The Saints fired Dennis Allen on Monday, and interim head coach Darren Rizzi got his first win the same week as the Saints topped the Falcons 20-17.
Atlanta dominated their rivals. The Falcons ran 73 plays to the Saints’ 52, outgained them with 458 yards to 365, and converted 25 first downs to the Saints’ 14. The reasons why the Falcons lost was a late-game interception by Kirk Cousins and three missed field goals by Younghoe Koo.
The typically reliable Koo has been off for the past month or so. Dating back to the Falcons’ overtime win against the Buccaneers, the veteran kicker has missed seven of his 15 field goal attempts, which is a 53% hit rate and well below Koo’s career average of 88.8% during his time in Atlanta.
The Falcons had plenty of chances to win this one, but they continued to shoot themselves in the foot. Younghoe Koo is amid a slump, and he’ll have to wear that, but there’s virtually no world where Raheem Morris goes away from his guy.
Changing kickers isn’t something you do frivolously, especially ones with as much cache with his team as Koo. In that same breath, parting ways with him would save the Falcons around $4 million against next year’s cap.
It’s certainly an offseason decision and not one you make in the middle of a season for a team pushing for the playoffs.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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