American Football currently - NFL: Atlanta does not need an offensive touchdown against the Saints

Atlanta didn’t need an offensive touchdown against the Saints

Kirk Cousins (21/35, 238 yds., INT) and the Falcons’ offense (2-2) once again fell short of expectations in a 26:24 home win against division rival New Orleans (2-2). . They were still able to celebrate thanks to their colleagues on defense, the special team and kicker Younghoe Koo.

The most important thing in brief:

The Falcons won a game without scoring an offensive touchdown for the first time since 2004.
Koo hit the game-winning field goal with just two seconds left on the clock. It was the longest field goal of his career.
The Saints lost despite having significantly more offensive plays (70) than Atlanta (49).

The course of the game:

The importance of special teams was underlined in this matchup. Atlanta leaned on a muffed punt after the first drive. When the football slipped out of Rashid Shaheed’s hand near his own end zone, several Falcons players were immediately there and pounced on the ball – Falcons touchdown. New Orleans was shocked in the ensuing drive (9 plays, 6 running plays) and equalized with a rushing touchdown from Taysom Hill. Shortly thereafter, the game seemed to be overturned when Kirk Cousins threw his pick of the day and Taysom Hill ran into the end zone again at the end of the next series.
However, events took another turn and the division duel took a new turn. Younghoe Koo scored his first of four urgently needed field goals from 53 yards. Atlanta only managed 14 first downs by the end of the entire game, but was able to rely on the special team as well as the defense, which resulted in an interception by Derek Carr (28/36, 239 yds., INT) on the Saints’ next drive touchdown. Matthew Judon had previously deflected the pass decisively, allowing Troy Andersen to fish the ball out of the air and carry it 47 yards to the end zone.
The Falcons managed to score more touchdowns in the rest of the game, with Atlanta still having a paltry five offensive touchdowns in four games already played. The Saints almost punished their division rivals. Shortly before the end, Alvin Kamara (19 Car., 77 Yds., TD) gave his team the lead again, but the final chapter of this pairing belonged to Younghoe Koo with a game-winning field goal from 58 yards.

Final notes:

The Saints lose their second game in a row, while the Falcons have just four days to prepare for Thursday night’s game against the Buccaneers.
Tyler Allgeier (8 Car. 60 Yds) ran for more than twice as many yards as Bijan Robinson (7 Car. 28 Yds.).
No Falcons receiver runs for more than 64 yards (Drake London 6/12 Rec.).

Steffen Wilkens – September 30, 2024

Younghoe Koo crowns his day at work with the game-winning field goal.