Atlanta Falcons: Do not underestimate Younghoe Koo’s value

Most of the time in the NFL kickers are looked at as replaceable players, but the Atlanta Falcons have not worked that way over the past decade.

Atlanta Falcons fans should feel lucky that they had one of the most clutch kickers in the league in Matt Bryant for years. He won the team a lot of games and should be a Hall of Famer even though he will probably never make it.

Just look at the Chicago Bears who have lost playoff games because they have not been able to find a steady kicker.

The other lucky break the Falcons got was stumbling onto another elite kicker so quickly after Matt Bryant was finished.

Younghoe Koo’s value and impact on the Atlanta Falcons should not be overlooked, he truly could be considered the first “playmaking kicker.”

Younghoe Koo has shown his value in the kicking game. How shocking to see that from a kicker in the NFL.

All jokes aside, there is one thing that Younghoe Koo has surprised people with, other than his comeback into the NFL, and that is his perfection of the onside kick.

With new rules put in place by the NFL that disallow uneven amounts of players on one side of the kicker during kickoffs or onside kick, it has taken an already low percentage of successful onside kicks and made it next to impossible for the usual team to convert one.

The Atlanta Falcons are not the usual team, however, due to the fact that Younghoe is not the usual kicker. He knows how to kick the onside kick so that it takes a perfect bounce causing problems for the hands’ team.

Think about when the Falcons almost made a miraculous comeback against the Saints. Younghoe was able to convert two straight onside kicks (or what technically was three straight due to an awful call by the refs). If the Falcons could have blocked Cam Jordan for one drive, they would have made an incredible comeback.

This gives the Falcons hope during the fourth quarter that any other team does not have.

Of course, the Falcons have not exactly been known for their fourth-quarter comebacks, but they may end up changing that just because of Younghoe Koo.

Never underestimate what Younghoe Koo brings to this Atlanta Falcons team, it is more than just making field goals or PAT’s, it is making plays that no other team has had even close to the same amount of success as Younghoe.