Falcons-Panthers, Week 2: still no QB1, and now no Da'Shawn Hand for the year

The Falcons host Carolina on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and the story hasn't moved since Pittsburgh. There's still no named starting quarterback, and now there's one fewer body on the defensive line for good.

Two 0-1 teams, one division, and a fan base that has spent a week refreshing a depth chart. The NFC South is a combined 0-4 after Week 1, which is either a gift or a warning. Nobody in this division has looked like they know yet.

The quarterback room is still a rumor

Atlanta's Week 2 depth chart lists Tua Tagovailoa first and Cooper Rush second. That's an unofficial depth chart, and Kevin Stefanski has said so repeatedly — on Monday he told reporters he had no update and needed to get through the day before committing to anyone.

Read the tea leaves and Rush is the likely starter again. Tua has been out since an oblique injury in practice before Week 1, and the head coach has given no return-to-play timeline for either Tua or Michael Penix Jr. Rush is the guy who, you know, has a functioning body right now.

Which is the whole problem. The Falcons carried four quarterbacks on the 53 — Tua, Rush, Penix, and Jack Strand — and in Week 1 the only one who could play threw the game away. That's what happens when the position is a depth chart instead of a plan.

Da'Shawn Hand is done, and that's the real gut punch

Stefanski confirmed Monday that Hand is out for the season with a quad injury suffered in Sunday's loss. He played seven defensive snaps before it went. The injury is expected to need surgery.

Hand was already the comeback story of camp — he missed most of the preseason with an August leg injury just to get back on the field. The coaching staff had him penciled in for a big role on the interior. Now the Falcons are asking LaCale London and Gervon Dexter to absorb those snaps, with Maason Smith next to them.

This defense was built around a pass rush that was already thin after the Walker and Pearce injuries. Losing a rotational piece who never got to play is exactly the kind of thing that doesn't show up in the box score until it's December.

Lindstrom in the protocol, and a thin line gets thinner

Chris Lindstrom left Sunday's game in the second quarter and is now in the league's concussion protocol. Kyle Hinton finished in his place. The Falcons said they'd know more as the week went on, and the protocol itself is plain: at least one day of full practice after clearance before a player can be active.

Right guard is not a position where you want to be auditioning in a divisional home opener. Lindstrom is a captain and the anchor of the run game that just produced 173 yards from one man. The only change on the depth chart from Week 1 to Week 2 was removing Cameron Williams, who went to IR on Saturday — Atlanta can't afford many more of those lines moving.

Carolina is not a get-right game

The Panthers lost 59-37 at home to Chicago in Week 1, which sounds like a laugher until you notice they scored 37 and Bryce Young was one of the best-graded quarterbacks of the week. Carolina's problem was the other side of the ball. Ours is both sides.

That's the trap. A 0-1 team coming off a shootout loss, with a quarterback in a contract year and nothing to protect, is precisely the kind of opponent that punishes a shaky offense and a re-shuffled defensive front. This isn't a soft landing. It's a divisional knife fight at 1 p.m. in September.

Bird Gang bottom line

Six days after the opener, the Falcons are still asking the same question they asked in August: who plays quarterback, and can anyone stay upright long enough to matter. Bijan Robinson can carry 173 yards of this team in a loss, but he can't carry it to a division title alone. Home opener, 1 p.m., division rival, unanswered question — that's the first real lock of the season, and exactly the kind of game your league gets settled by. Get the Bird Gang into a free league at pickembaby.com before Sunday's kickoff.

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