FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — On Sunday, Tua Tagovailoa will join a club that is bigger than it probably should be.He will become the 14th quarterback to start a game under first-year Atlanta coach Kevin Stefanski when the Falcons face the Steelers in Pittsburgh.In six years in Cleveland, Stefanski started 13 quarterbacks in a regular-season game — Baker Mayfield, Case Keenum, Nick Mullens, Jacoby Brissett, Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, P.J. Walker, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Jeff Driskel, Jameis Winston, Bailey Zappe, Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel. Averaging more than two starters per season is a tough way to live in the NFL, said Norv Turner, who was the offensive coordinator in Minnesota for three seasons while Stefanski was an offensive assistant with the Vikings.“The No. 1 thing you have to get right is the quarterback position,” Turner said. “The things they did in Cleveland (at the position) set them back so much and made it a real difficult coaching situation. If you get the quarterback thing right, then the coaching becomes a lot easier.”Time will tell if Tagovailoa is the right option for the Falcons. He was signed to a one-year, $1.2 million free-agent deal this offseason after being released by Miami, where he spent six seasons and left the Dolphins with a dead-cap hit of nearly $100 million.“I would say it’s a blessing,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday of his second chance in Atlanta. “It’s not something that I take for granted.”Why there's more to the Falcons' decision to start Tua Tagovailoa Week 1Josh KendallIt will be Tagovailoa’s 77th career regular-season start and his first since Week 15 last season, which also came against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. He was 22-of-28 for 253 yards and threw for two touchdowns and one interception in that game, which was played in 17-degree temperatures. He was also sacked four times. He was replaced by rookie Quinn Ewers after that game and did not play another snap for the Dolphins.“When something gets taken away from you, you start to think about all the things you could have changed,” Tagovailoa said. “Looking back at my time in Miami, there are things I could have done better. There’s a lot of things I think I could have done better, turning the ball over, could have played better, my decision-making … it just wasn’t good enough.”Tagovailoa is getting the start in Week 1 over Michael Penix Jr., who said earlier this week that he still doesn’t feel ready for game action while recovering from a torn ACL suffered in Week 15 last year. Penix was cleared for 11-on-11 practice work on Aug. 24 and said he feels “real close” to being ready to play in a game.“How I am taking it is, I have to go with this day to day,” Tagovailoa said of the starting job. “What I can control is how I prepare, how I play, how I perform.”Veteran Cooper Rush will serve as Tagovailoa’s backup against the Steelers, while Penix will be inactive. The Falcons will tailor their game plan to Tagovailoa’s strengths, Stefanski said. In six years in Miami, the quarterback was fourth in the NFL in completion percentage (68 percent) but 50th in air yards per target (7.4). In the last two seasons, Tagovailoa’s air yards per target dropped to 6.3, which ranks 63rd in the league in that span, according to TruMedia.“Any coach, you’re worth your salt if you’re doing what your players do best and leaning into what your players do best,” Stefanski said. “Quarterbacks are comfortable with certain things, and they are not comfortable with everything. Our job is to figure out, ‘What in this broad scheme fits his eye?’”The Falcons have been searching for an answer at quarterback since Matt Ryan, who is now their president of football, started all 16 games of the 2020 season. Five quarterbacks — Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, Kirk Cousins and Penix — have made at least four regular-season starts since then. Running back Bijan Robinson has played behind four of them in his three seasons in the league.“I just make sure I am here to support them no matter what,” Robinson said of playing with a new starter at the position. “My job is to make sure they are supported when I talk to the media so they can feel confident going into it.”Robinson has followed that plan with Tagovailoa throughout the preseason.“He has a lot of talent around him, and I think it’s going to make him a lot more confident,” Robinson said. “It’s just him having that trust in us to put the ball in our hands.”That game plan will feature plenty of Atlanta’s rushing attack, Robinson believes.“There’s a desire by a lot of coaches to show everything you’ve been working on, and that’s just not reality. There are just not enough plays for that,” Stefanski said. “For Tua and all of our players, understanding what the game plan entails, understanding what we are trying to attack on each play is the most important thing.”