Falcons Could Be in For Another Change at Kicker Following Missed PAT

The Atlanta Falcons' special teams have been a disaster this season, and the trend continued in Week 9. After Drake London caught his third touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game, kicker Parker Romo headed onto the field to kick the game-tying extra point. Romo missed the kick wide right, and the Falcons went on to lose 24-23 to the New England Patriots. 

On Monday, head coach Raheem Morris confirmed that Romo’s roster spot was very much in jeopardy.

“At the end of the day, you got to make that kick,” Morris said. “We’ve worked out a bunch of different people, so we’ll be able to bring people in and figure out what it’s gonna be this week.”

Atlanta’s kicking woes have been apparent since Week 1. After Younghoe Koo missed a career-high nine kicks in 2024, the Falcons stuck with him as their kicker heading into the 2025 season, with Morris saying he had confidence in the kicker to bounce back.

Koo went on to miss a 44-yard game-tying field goal wide right in the Falcons' first game of the season, a 23-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Current kicker Parker Romo was signed to the practice squad two days after the loss to the team’s practice squad. He was elevated to the 53-man roster the day before Atlanta’s Week 2 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings. 

With one day of preparation time, Romo went out there in a toxic environment on primetime and delivered an amazing performance. He went 5-for-5 on kicks, including nailing a huge 54-yarder early in the fourth quarter. For a moment, it seemed as if the Falcons had found their new kicker. That was short-lived.

In Week 3, Romo would miss two kicks, one from 49, the other from 55, as the Falcons would fall 30-0 to the Carolina Panthers. In Week 6 against the Buffalo Bills, one of Romo’s kicks was blocked, but it looked as if it would have missed regardless. In Week 7, the Falcons made a risky move, electing to go for it down by three with the ball on the San Francisco 49ers' 35-yard line instead of allowing Romo to kick a 50+ yard field goal, showing that the team did not have faith in his ability to convert from deep.

Morris emphasized the urgency of fixing the kicking issues, with the season quickly slipping away.

“We got to get it fixed, and it has to be fixed now,” Morris said during Monday’s presser.

With the season essentially hanging in the balance, Atlanta can’t afford more mistakes on special teams. Romo’s miss on Sunday put the Falcons' kicking woes on full display, and the team heads into Week 10 with a pressing question: Who can deliver when it matters the most?

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