Since 2011, NFL teams were 349-3 when scoring 17-or-more points and allowing zero offensive touchdowns. But none of those three teams had Younghoe Koo. As NFL Network’s Steve Wyche tweeted, the Falcons said Koo Dat and secured a 26-24 division win over the Saints on Sunday.
Atlanta (2-2) got touchdowns on special teams and defense, and Koo hit field goals of 53, 44, 42 and – with two seconds left – 58 yards.
Wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge put Atlanta on the board less than four minutes into the game, recovering Rashid Shaheed’s muffed punt in the end zone. Then, after a pair of Taysom Hill touchdowns, Derek Carr’s pass intended for Chris Olave was tipped by Matthew Judon into the arms of linebacker Troy Andersen, who returned the interception 47 yards for a second-quarter touchdown.
Meanwhile, the Falcons’ offense was just 4-for-11 on third-down attempts and penetrated the red zone only once.
“There’s a lot to fix,” quarterback Kirk Cousins said after the win, courtesy of ESPN.com’s Marc Raimondi. “And so, you come away saying, ‘I’m so glad we won,’ but I’m going to be voice-memoing on the way home to the coaches with some thoughts and how I’ve got to be better and how we’ve got to build on it.”
But they’re building on a win, and in the NFL, a win is a win. Specifically, Sunday marked Atlanta’s first win without an offensive touchdown since Sept. 26, 2004. The last time an NFL team lost a game scoring 24 points and not allowing an offensive TD, ironically, was also New Orleans, on Dec. 18, 1983.
In a game that featured four lead changes, New Orleans scored on a high-effort, 1-yard touchdown run by Alvin Kamara as the Saints took a 24-23 lead with exactly one minute left in regulation. But that’s when the Falcons this time benefitted from a pass-interference call, unlike last week’s loss to the Chiefs.
Atlanta, which had picked on Paulson Adebo all afternoon, induced the fourth-year cornerback into a penalty on Cousins’ pass intended for Darnell Mooney. Koo connected on the 58-yard game-winner four plays later.
Koo is now 19 for his last 19 on fourth-quarter field-goal attempts.
New Orleans outscored its opponents 91-29 in Weeks 1-2 but the Saints have now lost consecutive games by a combined five points.