New Year, Same Falcons

As the final seconds of the 4th quarter ticked down, Younghoe Koo lines up and takes a practice kick as the Buccaneers call a timeout. He misses wide left.

On the next attempt, Koo misses wide right and this attempt counts. The Falcons fail to tie the game and lose to the Buccaneers 23-20 in week one.

The game got off to an awesome start for the Falcons, as Penix threw it to Bijan Robinson for a long touchdown to go up 7-0.

After the first drive though, the Falcons struggled the rest of the first half while only managing to score a field goal.

Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier only managed 48 yards on the ground on 22 carries throughout the game for just over 2 yards a carry.

Today wasn’t all negative though, as I thought Penix had a nice game. He was elusive throughout and managed to only get sacked once.

He ran only when he had to, including late in the 4th quarter on fourth down when he dove to get the first down.

A few plays later he ran in into the endzone to briefly give the Falcons the lead with just a few minutes left in the game.

He went 27/42 for 298 yards with a touchdown without one of his top targets Darnell Mooney. If anything, we can be sure he’s an upgrade over Kirk Cousins.

I even thought the defense had a decent game too, considering four rookies were starting including the Falcons two first round defensive ends.

Yet the Falcons always seem to find a way to lose these games.

As the Buccaneers got the ball back with a few minutes left in the game, you could feel the comeback was brewing.

The loss is definitely not all on Koo, but I’m not exactly happy with him right now. Is it time to look at the waiver wire for a new kicker?

All I know is the Falcons have a week to get things figured out before the prime time game against the Vikings next Sunday. Lets see how they look then.