
Atlanta’s kicker bounced back in a major way against the Colts, fueling a huge win.
To say the Atlanta Falcons have been reliant on Younghoe Koo this season would be to understate matters. The Falcons have scored 287 points this season and Koo has been directly responsible for 113 of them; he has scored nearly a third of the team’s points on field goals alone. That was the case again versus Indianapolis, where the team might’ve won without his contributions but could not have beaten the Colts so decisively had he not come through over and over again en route to five field goals and a pair of extra points.
That major output—Koo had 17 of Atlanta’s 29 points—led to the team’s kicker being recognized as the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time in 2023. He previously collected it in Week 7, when the Falcons beat the Buccaneers 16-13 and Koo contributed 10 of those points, including a 51 yard field goal as time expired to seal the win.
NFC Players of the Week! (Week 16) (by @FastTwitchDrink) @AsapPuka | @Ifeatu_Mel | @YounghoeKoo pic.twitter.com/vipBjcA8Dr
— NFL (@NFL) December 27, 2023
It’s the fourth such award of Koo’s career, all of them with the Falcons, as he previously picked up two in his debut season in Atlanta back in 2019. Koo is the only player to win that award twice in a season for the Falcons since Darrien Gordon, who cashed in two back in 2001 as a returner. Only Morten Andersen, who won the award three times back in 1995 for Atlanta, has collected more of them in a single season.
This is another fine season for Koo, who despite a pair of misses against Tampa Bay a couple of weeks ago remains one of the best kickers in the NFL. Koo’s 90.9% field goal rate is the 12th-best mark in the league, and he’s tied for fourth in the NFL in terms of field goals made. If Atlanta is going to win their final two games of the season, it’s likely Koo will have a major hand (or leg, I suppose) in those outcomes, as he so often does. Please congratulate him for another deserved award.