Hello Falcoholics, and welcome to Friday’s Falcons Opening Drive. Today, of course, is the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11th. Our hearts go out to the survivors, to those who lost their lives that day or as a result, to those who still mourn loved ones they’ve lost, and to all of us who bore witness.

I’m on my way to Flowery Branch to see what Friday’s practice has in store for us. Obviously, I’ll be keeping my eye on the quarterback situation, and what Tua Tagovailoa’s able to do in the portion of practice we’re allowed to watch. As always, I’ll share my reporting from practice in The Falcoholic’s Feed.

I’ll dig into the Tua injury situation below, we’ll walk through the Falcons coverage you need to check out before Atlanta takes on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1, and make sure you scroll down to the comments and answer our question of the day: What’s your boldest prediction for Falcons vs. Steelers? Let us know in the comments.

When the Falcons named Tua Tagovailoa the Week 1 starting quarterback, I wrote that Atlanta’s QB situation has been a roller coaster ride this summer, and not a particularly fun one.

Friends … I want off this ride.

The Athletic’s Josh Kendall reported Thursday that Tua Tagovailoa went down during practice appearing to be experiencing pain in his lower back or side. Reggie Chatman Jr. from 11 Alive News happened to catch the moment Tua went down:

The team listed Tua as limited on Thursday’s injury report, and Cooper Rush told the media after practice that he took the majority of the first-team snaps.

As Josh Kendall noted, Tua missed some time at the beginning of camp with lower back spasms. We do not know if these issues are related.

I don’t know what to expect, but I do know this: I am going to start mentally preparing myself for Cooper Rush, starting Falcons QB if Tua isn’t able to participate in that early part of practice. There are still two days before kickoff, and NFL players have access to extensive treatment options. Maybe limiting Tua so much on Thursday was precautionary and he’ll be fully ready to go on Sunday. We can hope.

But after over two decades of following this team, I have a very real concern that the Falcons are, for some cosmic reason beyond my comprehension, not allowed to have nice things.

Let’s all hope I’m wrong.

And let’s get to the Falcons coverage you need to watch, read, or listen to before the Falcons take on the Steelers this Sunday.

From the Falcoholic Community

NorthernHawksFan said it so well: Cooper Rush isn’t the best the Falcons can do at quarterback in the grand scheme … but he might be the best they can do this week. Throwing an undrafted free agent rookie out of a D2 program to the wolves in Week 1 would be less than ideal for Jack Strand’s development.

The Falcoholic’s Question of the Day:

What are your boldest predictions for Sunday’s matchup with the Steelers? Here are mine:

Share your boldest predictions in the comments.