Fresh off Labor Day weekend, the NFL moves into hyperdrive ahead of the first weekend of the season. While the defending Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots kick off the season Wednesday night, most of the league spent Wednesday in a big preparation day ahead of this weekend’s action.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons are among those teams preparing days ahead of the season opener Sunday at 1 PM/ET at Acrisure Stadium. The Steelers were banged up throughout training camp and the preseason but appear healthy entering the matchup.
First-year Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski didn’t divulge much regarding injuries on Wednesday, but the official team report that dropped late Wednesday afternoon shows Atlanta is in great shape ahead of the matchup with the Steelers.
Senior Falcons reporter Will McFadden tweeted out the report moments ago.
The Atlanta Falcons’ first injury report of the 2026 season is out. Five players were limited on Wednesday, including rookie receiver Zachariah Branch and defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus. https://t.co/T51e1QuWNs
— Will McFadden (@willmcfadden) September 9, 2026
FALCONS’ WEEK 1 WEDNESDAY INJURY REPORT
DNP
None
LIMITED
CB Billy Bowman Jr. (Achilles)
OL Kyle Hinton (knee)
DL Brandon Dorlus (groin)
DE Za’Darius Smith (shoulder)
WR Zachariah Branch (hamstring)
FULL
QB Michael Penix Jr. (knee)
The Falcons didn’t have a player miss practice Wednesday. That’s not a huge surprise considering that it’s Week 1 and teams haven’t played a game since their preseason finale in late August. Still, it’s good news for the Falcons.
Atlanta has just six players on the Wednesday injury report, which includes quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and rookie wide receiver Zachariah Branch.
Penix will be inactive Sunday against the Steelers as he continues to make his way back from a torn ACL. Though he was cleared for 11-on-11 work in training camp and made a late push for the starting job over Tua Tagovailoa, Stefanski said earlier in the week that Penix wasn’t where he wanted to be just yet. However, he’s close.
Close isn’t enough here as the Steelers will deal with Tagovailoa.
One other bit of good news for the Falcons is cornerback Billy Bowman Jr. returning to practice. Though he likely won’t play Sunday against the Steelers, Bowman is back practicing just nine months after suffering a torn Achilles.
“Continuing to progress. He’s somebody that I’ve gotten to witness firsthand how hard he’s worked,” Stefanski said, according to video via the Falcons’ YouTube page. “Really excited for Billy to be back practicing, part of individual periods last week and seeing him move around. He’s feeling really good. He’s getting close. We’ll continue to bring him along this week and see where we can get to, but that’s one that we need to monitor and see how he feels at practice, how he recovers. But he’s doing really, really well.”
Bowman played 300 snaps last season and had one interception before tearing his Achilles. The Falcons are pretty deep at cornerback, especially with the Terrell brothers in A.J. and Aveion, but Bowman’s imminent return will be a boost.
The inclusion of front-seven players Brandon Dorlus and Za’Darius Smith is concerning, considering the Falcons are already without Jalon Walker after a torn ACL in training camp, and James Pearce Jr. due to an eight-game suspension. They’ll both be worth monitoring the rest of the week.
