Adam Vinatieri's Clutch Kick Experience Comes to the Colts

This is an awesome trade for the "We're not going to do much in free agency" Colts -- as GM Bill Polian said this year. If the Colts had Adam Vinatieri against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they may very well have been in the Super Bowl against the Seawhawks.

Wednesday, March 22
PRESSURE PLAYER

By John Oehser - Colts.com

Vinatieri’s Ability Under Pressure Key in Colts’ Decision
INDIANAPOLIS – At first, Bill Polian said, it didn’t seem likely.

Adam Vinatieri, after all, had been a member of the New England Patriots for 10 seasons. His clutch kicks made him a legend in the Boston area, inexorably linking him with that franchise’s success over the last half decade.

Then word came:

Vinatieri, one of the most reliable postseason kickers in NFL history, was almost certainly not going to re-sign with the Patriots. And Indianapolis was among the teams in which he was interested.

Vinatieri, 33, helped the Patriots win three of the last five Super Bowls, and his late-game heroics in the post-season have earned him a reputation as one of the NFL’s top big-game performers.

In the 2001 post-season, Vinatieri’s 45-yard field goal in a driving snowstorm helped the Patriots force overtime against the Oakland Raiders in an AFC Divisional Playoff. His 23-yard overtime field goal gave the Patriots the victory.

Vinatieri, the NFL’s leading scorer in 2004, is a career 81.9 percent field-goal kicker, having made 263 of 321 attempts. He also has handled kickoff duties throughout his career and has 61 career touchbacks.

“What you’re excited about is you have a guy who has been in those situations and you don’t have to guess how he’s going to respond,” Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy said. “That’s really the biggest thing from our standpoint. Whether he’s from New England or anyplace else, you’re getting a Pro Bowl caliber guy, a guy who’s done what he’s done.

“The exciting thing for us is when you lose a really good player at any position and replace him with another player of the same caliber, that’s always fantastic.”