Falcons: Throwback to Younghoe Koo’s insane Thanksgiving performance

Remember that time three years ago when the Atlanta Falcons’ kicker Younghoe Koo turned in one of the greatest sequences of plays in NFL history?

The Atlanta Falcons were down on the scoreboard to the New Orleans Saints on Thanksgiving night in 2019 and Younghoe Koo did everything in his power to bring the team back.

Throwback to when Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo had 3 successful onside kicks

On Thanksgiving night on November 28, 2019, the Atlanta Falcons played the New Orleans Saints at home. The Falcons were not expected to win since they were bad that year.

The game started off with a sack on Matt Ryan, the Falcons went three and out, and then Ryan Allen’s punt was tipped setting up the Saints’ offense on the Falcons’ 30-yard line. New Orleans scored a touchdown with the great field position. The Falcons ended up scoring a touchdown later on but Younghoe Koo, ironically, missed the extra point, and then he went on to miss a field goal.

But we are here to talk about the incredible plays he made late in the game. With around six minutes left  Atlanta got the ball down 26-9. In about three minutes, Matt Ryan took his team down the field and capped it off with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Russell Gage. They went for two but the conversion failed.

Atlanta went for the onside kick by lining up Younghoe Koo to try and execute the impossible, which he did. He kicked a perfect bouncing ball that went to Alvin Kamara but Russell Gage ran into him causing the ball to pop out, which Foye Oluokun recovered.

However, Gage was lined up offsides, negating the play, the Falcons would have to try again. Koo, like it was nothing, kicked yet another perfect bouncing ball that Foye, once again, recovered giving the Falcons possession.

The Falcons went on to get the ball to the 25 and elected to kick a field goal on first down right after the two-minute warning, Koo nailed it to make it an eight-point game.

Yet, again, Younghoe Koo lined up to kick an onside kick and hit another beauty that Kemal Ishmael fought for and recovered. Sean Peyton was NOT happy.

To put it into perspective, in the following NFL season, onside kicks were converted on just 4.23% of attempts. Having a 4% chance coming true three times in a row is a 0.0064% chance. There are other factors that go into it, so that is calculated just on the surface, but it still gives you an idea of how ridiculous that was.

Also Read: Three things to be grateful for as a Falcons fan.

The best part of that whole sequence was how Alvin Kamara wanted nothing to do with going after the ball, he looked scared and he let Foye grab the ball. So, the Saints then put Michael Thomas in his place and the exact same thing happened, he gave a half-hearted attempt at grabbing the ball.

As great as that was, Atlanta’s offensive line went on to give up four sacks in seven plays (although one of those sacks and plays was negated by a penalty). The Falcons gained one yard on the drive and lost, ruining one of the greatest performances by a kicker.