Is Younghoe Koo’s time with the Falcons about up?
Koo connected on a career-low 73.5 percent of his field goals last season in 14 games. In Sunday’s loss to the Bucs, Koo then had one of his attempts go off an upright before it went through the posts. Then he badly missed a game-tying, 44-yard attempt wide right at the end of the game.
Head coach Raheem Morris told reporters in his Monday press conference that while Koo is the kicker right now, the team will bring in veterans and emerging players as competition at kicker.
“We’ve got to go out there and look,” Morris said, via Will McFadden of the team’s website. “We’ve got to bring in people to compete.”
Morris also noted that the team has to change its approach in certain situations because of Koo’s unreliability.
Koo, who did not speak to the media on Sunday in violation of the league’s access policy, told reporters on Monday how frustrated he was about the result.
“It’s tough, obviously,” Koo said, via Terrin Waack of the team’s website. “But as always, just got to get back to work. Definitely frustrated. Had a great offseason, great camp. Two weeks leading into Week 1, I felt great. I still do.”
So what happened?
“Throughout the game with that turf, I was kind of hitting the ground a little bit, so I tried to make an adjustment, which I have done multiple times, and I just made the wrong kind of adjustment at that time, and I know what to do,” Koo said, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN. “But it’s just frustrating. I know better than that, and I just got to do a better job.”
We’ll see if it’s Koo or another kicker on the field in Week 2 when the Falcons play the Vikings on Sunday Night Football.
