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Photo by Chris Hunkeler from Carlsbad, California, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsTwo Points for the Question
The second of the four documents I said I was counting landed Thursday, and the name on it is Tua Tagovailoa's. Here is what that does to a number I put on a different quarterback's knee.
The second of my four documents landed Thursday with the other quarterback's name on it.
Tuesday I priced Michael Penix Jr.'s knee at 64% to take a regular-season snap by November 15. Wednesday moved it to 67 and I wrote that a number that leaps on the first of four has to crawl back on the third. Thursday is the second.
Penix: full participation, knee, second straight day. New line: Tua Tagovailoa, oblique, limited. Per ESPN's Marc Raimondi, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported him day-to-day, and Cooper Rush took every first-team rep. Adam Schefter said on air we're staring at the possibility that Cooper Rush starts Week 1 for Atlanta.
Possibility is his word. Friday's form, the third document, turns it into one of three others.
This is a Rush story, not a Penix story.
What put Penix on the inactive list was Penix, Monday, telling Kevin Stefanski he is "not where I want to be right now." An oblique on the man ahead of him changes who plays Sunday. It does not change what Penix said about his knee, and nobody has reported the club asking again.
What it changes is how often he gets asked. A club that might start a man with 16 career starts, 9-7, asks its first-round quarterback about his knee more than a club with Tua does. That is worth something. It is not worth an oblique.
So 67 goes to 69. Two points, for the question, not the answer.
I am not pricing Tua's Sunday. I could not see a knee from out here and I cannot see an oblique. Nobody has reported a side, a grade or a timeline. I do not price what I cannot see.
The deadline is still November 15. The apology column is still mine.
The Tilt
Tua's oblique is a Cooper Rush story, not a Michael Penix story.
— Dex Ponce
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The Blind Side Moved
Tua Tagovailoa is limited with an oblique, and the man who took every first-team rep in his place throws with the other hand. Three days ago I wrote that Pittsburgh already knew the only thing about Atlanta's quarterback that changes its plan; that sentence did not survive Thursday.
Sixty-Four Goes to Sixty-Seven
On Tuesday I priced a knee I could not see at 64%. Wednesday the Falcons printed the first thing I could actually look at, and it was worth exactly three points.
The Wrong Document Answered
Michael Penix Jr. took 100% of his normal reps at Wednesday's practice, and the same page said he will not be active Sunday. Those are not two findings in one document; they are two documents, and the one that decides anything is not due until 4:00 p.m. Friday.