New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots managed to get past the Atlanta Falcons in Week 9, with the final score settling in at 24-23. They had some help along the way, though, from their former kicker John Parker Romo.
During training camp, Parker Romo was brought in to compete with sixth-round rookie Andy Borregales for the starting kicker job. While Parker Romo outperformed Borregales over the summer, he ended up getting released as part of the team’s final roster cuts.
After Younghoe Koo missed a potential game-winning field goal for the Falcons in Week 1, they signed Parker Romo, who promptly hit all five of his field goal attempts in the team’s Week 2 win over the Minnesota Vikings. With that, Parker Romo stole Koo’s job away from him.
Everything came crashing down for Parker Romo and the Falcons in Week 9, though. After scoring a potential game-tying touchdown, Parker Romo missed the extra point that would have actually tied the game. The Patriots would go on to preserve their one-point lead thanks to their old friend’s mistake.
As if losing wasn’t bad enough for Parker Romo, the punches kept coming for him on Tuesday. That’s because the team reportedly decided to waive him after his costly miss, signing Zane Gonzalez to come in and be his replacement.
“The Falcons are signing veteran K Zane Gonzalez following a workout this morning, sources tell me and Ian Rapoport,” Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported. “The team is waiving Parker Romo, who was 11-for-14 on FGs with Atlanta and missed a late extra point in the 1-point loss to the Patriots on Sunday.”
Early in the season, there were questions about whether or not the team made the right decision to keep Borregales over Parker Romo. After this game, though, the answer to that question is very clear.
New England will now turn its attention to Week 10, where it has another challenging matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on its hands. Kickoff for this very important game is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.
