FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons' special teams unit had a rollercoaster of a season in 2024.
The lows linger more than the highs, however, in the aftermath of what has been repeatedly called a disappointing 8-9 season. A year that could have looked — and therefore felt — better if a few field goals had fallen differently.
Overall, Falcons kickers Younghoe Koo and Riley Patterson made 29 of their 41 field-goal attempts. That 70.7% success rate is Atlanta's lowest since 2009 when it hit 65.5%.
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"Obviously, we missed entirely too many kicks this year," Falcons head coach Raheem Morris said after the season. "The brutal honest truth, that can't happen. We got to find ways to make those kicks. That certainly plays into the part of not winning the amount of games you want to win."
Take the two games against the New Orleans Saints as prime examples of how outcomes can be dictated by made or missed kicks.
The Falcons beat the Saints in Week 4 thanks to a career-long, 58-yard, walk-off field goal from Koo, who was a perfect 4-for-4 in that matchup. But Atlanta lost in the Week 10 rematch by just three points after Koo went 1-of-4.
Koo battled a hip injury at different points throughout the season and was ultimately placed on injured reserve in Week 16. That's when Patterson came in.
Elsewhere on special teams, though, there were multiple standout moments due to consistency.
KhaDarel Hodge, who was voted to the Pro Bowl for his efforts, recovered a muffed punt in the end zone for a touchdown in the Week 4 win. Kevin King snuffed out a fake punt in the Week 13 loss against the Los Angeles Chargers. Bradley Pinion pinned four punts within the 10-yard line during the Week 15 win against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Just to name a few of those moments.
"From an overall standpoint, of us playing special teams, we had a lot of plays," Morris said. "We did. We scored touchdowns on special teams. We blocked kicks. We've done a lot of really good things."
Notable returners: Younghoe Koo, Bradley Pinion, Ray-Ray McCloud III
Free agents: Liam McCullough, KhaDarel Hodge, Avery Williams, Riley Patterson
2024 production:
- Younghoe Koo: 23-of-34 field goals made (73.5%) | 26 of 26 extra points made (100%)
- Riley Patterson: 4-of-7 field goals made (57.1%) | 12 of 12 extra points made (100%)
- Bradley Pinion: 47 punts for 2,209 yards (47-yard average) | 14 punts inside 20-yard line (29.8%) | 75 kickoffs for 4,805 yards (64.1-yard average) | 57 touchbacks (76%)
- Avery Williams: 20 punt returns for 185 yards (9.3-yard average) | 15 kickoff returns for 408 yards (27.2-yard average)
- Ray-Ray McCloud III: 14 kickoff returns for 361 yards (25.8-yard average)
Biggest question facing the position group in 2025: How will kicker Younghoe Koo recover from his injury?
The Falcons signed Koo to a five-year extension in 2022, meaning he's under contract in Atlanta through the 2026 season. The long-term decision came after back-to-back seasons in which Koo was successful on field goals more than 90% of the time, hitting 94.9% in 2020 and 93.1% in 2021. He was top five among kickers who attempted at least 15 field goals in each of those seasons.
Koo took a minor dip afterward, but not one that caused concern at the time. He was good on 86.5% of his field-goal attempts in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
It was his performance in 2024 that was more troubling, as already noted.
So, although Koo has been their go-to guy since coming to Atlanta in 2019, it's fair to question how much room for error he'll have in 2025.
"With Koo, I know him personally," Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot said. "He feels the same frustration that we all feel, and he's going to work hard to get himself back to the standard that he's been at for the majority of his career. And us as a staff, we have to make sure, No. 1, we're supporting him, but also we're bringing in, at every position, competition to make sure that we're continuing to enhance those things."
