Kevin Stefanski revealed the Falcons' QB plan in their second preseason game

Since the Atlanta Falcons scheduled two joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts leading up to their second preseason game, Kevin Stefanski has decided not to play the Falcons' starters on Saturday afternoon, and is instead treating the two joint sessions as the reps the starters would typically get.

That means that Tua Tagovailoa won't take the field in Indianapolis. No starters will, so only the second and third-teams well. And by process of elimination, since Tagovailoa won't play in preseason game two, Jack Strand and Cooper Rush are set to take all of the reps at quarterback on Saturday.

However, Stefanski never revealed exactly how the rotation between the two would look, but it always felt obvious. But now we have confirmation. Rush and Strand will each get a full half of the game as the starter, which means it doesn't entirely matter which signal-caller starts and gets the first half.

Jack Strand and Cooper Rush will split QB1 reps for the Falcons on Saturday

Cooper Rush was listed first on the Falcons' second unofficial depth chart, so right now, it seems like a fair assumption that the veteran will start the first half--especially since he played first in the preseason opener. But Stefanski has never outwardly confirmed as such, even if it seems very likely.

Here's the thing though: Rush looked way worse last week. He completed less than 40% of his passes and threw two interceptions. including a pick-six. Meanwhile, Strand completed half of his 12 pass attempts and was responsible for the only touchdown the Dirty Birds scored last Friday night.

The undrafted rookie fared pretty well given it was his NFL debut, but he somehow still hasn't gained any favor. but I'm still not sure what dirt Rush has on Stefanski. The 32-year-old has been a career journeyman for a reason, whereas his competition for the QB3 job is more of a moldable piece of clay.

The weirdest part is that they split first-team reps while both Tua and Michael Penix Jr. were injured at the start at training camp. In fact, Strand took most of those reps with the 1s while Rush was in his acclimation phase--but as soon as it ended, he was given the rookie treatment and fell down the depth chart.

Regardless, the QB3 competition is far from settled. In fact, it seems like it's only getting started. So Kevin Stefanski is going to allow both Jack Strand and Cooper Rush a full audition to prove themselves worthy of being the third-stringer later this weekend. Let's see how it plays out.

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