Vinatieri’s final visit?
FOXBORO — While he’s actually spent the majority of his career in Indianapolis, Adam Vinatieri’s greatest moments — and likely fondest memories — came from his playing days in Foxboro.
Last night, he might have put a close on that chapter.
The 45-year-old kicker made his debut with the Patriots in 1996, and spent the first 10 years of his career in New England, where he made some of the greatest kicks in NFL history. He thrust himself into Patriots lore forever with his pair of Snow Bowl and Super Bowl-winning kicks.
Last night, as the Colts visited the Patriots, he may have been playing his final game at Gillette Stadium. He’s on a one-year deal with the Colts, and not only is it unclear how long the 23-year pro will continue his career, the Colts don’t figure to visit Foxboro again for the foreseeable future.
“I suppose any person who’s played somewhere for a certain amount of time and then has the opportunity to go back and just reminisce a little bit, maybe it holds a different feeling than some of the other places,” Vinatieri said earlier this week. “But I’m thinking more about how can we get a win and right the ship and get back where we need to be.”
Vinatieri’s focus is clearly on the present — and that’s certainly part of what’s made him so remarkably consistent and still kicking after all these years.
Last week, Vinatieri passed Morten Andersen to become the all-time leader in career field goals made with 567. The Patriots may have not wanted to pay Vinatieri when he famously left for the Colts and a bigger contract in 2006, but he’s proven to be just as reliable as ever in the 13 years since, and his former team has certainly noticed.
“It doesn’t seem like there is much sign of him slowing down,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said earlier this week. “The ball continues to go right in the middle of the uprights. It never curves. It doesn’t hook. It just goes straight down the middle. So he just has an unbelievable level of consistency.”
Vinatieri has been booed in his returns to Foxboro — something the kicker has voiced his disappointment with — but regardless of fans’ feelings, his legacy will always be etched in New England. Belichick called Vinatieri’s 45-yard, game-tying snow kick in the 2001 playoffs against the Raiders at Foxboro Stadium “by far the greatest kick I have ever seen,” and he’s among the game’s most clutch players considering his kicks won Super Bowls XXXVI and XXXVIII.
That legacy will at least always be appreciated by his former teammates.
“I was lucky enough to be here when he was here early in his career and I thought so much of him,” Tom Brady said early this week. “He was just so clutch. He always kind of made the kick and that’s what the mark of a great kicker is and certainly that one. Thinking back a long time ago but it was just — when you see it now, it’s pretty remarkable that he made (the snow kick) and what that meant for this organization.”