5 things you may have missed from Falcons' 11th practice of training camp

It feels weird to say, but the Atlanta Falcons ' third week of training camp is underway, as they took part in their 11th practice of the summer on Tuesday morning. The weirder feeling is knowing that we're going to see this team take part in a real game for the first time since the first week of January.

The Falcons have just one more practice session before their first preseason game on Friday night against the Denver Broncos. Now that Tuesday's session is in the books, we're getting our final glimpses of getting this team prepared for their first true matchup of the Kevin Stefanski era.

The storylines of the day weren't as plentiful as they have been during other practices, but there was still a lot to talk about. And these were the biggest storylines of the Falcons' 11th practice and second of the week.

What are the biggest storylines from Day 11 of Falcons training camp?

Tua Tagovailoa's perfect day steals the spotlight

Tua Tagovailoa continues to strengthen his grip on the Falcons' QB "battle", and Tuesday may have offered the nail in the coffin. Without Drake London taking part in team sessions, it didn't matter. Tagovailoa still went a perfect 7-for-7 in 11-on-11s, which included a beautiful pass to Chris Blair.

Ever since he's returned to full contact, Tua has gotten better and better as then summer has progressed. It's clear the back injury that hampered him at the start of camp is no longer bothering him, and he's started to look progressively better across the last couple of days of practice.

On the same day that the Vikings officially named Kyler Murray their starting quarterback, Atlanta is in a similar situation. Michael Penix Jr.'s rehab ended this competition before it could begin, but he was still sharp in 7-on-7s, going 5-of-8.

Regardless, it doesn't matter Tua Tagovailoa is only confirming the inevitable: he's bound to follow in Murray's footsteps.

A very depleted defense took the field

The injury bug has really started to take its toll on the Dirty Birds, notably on the defensive side of the football. Jalon Walker was the spark, but it's only gotten worse since. Atlanta has been without Jessie Bates and Da'Shawn Hand for the last week, but Tuesday's practice saw the injury woes get worse.

In addition to Bates and Hand, the Falcons were reportedly missing DT La'Cale London, EDGE Bralen Trice, CB Avieon Terrell, DB Natrone Brooks, and LB Divine Deablo. Terrell went down during yesterday's practice and didn't participate again, while Deablo missed his second consecutive practice after getting rolled up on during Saturday's practice.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem like any of these absences are long-term issues.

The right tackle rotation takes an interesting turn

Jawaan Taylor was activated off the active/PUP list yesterday, but Atlanta hasn't deemed him ready for team sessions just yet after he missed all of OTAs. In his absence, the Falcons turned to seventh-round rookie Ethan Onianwa to take the majority of the first-team reps at right tackle in 11-on-11s.

It seems like Onianwa has overtaken Michael Jerrell as the starting right tackle until Jerrell returns, but in a training camp report from Atlantafalcons.com's Will McFadden, he noticed that the Falcons got creative with the way they lined them up closer to the end of practice: they played together.

"Atlanta got creative with some big-bodied sets during what appeared to be a live period near the end of practice," McFadden wrote. "They started the session by lining up both tackles Ethan Onianwa and Michael Jerrell next to one another on the right side of the line in a jumbo look."

Some unheralded receivers are shining

With London sidelined, Atlanta's practice session saw some other receivers shine. Olamide Zaccheus caught a touchdown from Penix during the skeleton drill, Chris Blair caught three passes from Tagovailoa in 11s, and Dylan Drummond has been a consistent presence throughout training camp.

Zaccheus is in line to start over Zachariah Branch (for now), and Blair has been one of the two best-performing receivers on the roster bubble for the Falcons this summer. Him and Juice Wells continue to make a real bid to stick around once the season rolls around, as will Drummond.

Another exclamation point for Kendal Daniels

Fourth-round rookie Kendal Daniels has been one of the stars of the week during Falcons camp, and the duo of Daniels and fellow rookie Harold Perkins Jr. have started to push Christian Harris during the inside linebacker competition as Atlanta auditions to find their LB2 in place of Kaden Elliss.

With Deablo sidelined, both Daniels and Perkins took reps with the first-team defense, but that's not all. Since the defense was missing their green dot, ESPN's Marc Raimondi reported that the Oklahoma product stepped in as the unit's leader. It's hard to be surprised given he's basically a Deablo clone.

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