Atlanta Falcons: 3 Lessons learned from Super Bowl 54
2. Hooper could mirror performance of two Super Bowl tight ends
Super Bowl LIV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers featured two top-notch tight end targets on both teams, with the Chiefs having tight end Travis Kelce on its side and the 49ers containing tight end George Kittle on its end of the field.
Both tight ends have shown their ability to step up and perform well within their respective offenses throughout the entire 2019 campaign, and they both played somewhat of large roles in the big game on Sunday night in Miami.
The two tight ends had big moments for both Kansas City and San Francisco during their battle for the NFL title, which should show and teach the Falcons that their own tight end target of Austin Hooper could have a similar impact on positively leading the offensive unit moving forward.
In the Super Bowl, Kelce finished with six catches for 43 yards and one touchdown, averaging 7.2 yards per reception along with tallying six total targets.
Kittle, on the other hand, ended up with 36 total receiving yards with four catches, averaging nine yards a reception with seven targets. He did have a break-out reception right before halftime for San Francisco that would have set the 49ers up for a field goal right before the half, but that play was called back due to offensive pass interference by Kittle.
In 2019, Austin Hooper put together a nice performance when he was fully healthy and on the field, although he did miss a total of three games while dealing with injuries. On the season, he ended up with a career-best 787 receiving yards and six touchdowns, hauling in a career-high 75 receptions and averaging 10.5 yards per catch for Atlanta.
As we saw put on full display on Sunday night in the Super Bowl, both Kansas City and San Francisco contain tight ends that can change the way the offense looks and can help their respective offenses open things up throughout the field during games.
That is a lesson that Atlanta could learn from and could take away from the game between the Chiefs and 49ers and try to focus more on incorporating into its offense in 2020.