Opinion: Atlanta Falcons have found their identity in nerve-wracking finishes

ATLANTA – All of this last-minute drama flowing for the Atlanta Falcons may be doing more than just working Arthur Blank’s nerves. 

This time, it came down to Younghoe Koo’s career-long 58-yard field goal with two seconds on the clock – set up by a 30-yard pass interference penalty. 

“Going from black hair to gray hair,” Blank, the Falcons’ 82-year-old owner, said after Sunday's 26-24 victory against the New Orleans Saints. “Soon, it will be no hair.” 

Yeah, these nail-biting finishes for the Dirty Birds have created quite the pattern to make you wonder. 

Last week, the Falcons threatened to upset the Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs but instead left Mercedes-Benz Stadium feeling robbed because an apparent pass interference wasn’t called when tight end Kyle Pitts was mauled in the end zone late in the fourth quarter. 

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

In Week 2 at Philadelphia, they won 22-21 on a 7-yard Drake London touchdown catch (and extra-long conversion) that capped a last-minute drive that might not have mattered if Eagles running back Saquon Barkley hadn't dropped a pass on the preceding possession. 

There’s been some weird stuff, working both ways. 

To survive on Sunday, the Falcons (2-2) didn’t score an offensive touchdown – except the one early in the fourth quarter when Bijan Robinson took a dump-off pass from Kirk Cousins and darted 19 yards to the end zone, only to have it wiped out by one of Atlanta’s nine penalties. The touchdowns came when KhaDarel Hodge recovered Rashid Shaheed’s muffed punt in the end zone and when Troy Andersen raced 47 yards with the return of a pop-up interception caused by Matthew Judon’s deflection of a Derek Carr pass. 

It’s no wonder that Cousins grumbled that there’s “a lot to fix.” 

They mustered just 14 first downs and converted a mediocre 36.4% of their third downs (4 of 11). 

Still, the Falcons won when they couldn’t afford to lose. A loss would have marked three straight home defeats to start a campaign that began with the highest expectations in at least a half-dozen years. Instead, they began a three-game stretch against NFC South rivals – they'll host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night – with another example of resilience. 

Raheem Morris, the first-year Falcons coach, expects the make-or-break endings.   

“It’s about having that mental stamina enough to go out there and push and pursue,” he said. ”They fight every single week, and I’m proud of them.” 

Morris had reason enough to envision the latest ending. During the typical situational drill at practice on Friday, he said the Falcons had 56 seconds and zero timeouts. On Sunday, the Falcons began the final drive at their 30-yard line with exactly one minute on the clock and with no timeouts. 

Deeper than any premonition, in the two-minute drill on Friday, which advanced the ball to set up a kick from Koo, the Falcons got a huge chunk of yards from a pass interference penalty. In the real-life situation, the Falcons’ biggest play in setting up the field goal was the 30-yard pass interference penalty on Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo, who crashed into intended receiver Darnell Mooney. 

“That’s crazy, how ironic that is,” Mooney said. “We did that and it worked out the same way. It’s the manifestation.” 

Mooney, a fifth-year pro, acknowledged that he needed to draw the penalty. Cousins underthrew the pass and maintained that he wished he had thrown it further and allowed the receiver to run and get it. 

Of course, he’ll take the penalty – especially being on the opposite side of such a scenario when Chiefs safety Bryan Cook crashed into Pitts a week earlier. 

“I just don’t want to leave it in the refs’ hands,” Cousins said. 

Mooney adjusted on the ball while it was in flight after realizing the pass was underthrown. He explained the skill involved in positioning himself in that situation and in showing his hands to catch the football while impeded by the cornerback. 

In other words, it was a professional move in the clutch. 

“It’s something I’ve been working on a long time,” Mooney said. “And it worked today.” 

During the Friday practice, the Falcons never got the actual kick from Koo. But setting up for the kick was enough. As was the case during the game. Koo, one of the NFL’s most reliable kickers, had already nailed field goals from 53, 44 and 42 yards on Sunday. 

Still, it seemed a bit odd that after the penalty moved the football to the Saints’ 40-yard line, the Falcons attempted three consecutive deep shots rather than throwing a shorter pass to pick up a few extra yards. Morris maintained that the defensive coverage dictated where Cousins threw on those plays. Maybe so. Yet if Koo’s kick had wound up a bit short, it would have been open season on the second-guessing. 

Koo didn’t sweat it. 

“Once we got to the 40, I knew I had a chance,” he calmly recalled. “I was just locked in, ready.” 

Although his career long entering Sunday was 54 yards, Koo said that in practices he has connected from as far as 65 yards. On the game-winner, the kick sailed through the uprights with at least 5 yards to spare. 

“It was ending with a Koo make or miss,” Morris said. “It didn’t matter where it was from. Koo was going out there.” 

Perhaps leave some people to pull their hair.