FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons held their final full practice Monday morning before they hit the road for joint practices in Indianapolis this week with the Colts.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski detailed the plan for players over the course of the next week's football activities. Starters will get the majority of the reps in joint practice, but will not play in the team's second preseason game Saturday.

"We have two really good days planned with the Colts, Wednesday and Thursday," Stefanski said. "I have had great conversations with coach (Shane) Steichen and his staff about the things that we're going to try to get done over the two days."

Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will continue at the pace he's currently on in regard to his return-to-play rehab plan. Penix will participate in individual drills, 1-on-1s and 7-on-7s, but still nothing during team periods.

Stefanski said 7-on-7 periods are already on the schedule for both days of practice so Penix can get some work in opposite the Colts defense.

This means Tua Tagovailoa will get the bulk of the run in joint practices, while Cooper Rush and Jack Strand will hold down the offense in the game. As to who starts Saturday, Rush or Strand, Stefanski said the coaches will make a firm decision later in the week depending on how joints go.

As for what the last couple days have been for coaches coming off of the team's first preseason game last week, there was much to evaluate.

Stefanski said while there were some good moments — a second-half turnover, good command of the offense by the offense's UDFA rookie quarterback, Strand — there was "plenty to clean up."

Defensively, Stefanski felt the defensive backs were "too grabby" on the backend, which is something that they'll work more closely during the coming practices, especially when going up against a different scheme. He added he'd like to see the secondary make more plays when the ball is in the air, saying he thought "there were some contested catches that (the Broncos) came down with."

Offensively, Stefanski's evaluation really began with the run game, saying the efficiency on early downs "has to be better." And although the Broncos brought significant pressure with their defensive front, that was something Stefanski said they liked to see to really test the strength of the offensive line.

"By and large," Stefanski noted, "I thought the protection responsibilities were really good."

Still, he wanted to see more from this offense from start to finish, and that includes Tagovailoa despite him (and other first-team offensive players) only getting about nine plays the other night.

"He wants to be better," Stefanski said of Tagovailoa. "Our offense wants to be better. Our coaches want to be better in those nine plays. ... We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, and be where our feet are. Trying to improve on some of the small things that we identify as coaches and correct them this week."

So, with that improvement in mind, let's take a look at the going-ons in practice Monday.

Notes and observation from practice:

Roll call: OT Jawaan Taylor, S Jessie Bates III and S Xavier Watts all practiced in some form or fashion Monday. In fact, Taylor got in a good number of 11-on-11 reps with the first-team offense Monday as his ramp-up period kicks into a new gear. This is the first time he has participated in team work.

OT Jake Matthews — who is dealing with an undisclosed injury — did not practice Monday, but Stefanski said pre-practice that there was no cause for concern regarding Matthews and the injury. OT Michael Jerrell ran with the first-team offense at left tackle in Matthews' place. OT Brandon Walton also got in a couple more times at right tackle in relief of Taylor.

Bates participated in individual drills, but wasn't seen much (if at all) on the field beyond that. Watts got in on a couple downs during 7-on-7s period, but the bulk of first-team reps at safety in team drills went to S DeMarcco Hellams and S Sydney Brown.

CB Avieon Terrell did not practice Monday. With Terrell out and Brown taking a lot of safety reps, DB Darnay Holmes got significant run with the first-team defense at starting nickel. Other players who did not participate: DL Da'Shawn Hand and DE Bralen Trice.

ILB Divine Deablo did not participate in practice until the very end. Though he wasn't in pads, he did put on a helmet and run through some walk through looks with Bates and Watts while the rest of the team worked through a couple special teams drills. ILB Josh Woods got a little bit more rotational work in alongside Kendal Daniels, Harold Perkins Jr. and Christian Harris.

DE Cameron Sample, who signed with the team last week, rotated in during the 11-on-11 period for the first time.

Let's talk right tackle: Asked whether or not any player separated themselves at the position, Stefanski said no. That it is too soon to say there's separation between the primary three who have been taking the reps: Jerrell, Walton and Ethan Onianwa.

DeWalt's carry over: DB Malcolm DeWalt IV had a couple key plays in Friday night's preseason game. In the second half he nearly came down with an athletic interception at the front corner of the endzone before making a key special teams tackle a few plays later. He continued that hot streak, getting practice started in the first team period after individual drills with a nice pass breakup in coverage against WR Vinny Anthony II.

A few more moments like this from DeWalt — particularly in-game — could make him someone to watch on the bubble of the 53-man roster and the practice squad designations around cut downs later this month.

Taking a note and running with it: As stated in the first part of this article, Stefanski said he wanted to see more from the secondary by way of contested catches. Though the group was physical against receivers, there were a number of moments in the 7-on-7 period where defensive backs took that note to heart.

The defense had consecutive pass breakups against WR Drake London to start the period with Penix at quarterback. The first by CB A.J. Terrell in coverage, the second by Watts.

The offense got the next two with crossing routes over the middle by London and Branch, Penix hitting them both in stride. Brown hung with TE Charlie Woerner on the next play, getting a hand on a ball to strip it free as the two went out of bounds.

Tagovailoa subbed in for Penix for a handful of throws, continuing his targeting of tight ends that dominated his performance last Friday. Tagovailoa went to TE Austin Hooper on back-to-back throws, the first of which was a nice layered shot down the right sideline.

Penix came back in to finish out the 7s-session, trying to hit TE Kyle Pitts across the middle. ILB Kendal Daniels got a hand on the ball, though, knocking it out of Pitts' hands. Penix thread the needle on the very next rep, though, hitting London cutting between Daniels and Holmes in the heart of the defense and coming down with the catch.