Falcons’ New Kicker Turns Heads With Award-Winning Week

FLOWERY BRANCH – Zane Gonzalez has only been the kicker for the Atlanta Falcons for three weeks, but he has already made an impact for the franchise. After a season of issues at the kicker position, Gonzalez seems to have brought some much-needed stability. Now, the new Falcon has picked up some national recognition. 

After a strong Week 12 performance in the Falcons’ 24-10 win over the New Orleans Saints, the NFL announced that Gonzalez was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. 

In Atlanta’s win over the Saints, Gonzalez connected on all three field goal attempts, from 41, 54, and 56 yards. His 56-yard field goal was just one yard shy of his career long, and he became the second Falcons kicker (joining Morten Andersen) to make two field goals of 54 or more yards in a single game.

“Any time you get a chance to swing the leg out there and make an impact on the game, it’s really fun,” Gonzalez said on Monday during the open locker room period. “But yesterday was just a really good game for the team overall. Just happy I could do my job and put it between the sticks and come out of the game with a win.” 

This is the third time in his career that he has received this recognition. 

Over his three games in Atlanta, he has connected on all six of his field goals, with three of those coming from 50+ yards, and all six of his extra points. 

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Before Gonzalez came to Atlanta, the Falcons could not find a consistent option to hold this role. He was the third kicker to be housed on their active roster. 

Longtime Falcon Younghoe Koo started the season after beating out rookie Lenny Kreig during training camp, but his costly miss in Week 1 forced the hand of the staff. They opted to bring in Parker Romo, who won the subsequent kicking competition and locked down the job with a five-field goal performance in Week 2.

Koo was released the next week. 

Romo’s tenure was up and down, but marred by some critical misses – mainly his ineffectiveness against Carolina in Week 3 and the backbreaking miss against the Patriots in Week 9. 

Between Romo and Koo, the Falcons converted just 76.5% of their attempts, which was (at the time) good for 26th in the NFL through the first nine weeks of the season. 

After last Sunday, it would appear they have found a kicker who can finally stick.