Reporters at the open portion of Falcons practice send word that Tagovailoa is not on the field. Tagovailoa suffered an oblique injury during practice on Thursday.
That left Cooper Rush to take all of the first-team reps as Atlanta prepared to face the Steelers in their season opener. Rush signed with the team early in training camp while Tagovailoa and Michael Penix were both sidelined by injuries.
Penix has returned to practice, but he has been ruled out for this week as he continues to rebuild strength after last season's torn ACL. The team has not put a timetable on when Penix will be cleared for game action and Week 2 is not out of the question, so Tagovailoa's window for making any starts for Atlanta could close if he is not on the field this weekend.