Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will start the Atlanta Falcons’ preseason opener against the Denver Broncos on Friday night in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, head coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday.Stefanski cautioned that the team is not naming a regular-season starter at this point, but he said he was excited to see Tagovailoa suiting up for the Falcons.“Looking forward to Tua getting his first action in a game in this system,” he said. “There’s a lot of newness for him.”The Falcons will play their starters for “a series, 10 plays” against the Broncos, Stefanski said. Veteran Cooper Rush will be Atlanta’s second quarterback, and undrafted free agent Jack Strand will “finish the game,” Stefanski said.Michael Penix Jr., the eighth pick in the 2024 draft, still has not been cleared for 11-on-11 work in practice while he rehabilitates a torn ACL he suffered in Week 11 last season.Has the Falcons' QB competition even begun?Josh Kendall“Preseason plays a big role for your team collectively,” Tagovailoa said before the announcement Wednesday. “You have to go out there and make the calls. Whether it’s right or wrong, you have to live with them.”The veteran was limited throughout the first week of training camp by lower back tightness but has started to look more comfortable in Stefanski’s offense the last three practices.“He’s getting better every day,” quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt said this week. “It’s tough always to come into a new system, but really the last three or four days, he’s really come on. The biggest thing is you can tell he can see the field really well. If the defense makes a mistake, he can see that and exploit it.”Tagovailoa signed with Atlanta this offseason on a one-year deal worth the league minimum of $1.2 million after the Miami Dolphins released him following two years of a $212.4 million extension. Penix has participated in seven-on-seven drills and individual work throughout training camp and has looked good.“Really good, throwing it really well,” Van Pelt said. “I love his footwork right now. Really proud of the way he has progressed, can’t wait for him to get back.”Meanwhile this week, Penix told Cam Newton on Newton’s “4th&1” podcast that he feels healthy physically but still needs to fully trust his surgically repaired knee.“I have to make sure I’m 100 percent,” Penix said. “When I get out there, I don’t want to be thinking about it. A lot of it is mental. Physically, I’ve got a good ACL. I can go out there and do anything. But mentally, I hesitate. It’s like, ‘Do I trust it?’”Stefanski said Wednesday he is “very, very confident with where we are with Mike.”“I think he’s doing a great job,” Stefanski said. “I’m confident in the plan that medical has for Mike, and that Mike has. I think confidence just comes from all these reps. Very pleased with where Mike is.”