Following crucial miss by Koo in opener, Falcons sign former Vikings kicker Romo to practice squad

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ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons signed former Minnesota kicker Parker Romo to their practice squad on Tuesday, creating competition at the position after Younghoe Koo's crucial last-second missed field goal in the team's 23-20 opening loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Falcons coach Raheem Morris promised on Monday the team would have tryouts to seek a veteran to compete with Koo this week. Romo, 28, is from Peachtree City, Georgia, near Atlanta. Romo made 11 of 12 field goals in four games with Minnesota last season.

The Falcons play at Minnesota on Sunday night.

Koo set a career high with nine missed field goals in 2024. The Falcons also had German Lenny Krieg in training camp, and Krieg was retained on the practice squad. That leaves Koo, Romo and Krieg to compete this week.

Morris said Monday Koo's missed 44-yard attempt that would have forced overtime “definitely creates more of a sense of urgency to be able to have that competitive edge for Koo, for all of us, and to put ourselves in those positions to do the right thing for our football team at all costs.”

The Falcons released edge rusher Ronnie Perkins from the practice squad to clear a spot for Romo.

Koo badly missed his attempt to send the game to overtime. The kick faded wide of the right upright.

Koo, 31, was good on field goals of 41 and 36 yards, but the 36-yarder deflected off the right upright.

Koo told reporters on Monday he was “definitely frustrated” because he didn't anticipate more struggles in the opener.

“I had a great offseason,” Koo said. “Great camp. ... I felt great.”

Morris also said Koo had a “great offseason” and made 90% of his kicks in practice.

“For it to show up in the first game, it obviously creates the automatic panic that we’re all going to go into, like we’re going to do in order to find out who can come in and help us, or whether we can stay the course and still figure out how to get it done,” Morris said.

Koo said his foot kept making contact with the Mercedes-Benz Stadium turf on his kicks.

“That turf, I was kind of hitting the hitting the ground a little bit,” Koo said. “So I tried to make an adjustment, which I did, you know, have done multiple times, and I just made the wrong kind of adjustment at that time. ... It’s just frustrating because I know better than that and I've just got to do a better job there.”

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