Younghoe Koo can break the franchise record for field goals in Week 15

Younghoe Koo is one of only a handful of Falcons having great years for a crumbling team, joining the likes of Foye Oluokun, Calvin Ridley, and A.J. Terrell on a short list. This weekend against the Buccaneers, the Falcons could very well get their teeth kicked in by a quality Tampa Bay squad, but whether the game goes well or not, Koo might end up making history.

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. In summary, Koo is having perhaps the most impressive field goal kicking campaign in franchise history, and that’s almost certain to be reflected in the team’s history books.

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. Koo will likely finish with more field goals made and attempted than Bryant during his magical 2016 season, but Bryant attempted 57 extra points that year in the high-flying Kyle Shanahan offense and Koo has only attempted 28 thus far in 2020. That’s a nearly 30 point gap by itself that Koo is currently operating from, though I like his chances of getting 10 field goals in the final three games more than I like his chances of getting, say, 7 field goals and 7 Falcons touchdowns over the final three games, as sad a state of affairs as that is.

Either way, Koo will be worth tuning in for these last three weeks, even in the likely scenario that the Falcons don’t play well.