FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Michael Penix Jr. will not play in Friday's final preseason game against the Miami Dolphins.

Suffice to say, Kevin Stefanski said, Penix only just received clearance to participate in 11-on-11 work in practice. The staff doesn't want to rush him back if they don't need to. Penix, himself, agreed with the decision, stating he's only had three full practices, playing in the game now would feel "too soon."

That said, there is still an overall sense of Penix being right where he needs to be.

Speaking with the media after Wednesday's practice, Penix said he's feeling good, confident. A lot of what the last three days of full-team reps have been for him has been getting back into rhythm.

"When you put a d-line out there, things start moving a little bit faster," Penix said. "So, (this week it was about) slowing the game back down. And I do feel like each day since (Monday) I have been getting better, more comfortable and confident with that."

As Stefanski put it, it's a really good first step.

"This was an important week for Mike," Stefanski explained. "First time out there with people around you, the offensive line, defensive line, going through a drill where you have to move up in the pocket or get chased out of the pocket. I thought it to be a really good first step for Mike."

Later, Penix noted that even taking his recovery to this point — almost exactly nine months since he underwent his surgery — was intentional.

According to Penix, he actually underwent a slightly different procedure to repair his torn ACL than he had in his previous knee injuries. This, he continued, was to better strengthen the knee as a whole, and its why he was on a little longer timeline to return than what he had been through injury-wise in the past.

As far as timelines go, even without playing in a preseason game, Penix said he still has confidence in his ability to be available by Week 1.

"I've been feeling really good," Penix said, "and as long as I keep the track that I'm on, I definitely feel like I will be where I need to be mentally and physically to feel confident enough to go out there in Week 1."

As for where the quarterback competition stands at the current juncture, Stefanski expressed it's important to him to not get too far down the road.

"I am best served, and we are best served, keeping it day-to-day and focusing on what's in front of us," the head coach said when asked about when he would like to name a starting quarterback.

That said, when it comes to Penix getting back out on the field for full-team work, Stefanski has been pleased with what he's seen.

"I don't want to put words in Mike's mouth, but I thought he looked good," Stefanski concluded. "He moved around well. He's put a lot of work into this. I think you see that in the moments he's getting away from center, making throws."

Notes and observations from practice:

Roll call: Wednesday was a rest day for the Falcons' veteran offensive tackles. Jake Matthews and Jawaan Taylor did not participate in practice.

Fellow offensive lineman Kyle Hinton continued to be held out as he worked through an undisclosed injury sustained in the second quarter of last Saturday's second preseason game. He has not participated in practice this week. Same with defensive lineman Da'Shawn Hand, who has not practiced with the team since the pads came on weeks ago.

Avieon Terrell continued to increase his load after missing some practices over the last week. He got arguably his most live, team and 7-on-7 reps Wednesday, working primarily at nickel with the starting defense.

Like Terrell, Bralen Trice was ramped up throughout this week in terms of reps. He started the week wearing a non-contact jersey during team periods. Wednesday, despite the pads not being on, he got a lot of run both in rotation with 2s as well as providing some scouting looks.

There continued to be a heavy rotation at linebacker with Divine Deablo fully back in the fold. It wasn't uncommon to see Kendal Daniels and Harold Perkins Jr. rotating in every other play to line up alongside Deablo.

'This is the best he's looked': This quote came from Falcons secondary coach Justin Hood as he was discussing safety DeMarcco Hellams. Because Bates has been limited through the last few weeks of the preseason, it's Hellams who has taken the vast majority of the reps with the first-team defense alongside Xavier Watts.

Hood praised Hellams and how he's shown up throughout training camp, stating Hellams has really taken hold of the opportunity at hand with Bates being out. Per Hood, the defense hasn't missed much of a beat at all, and a lot of that can be attributed to Hellams.

Hood continued later by saying they'll welcome Bates back when he is ready, but in the meantime, Hellams has continuously shown that depth at safety is in good hands.

On deck: The Falcons spent this week in the lead up to their game in Miami mimicking the workload of an actual game week. That included the introduction of play cards and scout team looks. Stefanski said after practice Wednesday that he was pleased with the incorporation of said cards, and how smoothly practice ultimately ran.

"We coach that really, really hard, having a good card," Stefanski said. "Coaching the guys up so they know what to do so they can do it with great effort. What you never want a card period to do is turn into a glorified walk through. I thought our look teams, our scout teams and our offense and defense going up against those cards did a nice job. There's room to improve there, too, but now was the right time to introduce that to our players."

A very good day for QBs: Penix and Tagovailoa put together some solid moments towards a day that had very few misses in the pass game.

Tagovailoa worked with the first-team offense in the early 7-on-7 period, while Penix was with the 2s. They split reps pretty evenly in 11-on-11. However, when the team went to their cards period for the offense running against the scout team, Tagovailoa worked with the 1s and Jack Strand rotated in thereafter. This likely because Penix will not play Friday.

Tagovailoa's best throw came in an early red zone 7-on-7 period where he threaded the needle to Kyle Pitts for a touchdown in the middle of the endzone between a couple defenders. Overall, Tagovailoa was nearly perfect in his attempts during team periods. I counted only one incompletion.

Penix's best throw came a couple plays later when he rotated in with the 2s in that same period. He had a nice high ball to Austin Hooper in the very back middle of the endzone. A perfectly placed ball thrown with two defenders on Hooper, but thrown in a place only Hooper could reach. Overall, Penix had a solid day, too, only missing a couple throws deep of the eight drop backs I counted.

A reminder: Roster cut downs happen this weekend, with announcements by teams to be made by 6 p.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 30. Practice squads can be announced once cut players clear waivers, which happens usually 24 hours after they hit the waiver wire.