Falcons' Younghoe Koo Benched for Vikings Game After Missing Game-Tying FG vs. Bucs

The Atlanta Falcons are making a change at kicker, at least temporarily.

According to Tori McElhaney of the team's website, the Falcons have ruled Younghoe Koo out for their Week 2 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings and elevated kicker Parker Romo to the game day roster.

Per that report, "The organization listed Koo's reason for downgrade as not being injury related. He did not travel with the team to Minnesota."

Koo badly missed a potential game-tying 44-yard field goal as time expired on Sunday during Atlanta's 23-20 loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1.

While he had made seven straight game-tying or game-winning field goals in the final minute of the fourth quarter or in overtime dating back to Sept. 2022, per McElhaney, he was just 25-for-34 on field goals last season. His 73.5 field goal percentage was the worst of his tenure with the Falcons, and of particular concern was that he was only 13-for-20 beyond 40 yards.

Head coach Raheem Morris offered a pretty blunt assessment of the situation after the game.

"That's a cut-and-dry position, right? You either make it or you don't, and we've got to have guys in a position to make them," he told reporters Wednesday. "And there's no real coaching points there. Obviously, there's kicking aspects and there's points of those coaching things that they want to do and all those things. But for us, from a fan standpoint, a coach's standpoint, everything else, you either make them or you don't. You've got to go out and let it be competitive at every level. You want to go out and try to win games, and we wouldn't be having this conversation if you make those kicks—you make them all clean, and that's not the conversation. But we put it on ourselves, and now we've got to go out there and we've got to be ready to deal and be ready to make the best out of it."

As for Romo, he appeared in four games for the Vikings last season, finishing 11-for-12 on field goals and 7-for-8 on extra points. He was 5-for-6 on kicks longer than 40 yards. The Falcons will be hoping that consistency translates after making a change at the position.