Falcons burned by misplaced faith in Younghoe Koo

The Buccaneers kept offering the Falcons gifts. Chase McLaughlin put a bow on the game by missing an extra point with a little more than a minute left. That left the door open for the Falcons to force overtime and steal a victory that they didn’t really deserve.

The door closed when Younghoe Koo missed a 44-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds. The Bucs escaped with a 23-20 victory at Mercedes-Benz Stadium after Koo couldn’t make a high-percentage kick, same as last season.

“He missed it,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “I’m not going to sit here and pretend I can tell you about the technique and what happened with that miss. But we’ve got to make those kicks. Those are very makeable kicks, and that’s something we’ve got to lock in and make those kicks and be able to get it done.”

Morris shouldn’t have been surprised. Koo has been missing makeable kicks for a while now.

He was 7 for 11 on kicks from 40 to 49 yards last season. Only one kicker in the league, Jake Moody, had more misses from that distance. NFL kickers are supposed to be near-automatic from closer than 50 yards nowadays, but the Falcons couldn’t count on Koo last season.

They still can’t. Before Koo missed the 44-yarder at the end on Sunday, he hit the right upright with a kick from 36 yards away. That kick went luckily through for three points.

When Koo lined up to try the 44-yarder from the left hash mark, Bucs coach Todd Bowles called timeout before the snap. Koo decided to take a practice swing. The kick that didn’t count went just to the right of the left upright.

Maybe Koo was thinking about that kick when he lined up again. This time, his kick started right and never came back. It was the kind of bad miss that the Falcons saw from Koo too many times in 2024.

What made them think it was going to be different this season?

Morris: “You can go through your preparation, your offseason, watching him train, watching him do what he has to do. You’ve got a lot of confidence in what he’s done for you in the past. If that stuff doesn’t happen, you’ve got to make those changes and those corrections. But you’ve got to have confidence in your guys and you always will.”

The Falcons shouldn’t have confidence in Koo anymore. He’s been great for them in the past, but that has no bearing on his performance now. Koo has become unreliable. Few things sap a team’s spirit more than a kicker who can’t be counted on to make the attempts that they should.

Koo wasn’t around to explain himself after the game. A team public relations representative said Koo left before media were admitted into the locker room. That should be another red flag for the Falcons. I never take it personally when players don’t do interviews, but a sense of professionalism should compel Koo to explain himself after the big miss.

Koo’s teammates spoke on his behalf and said all the right things.

Quarterback Michael Penix Jr.: “We’ve got all the confidence in the world in Koo, man … Just like everybody else, man, we’re not perfect. We go out there and we try to be, but I will never look at Koo any type of (negative) way because of the missed field goal he had because I know that’s not him.”

Linebacker Divine Deablo: “It’s a hard job and I‘m going to stand behind him every time,” Falcons linebacker Divine Deablo said. “It’s not his fault. It’s everybody’s fault. It’s the whole team’s fault and we’ve just got to play better.”

I agree with Deablo that it’s not Koo’s fault. The fault is with Falcons decision-makers for putting Koo in that position. They are mismanaging the kicker position for the second year in a row.

The Falcons kept sending Koo out to kick last year with a bad hip. Something was obviously off with his performance, but the Falcons didn’t put Koo on injured reserve until Week 14. That was after Koo missed five of 14 attempts over a five-game stretch (one blocked), with three of those misses from 46 yards or closer.

Koo made 25 of 34 attempts in 2024. His accuracy (73.5%) was third lowest among kickers with at least 30 tries. Justin Tucker (73.3%) and Jake Moody (70.6%) were worse. The Falcons decided to retain Koo while not adding any serious competition for him to the offseason roster.

The other kicker in training camp was Lenny Krieg, whose only pro experience is in a developmental league in Europe. Koo’s salary-cap figure of $5.5 million is fourth highest among NFL kickers. As a vested veteran, Koo’s $4.25 million salary became fully guaranteed once he was on the game day roster for Week 1.

The Falcons showed too much faith in Koo after his bad season.

“Last year is last year,” Falcons special teams coach Marquice Williams said in the days before the season opener. “He has the (right) mentality … He’s healthy, he’s ready to go, he’s been great out there (in practice). He’s making great contact on the football. Now it’s just for us to go up on Sunday and show up.”

Koo didn’t show up on Sunday. He’s not the only reason the Falcons lost, but he didn’t give them a chance to win. He did the same thing last season.