Falcons squeeze by Saints on Younghoe Koo's 58-yard field goal: Key takeaways

By Hunter Patterson, Josh Kendall and Larry Holder

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Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, who signed a four-year, $180 million contract with the franchise in March, authored his second game-winning drive with Atlanta on Sunday in a 26-24 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo capped off the drive with a career-high 58-yard field goal to win it. A pass interference call on Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo, on a pass intended for Darnell Mooney, moved Atlanta from its 30-yard line to New Orleans’ 40. After three straight incomplete passes from Cousins, Koo sealed the victory.

YOUNGHOE KOO FROM 58 YARDS FOR THE LEAD WITH TWO SECONDS LEFT! pic.twitter.com/8b2A4SlWKm

— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2024

Although Cousins led the Falcons on the drive, the quarterback threw for 238 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. Atlanta’s defense and special teams were responsible for two touchdowns, one coming from linebacker Troy Anderson and the other from KhaDarel Hodge on a punt return fumble recovery.

Koo saved a somewhat shaky performance and put the Falcons (2-2) one game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who come to town Thursday night.

Penalties plague Falcons

Atlanta converted a season-high four third-down attempts and had 315 yards Sunday but were undone again and again by penalties.

The Falcons were flagged eight times, most of those against the offense. The most costly flag came in the fourth quarter when a 19-yard Bijan Robinson receiving touchdown on a screen pass was called back because of a holding penalty against Jake Matthews.

Koo’s four field goals saved the offense, but this is not what Atlanta spent big in the offseason for. — Josh Kendall, Falcons beat writer

Troy Anderson’s career day

Andersen had a busy day, recording a career-high 17 tackles and scoring his first NFL touchdown on a 47-yard interception return. Andersen’s touchdown was the Falcons’ second non-offensive touchdown of the day. Atlanta’s first points came when Hodge recovered a Rashid Shaheed muffed punt return in the end zone for a touchdown.

It marked the first time since Week 3 of 2014 that the Falcons have had a defensive touchdown and a special teams touchdown in the same game.

However, Andersen had to be helped off the field after a punt coverage snap in the fourth quarter, leaving Atlanta with Kaden Elliss and JD Bertrand as the only inside linebackers on the active roster. — Kendall

Taysom Hill shines but leaves injured

New Orleans’ Taysom Hill played only half the game and still bedeviled the Falcons. Hill scored two rushing touchdowns in the first half to give him 11 touchdowns accounted for against Atlanta since he joined the league in 2017. Only Tom Brady, Jameis Winston and Drew Brees have accounted for more touchdowns in that time.

Hill, who missed the second half with an abdomen injury, has rushed for six touchdowns, caught four touchdown passes and thrown for one touchdown in his career against the Falcons. — Kendall

Mistakes pile up for Saints

It’s hard to overcome two offensive, defensive and special teams blunders in a one-point loss. It started when Shaheed inexplicably tried to make an over-the-shoulder catch on a punt return inside the Saints’ 5 in the first quarter. He muffed the punt allowing the Falcons to recover in the end zone. The Saints managed to rebound from that one.

Then Derek Carr saw a pass batted, intercepted and returned for a touchdown midway through the second quarter. New Orleans hung around again through another Hill injury issue with Alvin Kamara giving the Saints a lead with about one minute remaining.

But an Adebo pass interference penalty on the ensuing drive set up the 58-yard game-winning field goal by Koo.

In the grand scheme of things, the Saints starting with a 2-2 record might not have seemed so bad at the start of the season. But after starting 2-0 with resounding wins against Carolina and Dallas, losing close games to Philadelphia and Atlanta make this start disappointing.

And who’s next? Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. — Larry Holder, NFL senior writer