The Atlanta Falcons suffered a rough loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. It was a great game (unless you’re a Falcons fan), but the Falcons ultimately fell 23-20 at home.
When you lose by three and miss a game-tying field goal in the closing seconds, it’s natural to look at the kicker. Especially when Falcons’ kicker Younghoe Koo struggled mightily last season and had to fend off Lenny Krieg in the preseason.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero is reporting that the Falcons are addressing the issue.
“The #Falcons are signing kicker Parker Romo to the practice squad, per source,” Pelissero posted on X. “After Younghoe Koo’s critical miss Sunday, Raheem Morris said they’d bring in competition. It’ll be Romo, who was 11-for-12 on field goals in four games last season with Minnesota.”
Raheem Morris said after the game he’d look at the Younghoe Koo situation
Following the loss, Falcons’ head coach Raheem Morris said that the kicker issue would be addressed.
“There’s no secrets around here how we go about our business,” Morris said. “There will always be a highly competitive atmosphere. … Obviously, we have a young man in the building that is more of a young, up-and-comer, developing prospect, but we’ll definitely look at outside and inside the building.”
Falcons.com digital reporter Terrin Waack gave a little more background on Romo following his addition.
“Morris said the Falcons wanted to look at both veteran and young kickers this week,” Waack wrote. “Romo is a veteran with limited playing experience. He was first signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2022 but did not play until 2024, when the Minnesota Vikings signed him to their active roster.
“Romo played in four games for the Vikings last season, making 11 of his 12 field goal attempts. He went 3-of-3 from 20-29 yards out, 3-of-3 from 30-39 yards out, 4-of-5 from 40-49 yards out and 1-of-1 from at least 50 yards out. His sole miss was a 43-yarder in the Vikings’ 23-22 win against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13.
“Romo also made seven of his eight point-after attempts.”
Younghoe Koo’s problems didn’t start on Sunday
Koo has historically been an excellent kicker. But, last year? He wasn’t. He was dealing with an injury, but sadly kickers have to kick through those as best they can. Any time off can lead to the loss of a job.
In 2024, Koo was 25-34 (73.5%) overall and missed half of his six attempts beyond 50 yards.
“Yeah, injury or not, it wasn’t the best season,” Koo said in training camp.
In that same interview, Koo was prescient.
“Week 1 comes, it doesn’t really matter what you’ve done or what you haven’t done in the past,” Koo said. “It’s what matters right there, so I just try to get ready for that.”
Koo is finding out now just how Nostradamus-like he was. His excellent career record doesn’t matter right now when you’re coming off a down season and arguably just cost your team a chance at a win.
Romo was signed to the practice squad, so Koo technically hasn’t lost his job…yet. A lot will probably depend on Tuesday’s practice.
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