Younghoe Koo kicked a career-long 58-yard field goal with two seconds left as the Atlanta Falcons beat the visiting New Orleans Saints 26-24 on Sunday.
Trailing 24-23 with 29 seconds left, the Falcons advanced to the Saints’ 40-yard line after a defensive pass interference call. After three incompletions by Kirk Cousins, Koo booted the game-winner. He went 4-for-4 on field goal attempts, also hitting from 53, 44 and 42 yards.
Kirk Cousins threw for 238 yards and an interception while Tyler Allgeier ran for 60 yards for the Falcons (2-2), who won despite not scoring an offensive touchdown.
Derek Carr completed 28 of 36 passes for 239 yards and an interception for New Orleans (2-2), which dropped its second straight. Alvin Kamara ran for a game-high 77 yards and a rushing touchdown. Taysom Hill added a pair of rushing scores for the Saints before leaving with an abdominal injury.
Leading 17-14 at halftime, Atlanta tacked on Koo’s 44-yarder with 6:46 remaining in the third. The Saints responded with a 10-play, 50-yard drive that was stamped with Blake Grupe’s 43-yard field goal with 1:03 left in the quarter.
The Falcons then advanced to the Saints’ 19-yard line, but an offensive holding and a sack forced a field goal attempt, as Koo knocked through his third field goal — a 42-yarder — with 10:09 left in the game.
Trailing 23-17, New Orleans had first-and-goal from the Atlanta 5, but the Falcons’ defense forced a turnover on downs with 4:01 remaining. After an Atlanta punt, the Saints drove 42 yards in 2:28, resulting in Kamara’s 1-yard rushing score with one minute left.
Atlanta opened the scoring when Bradley Pinion’s punt was muffed into the end zone by New Orleans’ Rashid Shaheed. After calling for a fair catch on his own 3, Shaheed couldn’t corral the ball and Atlanta’s KhaDarel Hodge fell on it for the score with 11:13 left in the first.
New Orleans answered with a nine-play, 70-yard scoring drive that was stamped with Hill’s 2-yard scoring run at the 6:39 mark of the first.
After Adebo intercepted Cousins on the next possession, the Saints drove 53 yards on 11 plays, taking the lead with Hill’s second rushing touchdown, a 5-yarder, to cap a six-minute drive. Atlanta cut the deficit to 14-10 with Koo’s 53-yard field goal at the 9:57 mark of the second quarter.
The Falcons reclaimed the lead as Matthew Judon deflected Carr’s pass, which Troy Andersen returned for a 47-yard pick-six.
–Field Level Media
