It took a half for former first-round quarterback Josh Rosen to receive a snap in his first game with the Atlanta Falcons. But after getting on the field, it took two plays for Rosen to face his first third down -- a third-and-2 -- at the Falcons 35-yard line.
Before that snap, Rosen, who the Falcons signed just five days prior to the game, directed one of his receivers where to line up.
"I was just trying to get my guy in motion," Rosen said. "Just had to yell his name and tell him to go across."
The play resulted in an 8-yard completion to rookie wide receiver Frank Darby for a first down.
It wasn't all smooth sailing for the No. 10 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft. Rosen fumbled a snap two plays after his third-down conversion to Darby. He also missed badly on a few throws in the red zone.
But Rosen called the night productive in his postgame press conference.
"When you get an opportunity, you gotta seize the moment," he said. "It was a little bit refreshing to get out on the field and kind of half know the offense and just be able to let go and play football and have fun with it like you did back in Pop Warner.
"At times, I felt a little bit like a chicken with my head cut off running around. But I thought it was fun."
Let's not overstate one half of football against the Cleveland Browns backups. Rosen still has a very long way to go on his comeback trail. But overall, he displayed tremendous poise, especially considering he joined the Falcons last week.
Rosen hasn't had much game action with anyone else lately either. He last played in a regular season game with the Miami Dolphins in 2019. His only other NFL game action since then was one preseason appearance this August with the San Francisco 49ers.
He spent most of last season on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad. Rosen finished the year as the backup in San Francisco after Jimmy Garoppolo and Nick Mullens suffered injuries but did not play.
Rosen went 9 of 18 for 118 yards and a touchdown Sunday night against the Browns. He completed four passes for at least 15 yards, including a pair of 20-plus yard throws to wide receiver Juwan Green. Although the throws weren't always perfect, two of his passes were also dropped.
"I wasn't really confident with the play calls just because I was barely spitting them out," Rosen said. "But it was coming off my hand better than it has in awhile. It just feels really good."
Despite very little practice time, Rosen described in his postgame press conference how much better prepared he is for this opportunity in Atlanta. Rosen credited Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tom Brady for helping him mature as not only a quarterback but a professional and person the last couple years in Miami and Tampa. He also said Ryan "has been amazing" with helping him adapt to Atlanta's offense during his first week.
"I know I'm talented," Rosen said. "I know I can play. I just need the right opportunity and the right situation."
NFL teams must make their final roster cuts by Tuesday. Rosen will find out in the next couple days if he'll continue to receive the opportunity to make Atlanta the right situation.
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