in the offseason and hired Kevin Stefanski as their head coach after he was let go by the Cleveland Browns. Stefanski came to Atlanta with a reputation as a quarterback developer and a play-caller who could get the most out of flawed roster situations. His first real test is not a scheme question. It is a personnel emergency.
Like Tagovailoa, Rush is in his first season with Atlanta, which has had a season's worth of quarterback questions for new head coach Kevin Stefanski to deal with before even beginning its campaign.
One mild comfort for the Falcons: the NFC South is as big a crapshoot as any division in the NFL. The Panthers won the division last year with an 8-9 record. Atlanta hasn't won the division since 2016, when they last appeared in the Super Bowl. Every year the window for a bad team to sneak through remains open. But you generally need to know who your quarterback is by September.
Tagovailoa largely underperformed in the preseason, and with Penix getting healthier by the day, one has to wonder whether Tagovailoa's opportunity to start has already slipped away. Rush will start for the Falcons in Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers after Tagovailoa was ruled week-to-week with the oblique issue. If Rush holds his own or the Steelers win comfortably, the question of whether Tagovailoa gets his roster spot back when healthy becomes very real very fast.
Rush and the Falcons kick off against the Steelers at 1 p.m. ET Sunday.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
