Tua Tagovailoa’s debut for the Atlanta Falcons was one to forget.The 28-year-old quarterback, who is in a competition with Michael Penix Jr. for the starting role, missed his first opportunity to impress new head coach Kevin Stefanski on Friday night.Tua had a debut to forget for the Falcons on Friday nightGettyPenix is returning from a torn ACL suffered last year, and hasn’t yet been cleared to practice fully, meaning Tagovailoa is — by default — ahead of him in the battle heading towards Week 1 of the NFL season.But his play against the Denver Broncos didn’t suggest that.Tua has debut to forget for Falcons as fans slam performanceTagovailoa played two series in the preseason opener. He went 3-of-5 passing for 22 yards, with four of his targets going to tight end Kyle Pitts — one of the NFL’s top players at the position.On his second snap, out of the shotgun, the veteran quarterback fumbled the ball before falling on it.NFL Weekly Newsletter - SIGN UP!talkSPORT is your home for NFL in the UK as we launch our biggest year of coverage yet!2026 promises to be an epic year for NFL on talkSPORT – and we want you to join us for the ride.SIGN UP HERE!This season will be our biggest ever with live commentary of 90+ games, including behind-the-scenes access to international games and all three London fixtures, plus bumper coverage of Super Bowl 61 at SoFi Stadium.Exclusive interviews, hard-hitting opinion, latest front-office drama and top breaking news – all delivered straight to your inbox each week.His play set the tone for a lethargic Falcons performance, and the team were beaten 27-7 at home by the Broncos.Tua’s effort, albeit in a meaningless preseason game, is apparently already cause for concern.A number of Falcons fans took to social media on Saturday night to hit the panic button.“Get him off my team,” one wrote, reacting to the early fumble.“Tua Tagovailoa ladies and gentlemen. The Falcons are going into the season with the worst QB Room,” another said.“Sheshh, he really is awful,” a third claimed.Tua fumbled a shotgun snap, much to the annoyance of fans on social mediaGetty“Death. Taxes. Tua mishandling perfect snaps,” a fourth said.“I want the whole franchise to burn,” a fifth concluded.Tua Tagovailoa takes responsibility for tough Falcons lossSpeaking postgame, Tagovailoa himself admitted things were ‘definitely not up to standard’ for the Falcons in their preseason defeat.“Frustrated and disappointed at the way things happened tonight as we went out there,” he said.“Just thinking about it, what we put out there is not a reflection of the hard work that we’ve put in the first two weeks into training camp and it does no justice for the work that our coaches, as well, have implemented.“So, it starts with me, I got to be better with that. I thought off of that (second) play, (things) kind of got out of the rhythm.”Tagovailoa took responsibility for a lethargic Falcons performance postgameGettyTua went on to say that his performance did him no favors in his battle with Penix.“I’m competing,” he added“I’m wanting to go out there for points on the board, not go out there and we’ll go three-and-out, three-and-out — not be able to perform to the level that I know I’m able to do.“So always looking at everything as a competition, but just got to be better.”Tua is in competition with Penix (R) for the starting roleGettyCoach Stefanski, though, was quick to play down any potential issues with Tua and the offense, and refused to grade him on just nine plays.“I evaluate the entire offense in that regard,” he said.“So, didn’t move the ball well enough as an offense. Certainly, there’s some things that we can clean up. We did drop a snap out there.“Those are little plays that we will continue to work on. But hard to give a grade on that… sample size.”Tagovailoa will likely get another run out for the Falcons next Saturday, when the team heads to Lucas Oil Stadium to face the Indianapolis Colts.Fans, though, will no doubt be desperate for Penix to make his full return, as the early reviews of Tua are far from pleasant.