Falcons: (Some) Special Teams have been a bright spot in a very dark season

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I’m sure this article title raised a few eyebrows, which is why the qualifier “some” had to go in there. We aren’t going to talk about the Hands Team. With a date with the Kansas City Chiefs and two matchups with the Buccaneers on the docket for the final 3 games, Atlanta fans may not be celebrating another win until Fall 2021. At this point, I’m fine with that. This team is getting into Micah Parsons or Patrick Surtain II territory in the draft, and that means way more to me than any of these final games. Considering Atlanta’s next GM will want some picks to play with, it gives Atlanta crazy good leverage to trade down as well. That’s not what this article is about, this is about Sterling Hofrichter & Younghoe Koo.

 

I’ve already went over Koo’s amazing journey and crazy good 2020 season here. Younghoe has been chugging along since then, still knocking FGs down at a 97% clip and is still perfect from 50+. Check out this article from our friends over at the Falcoholic, they’ve broken down some milestones that Koo could reach this season:

 

That’s because the future Pro Bowl kicker is just one made field goal away from tying Matt Bryant for the all-time franchise mark for makes in a season, a mark Bryant hit twice during his long career in Atlanta. If he hits two, Koo will be in sole possession of the franchise mark with two games to go, and he’s still on pace to at last come within striking distance of Jay Feely’s record for attempts and is on pace to break Norm Johnson’s field goal percentage record for a season.

Koo even has an outside chance of breaking Bryant’s single season scoring record, though the pursuit of that particular record is complicated by the offense’s inability to score touchdowns.

 

They go a little more in depth on Koo’s greatness this year, so give it a full read. Younghoe should undoubtedly be on his way to his first Pro Bowl, and Atlanta should be offering him a healthy contract this offseason.

 

Sterling Hofrichter has been an unsung hero for a pretty terrible Falcons offense. Punters don’t get a lot of shine, but Hof ranks 20th out of qualified punters (via PFF). While that may not seem like a big deal, he’s landed 14 punts inside the 20 and also supports a pretty cool cause:

 

Koo is on top of the world right now and Hofrichter has shown some shine in 2020, but some continuity on Special Teams is much appreciated where there doesn’t seem to be much anywhere else on the roster.

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