The Falcons’ Kevin Stefanski Era Begins with...Cooper Rush as His Starting QB?

The breaking news came out of Atlanta, and Chris delivered it. Tua Tagovailoa has been ruled out for Sunday's game against Pittsburgh with an oblique injury. Cooper Rush will start.

Everyone on set had seen the video of Tagovailoa going down, grabbing his lower back and sitting on the ground. To the table, it looked like a back spasm, the kind of thing everyone in the room has experienced.

The bigger picture is remarkable. Michael Penix Jr. can't answer the bell because he is coming back from his knee injury, and now Tagovailoa can't either. "And so it's Cooper Rush time, everybody," Rich said.

He also had a warning for anyone reacting in a panic. "That other rush that you're hearing is people running to potentially change their survivor pool pick," Rich said. "But I will counsel against that, cuz this is a dyed-in-the-wool professional backup quarterback who is on this team just in case this happens."

Rich pointed out what it says about the league. In a sport where you need incredible quarterback depth, the first third-string starter of the 2026 season is happening in week one. He wondered when that last happened.

The conversation then went where these conversations tend to go on the show. The name of the quarterback behind Rush on the depth chart struck the room as sounding like a character from "Boogie Nights," and then like a TV cop working the beach. Naturally, the part should go to Paul Rudd. Someone offered to ask him, though Rudd is a little busy with the next Avengers movie.

That set off a debate about the franchise's titles. If "Endgame" already happened, how is there a "Doomsday"? And if there's a "Doomsday," is there really a doomsday? Rich compared the Falcons' quarterback situation to the drummer in "Spinal Tap," then noticed how many pop culture references he was stacking up.

He brought it back to Pittsburgh. Steelers fans, Rich said, should be feeling good, even amid all the talk from Aaron Rodgers' podcast appearance about Antarctica and Atlantis. Rich texted Cam Heyward the night before. "Man, your quarterback gave you content," Rich told him. He hopes the Steelers put up as many points as the podcast produced content.

The football reality is that Pittsburgh's home opener comes against a team starting its third-string quarterback. Next week, the Steelers go to New England, where the Patriots will be without A.J. Brown and a crowd could get frothy if the first quarter goes badly for the home team. Rich thinks Pittsburgh could take that crowd out.

He kept going through the schedule. Cincinnati at home. A trip to Cleveland, which means another hostile crowd. Indianapolis at home. A game at Tampa Bay, "which is no joke." New Orleans in Paris. Cleveland again before the bye.

That was enough for someone on set to float an 8 and 0 start. The table shut that down immediately. "Stop it."

Rich settled on something more measured. "There is a path to starting well."