Adam Vinatieri officially enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, becoming the latest member of the New England Patriots dynasty to receive the highest individual honor in the game. It is not hard to see why: his career includes game-winning field goals in two of the organization’s Super Bowl win as well as multiple other legendary moments and NFL records.
It also includes a story about a sports car purchase gone wrong. Let current Patriots coach and Vinatieri’s former teammate Mike Vrabel
explain.
“I think the favorite story is he showed up one offseason with a yellow Lamborghini or Ferrari or something, and we crushed him,” he recalled. “I think he took it back and then got a normal color.”
The sports car story was not the only one Vrabel mentioned when asked about Vinatieri on Friday, however. He also spoke about arguably the best kick in NFL history, a 45-yard field goal in blizzard conditions to tie the Patriots’ 2001 divisional playoff game against the Raiders at 13-13.
“The kick in the snow, if you were there, you were on that field, to be able to think that could somehow be done. I struggled to run on that field that day, and he was able to make the kick that he made,” Vrabel said.
“It was always just – any time we got into those situations, we knew if we can just get it to the 35-yard line that we were going to win the football game. And so, for him to be able to do that in the biggest moments was a pleasure. He trained hard, he had a routine, engaged with. He wasn’t off. He wasn’t the lonely kicker, wasn’t by himself. He was a part of the football team.”
Vinatieri was part of the Patriots for the first 10 seasons of his 24-year career in the NFL. On Saturday, he will join another club: that of the Pro Football Hall of Famers, and deservedly so.
