Toe-to-toe with best
Tucker gets a kick out of matchup with his ‘sports hero’ Vinatieri
In the box score, it read like any other extra point. To a fellow NFL kicker, it was a picture of sheer mastery.
With snow piling rapidly on the field in Buffalo, Adam Vinatieri cleared his small strip of ground. He was backed up 10 yards because of a penalty, and the Indianapolis Colts needed the point to tie the game with 1:16 on the clock. Vinatieri picked the snow out of his right cleat, charged toward the ball and sent it low and veering through the early-December storm.
At the last moment, it hooked left and cleared the crossbar — another miracle kick in a 22-year career full of them.
“It only counts for one point, but for what it’s worth, I think that might be one of the greatest plays in NFL history,” Ravens kicker Justin Tucker said. “I’m not just blowing smoke. Obviously I’m a little biased because we play the same specialized position, but that was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.”
Vinatieri will be in town Saturday with the Colts, and his matchup with Tucker will pit the face of one NFL kicking generation against the face of the next. Though Tucker is often ranked as the top kicker in the sport today, he unabashedly calls the 44-year-old Vinatieri the greatest of all time.
“You look at how long he’s been playing, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker has made 29 of 32 field-goal attempts this season, including five of seven from 50 yards or longer. He hasn’t missed since October. how well he’s been hitting the ball, and it seems like he’s getting better with age,” Tucker said. “It’s really cool to watch.”
When Tucker first envisioned a kicking career as a 14- or 15-year-old, Vinatieri was a far-off measuring stick.
“I think the one thing everybody can appreciate and respect about Vinatieri’s game is how locked in he is in those clutch situations and how he always seems to TV: . Radio: 97.9 FM, 1090 AM
Ravens by 131⁄ Ravens schedule come through in the moments that are the biggest,” Tucker said. “And that was something I was naturally drawn to, that I wanted to emulate.”
Vinatieri laughs at the realization he’s become the grand old man of the kicking community. He once looked up to the likes of Morten Andersen and Gary Anderson.
“I guess the shoe’s on the other foot